Opere

At the beginning of her artistic career, following her formal education, while she searched for a technique that would allow her to bring out her own inner urgency Clelia developed an unexpected awareness of expressionist lines in painting.
Her main subjects during this first phase of her career were human figures, at times portrayed in full length, though more often with their facial detail and gaze featured, either in the foreground, or taking a prominent position within the frame.  These works involve images taken from photographs, frequently self-portraits, in which the clarity and stability of the stroke and the artistic signal are sufficient to restore humanness in the faces.  In these works the eyes, wide and bright, become the central feature and seem to be the artist’s reflection on the individual's inner world.  The gazes are often fixed, at first appearing calm but, in reality, full of expression, dismay and melancholy; windows into the soul of both the model portrayed and of Clelia herself.  These are expressionist works that present thoughtful and inquisitive faces composed of brush strokes that are, at times, wider and softer, and at other times, sharp and fabricated. This artist can in fact be defined as an expressionist in all her respects; she embraces both the feeling and the production techniques of this art form.  This is made clear through her use of energetic and non-naturalistic colours, and by her depiction of instinctive and penetrating expressions but, above all, by her search for introspection and for digging deep into the human soul with the sole purpose of bringing the truth to light (Expressionism, 2009). Unquestionable references in her works of this phase are actually eighteenth century Expressionist artists such as Schiele, as portrayed in her 2010 work (Schiele, 2010).  This portrays a gaunt face in acidic tones, presented in the same style as the Austrian.  In particular, this trait can be seen through the sharp and broken lines defining some of her tormented faces (Volto disegnato, 2007, – [Sketched Face]).  Kokoschka also makes an appearance – a prototype for striking and intensely chromatic painting – as does Kirchner, present in some of the gaunt and angular details found in her portraits. However, her references do not stop at "historical" expressionism and continue with models from subsequent years, such as Bacon or Artaud – to whom, not surprisingly, Clelia dedicated her first academic thesis.  These are especially relevant in terms of a freedom of work that has not been bound to any external canons, but to the single and special need to communicate one’s inner self.  Such a stylistic choice, already present in some of the works of her first phase (Mistero di iniquità, 2010, – [Mystery of Iniquity]), crosses over into an artistic signal of expression and power, using striking and heavy colours that seem to dominate the figure, almost resulting in abstract expressionism. However, in some works expressionist anger is mitigated by more relaxed features and a delicate sensitivity (Tre volti, 2009– [Three Faces]).   An honest confessional has not yet been passed down to these works, but rather a sense of pensive and disturbed contemplation.  What is more, variety of expression is supported by just as many different techniques and choice of materials: use of the brush is alternated with spatulas, and oil colours are combined with glazes. Finally, where the earlier support base was the classic canvas, by 2009 this is being alternated with raw jute (the sack) and a base of metals, which will increase in subsequent phases.

Marisa Paderni

After taking a short break that she needed, away from her artistic career, Clelia resumed painting.  However, the spirit of things had changed and she felt the need to channel her renewed creative energy into something different from the earlier phase.  Her matrix remained expressionist, and the first of these works were in fact self-portraits in which the gaze was still at the centre of the study.  However, the artist soon turned her attention from facial details to whole bodies, and occasionally to landscapes: dancers and crucifixions are among the most recurrent subjects here.  These are taken from photographs by Clelia herself, or from images that specifically interested and touched her. In choosing to depict the full-length human figure, this artist does not opt for a straightforward copy of the model in this case either, but instead modifies each body according to her artistic feeling:  the silhouettes are still recognizable, but these have been drawn quickly and at times are lightly sketched out.  This is because what she is searching for from this point is the freshness and speed of an instinctive artistic signal that is quick and instinctive, while at the same time being effective and resolute.  This should result in a guided and common message, in which the artist has faithfully followed her own feelings.   In her works during this phase, the communicative movement and signal have gained in importance as less analysis of the exterior detail is required to capture what is inside.  However, the synthesis and weightiness of the stroke, which is used to the barest minimum, must still achieve the highest degree of precision and effectiveness.  The references here are yet again found in the Expressionists, but by now her interest has turned to the works of artists such as Kline, Congdon, Vedova and Rothko, while the direction that some works seem to take is almost abstract, (Senza titolo, 2013 – [Untitled]) and (Ballerina rossa, 2013 [Ballerina  in Red]).  Although more hurried and sketched out, the contours of these bodies usually remain recognizable; Clelia is now moving closer and closer to a form of abstract Expressionism.  This is even more evident in the brushstrokes, which have often been applied using spatulas or roughed-up sponges, impregnated with linseed oil or bitumen. On the whole, the artist’s works of this phase do not contain many artistic signals, while these are as essential as they are resolute.  At the same time, these are sufficient to give to each work – which is normally quite sparse – all the power and effectiveness of subjective expression, combined with the relevant technical expertise.  Her crucial search for a more immediate artistic signal has consequently led to the production of a vast number of works, some of which have more or less remained as rough drafts (Donna seduta, 2013 – [Seated Woman]).  This is because, at that very moment of production, the artistic signal has faded away. From her first artistic works, Clelia has had a preference for working on large support bases, which give an artist greater freedom of scale and spatial use.  Wood is the main material used during this phase, providing a background shade, all the beauty and naturalness of a once-live material, and the opportunity to use artists’ tools that swiftly pass over it.  All of this allows for a faster production process and fulfils all the artist’s needs.   Clelia is using colour in different ways by this point, and this can now be considered as the energising element of her work.  The prevailing tones are warm and earthy, and are realised through her widespread, almost exclusive, use of bitumen and charcoal sticks.  By this point these appear streaked, very thick and stamped or engraved into the wood.  They are applied in red oils, which often conclude the work, and which are alternated with the use of pitch black.

