Biographic note of December 1st, 2005

Paolo Piscia was born in Stresa on January 28th, 1965. He was a self-taught man who showed a great inclination towards and a great passion for artistic drawing and music from when he was a child; he began studying piano at the beginning of the seventies. He continued his piano studies until he started his technical studies and later his work as mechanical draftsman for seven years. However, his strong artistic inclination that was never appeased soon prevailed. At the end of the eighties, Paolo followed several painting and drawing courses held by local artists. Later on, this experience caused him to follow a course at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera and approach artistic glass making. He followed several courses on the technique of glass melting and “pate de verre”; he was particularly spurred by a course held in Florence by G. Reynold.
In 1993-1994, Paolo had the opportunity to realise his project: he set up, initially at Feriolo of Baveno and later at Verbania-Intra, an artisan workshop in ceramics, glass and trompe l’oeil. In 1995 he set up “Vetrarte”. The workshop, one of the first in this field, was initially set up at Verbania-Intra, where it became famous in a short time in northern Italy thanks to the persistent attending of fairs, and especially thanks to several prizes and recognitions that attracted the attention of the mass media on the newly born company. Later on, starting from 1998, he transferred the workshop to Feriolo of Baveno, its current premises, and started his own production of artistic glass handicrafts. “Vetrarte” specialised in hand-made glass by using the technique of glass melting, and created artistic glass windows or doors, paintings, sculptures. The manufactured articles were directly designed and created by Paolo Piscia, and were characterised by the indubitable originality, carrying out the smallest details with great care, the meticulous choice of the subjects, and, last but not least, the skilled matching of coloured glass that made even the most commonly used objects, unique, refined and precious.
In his workshop, Paolo created paintings and artistic products by using glass as well as other materials such as wood and canvases, with a view to create a perfect harmony between substance and colour. He can be defined as an artist “of matter”: in his works, emotional tensions find firm balance points, almost to symbolically reconcile the contradictions of our existence. We can say that Paolo does not use glass but lives it.
Over the last few years, the artist threw himself into the organisation of personal exhibitions, relying also upon the help of people particularly sensitive to artistic themes; his exhibitions were successful everywhere.
Moreover, Paolo deemed it advisable to make his work and passion known to the young people, as well as to the handicapped by teaching; in this regard, his collaborations with ”Associazione Laboratorio Arti Visive” of Granerolo, the Consorzio Intercomunale dei Servizi Socio Assistenziali of Crevola d’Ossola and the Associazione A.N.F.F.A.S. of Domodossola were important.

Presentation

Paolo Piscia was born in Stresa on January 28th, 1965. After following specific courses in this field, he devoted himself entirely to the difficult technique of glass melting. Paolo instilled his personal artistic potential to the simple artisan production of manufactured articles and transformed an every day object in a real work of art. His production of paintings and sculptures was remarkable: the deliverance from the artisan dimension allowed him to obtain excellent artistic results. His glass melting activity in his workshop of Feriolo of Baveno was accompanied by an intense exhibition activity throughout Italy.

Critical note to the works of Paolo Piscia; concise version for translation.

Paolo Piscia, like many of his colleagues, started from figurative art but quickly swerved, in search of an expression that was able to translate in a work of art, as directly as possible, those irrational drives restless in one's soul and rebel against being shut up in a form. This is the old romantic dream of holding the infinite in the finite; a dream as vane as trying to collect seawater in a glass. The infinite will always exceed all its finite expressions. This did not stop the artist from trying, extending and violating the form at the risk of cancelling it. The favourite symbolic images of Paolo Piscia seem to underline this continuous flow of life in different forms based on the unity of an immutable law. Even the glass-melting process that uses furnaces reminds of the ancient image of fire symbolising the unceasing change, the contrast, but also harmony and order. The works of Paolo are able to stir up in us something ancestral and in the same time open our eyes to a new experience: a very ancient world that miraculously takes shape from the bowels of nothing to our sight, colouring itself of light.

Corrado Paracchini