Marisa Paderni

Clelia's works during the third phase of her career are clear testimony to the wealth of experience she had acquired over the previous years.  At this point she once again finds herself in search of a workable solution to reflect both the change inside her and the newfound awareness she has developed.  At this phase the faces, the whole figures, the human bodies, and eventually the animals, all return, in addition to an arrival of images, taken from the major news stories of the time. There are a great number of faces portrayed here, but they are very different from those earlier ones: their profiles are less defined, while they subtly blend in with the colour, which now becomes the main matter of her works.  At the same time the eyes, once penetrating and full of feeling, are now only a part of the face and are also very often indecipherable due to the tangled mass of painting matter (i numerosi Senza titolo of 2018, [The Many Untitled Ones]), or are even at times "erased" by Clelia herself (Adolescente cancellato, 2017 - [Adolescent erased]).  References for these works are still the key figures of raw German expressionism, but Clelia now looks to other artists such as Schifano, Richter and Mathieu, in whose works we find both intense and mellow colours, along with heavy and bold gestures.   Clelia is now heading towards more accentuated disfiguration, in terms of the Baconian school of physiognomy (think of the numerous portraits by this Irish painter), and towards blending them into the background, which is also impregnated with bold colour (Rosso, 2017).  As with her second phase, several works depict moving bodies and dancers, which are portrayed in a multitude of positions, and in deep and gloomy tones, such as (Ballerina, 2017 [Ballerina]) or the more vivid and vibrant (Ballerina con ricciolo rosso, 2018 [Ballerina with a Red curl]).  Amongst the more frequently recurring subjects corpses and the heads of bulls appear – or animals in general perhaps – along with tormented references to crucifixions, which are more or less self-evident.  These are always expressed with Clelia's unmistakably powerful artistic signals. So, this third phase of Clelia's career has seen the development of her use of colour, through experimentation of all its techniques, and which has quite liberally been spread out on display.  The tonal quality is lit up by a fiery red, almost like a De Kooning, and is supported by the use of bitumen and charcoal sticks.  Generally speaking it is the colour scheme of blacks, browns, olive green and marine blue that has remained.  This freedom can also be sensed in Clelia’s quite diverse choice of painting materials.  Yet these are materials with the potential to coexist and sustain each other in order to deeply and powerfully convey their meaning, which is both supported and energised by the artistic signals that blend and define them.  Put to use over canvas, jute, wood, steel, copper and cardboard, these various techniques convey different temperaments and condition the artist’s continuous process of application as she executes her work.  This, in turn, produces a variety of depths, which also depend on the underlying support used. The intrigue of these works is therefore more materialistic due to the artist’s use of colour, seen in her artistic signals and movements, and which acts as her main means of expression.  These are the elements that distinguish the work of Clelia Adami, and which she often spontaneously abandons to the pure dynamism of her inner instinct. In fact during this period the abstract expressionist matrix is even more apparent: it is through the spontaneous freedom of expression of her artistic signals that this artist gives life to her creations.  In some of these the colour has simply been left to practically drip onto it, or has perhaps even been 'released' over it.  This gives the work unexpected, but lively, dynamism, power and effectiveness, and is granted as per the will and need of its author.  All of this is then taken up again, reprocessed, roughed up and revised in order to send back all its temperaments from one - sometimes quite angry - sense of tragedy, which gives the work its identity. (Toro morente, 2018 [Dying Bull];  Toro inciso, 2017 [Engraved Bull];   Senza titolo - rosso, 201 [Untitled - Red).)
Marisa Paderni