The Human Comedy. A Two-Way Dialogue
The Exhibition: Armando Fettolini and Lorenzo Pacini

This exhibition brings together more than forty works created over the years by Armando Fettolini and Lorenzo Pacini. The two artists confront a theme central to both: humanity, with all its fragilities, vices, and virtues.

Lorenzo Pacini and Armando Fettolini have two very different ways of seeing life - so different, in fact, that they almost resemble each other. Like all opposites, they ultimately brush up against each other and, in a sense, complement one another. What they undoubtedly share is the starting point of their research: humankind.

One (Pacini) reveals humanity's worst aspects with a cynical eye and inescapable conclusions. The other (Fettolini) exposes the beauty in diversity, in those marginalised by the society of the "strong" and the "normal". One is the enlightener, while the other is the humanist: on one hand the accusation without appeal, on the other the defence of fragility - a precious commodity - and uniqueness. Both share a painful and lucid awareness of being part of a human race capable of all kinds of nefariousness. This awareness is often tinged with the melancholy of human meanness, which on one hand inspires compassion, but on the other sparks anger at the foolishness of those who don’t see, hear, or speak, who simply exist without choosing, opposing, or fighting... ultimately, without truly living.

Even technically, the two artists work in different territories. Pacini freely experiments with diverse techniques, from bronze sculpture to assemblage, from hyperrealist painting to readymades. A painter by vocation, Fettolini casually explores all the possible tools of his chosen medium, always prioritising material, be it the chalky texture of his panels or the lightness of his recent works on paper. Their two languages, both powerful despite their different tones and sounds, engage in a dialogue that intertwines to give voice to a powerful and necessary reflection on human condition. They explore the vices of our society, the importance of freedom of opinion and action, the beauty of diversity and fragility, and the need to overcome clichés, which are always harbingers of errors, misunderstandings, and injustice. The emotional force of Fettolini’s painting, which draws from a long tradition from Böcklin to Kiefer, and the mocking smile of Pacini’s sculptures and installations - always effective and direct in their message - together create an exhibition that makes people think, reflect, and rediscover a passion for art that is never an end in itself. This is art that reclaims its role as a communication tool and an attempt to awaken consciences.

The origin of each artist's work comes from a different place and time, yet it unfolds magically in a counterpoint. What one sees, the other echoes, creating a reprise of meaning, a lateral shift and a never-sudden touch through tangents and reflections that add to, rather than subtract from, the whole. The long acquaintance between Armando Fettolini and Lorenzo Pacini is a slow and revealing uncovering, an unknown pas de deux. Inside, one finds the reflections of a life, or rather, of two lives. It's as unsettling as the signal of a radio out of tune.
Section 1

Lost, with no more solid ground beneath his feet (Finisterrae), a wreck at the mercy of the waves (Ancòra e ancòra), barricaded on a boat (Monade) that becomes a refuge (Arca. Giro round), the man depicted by Pacini and Fettolini faces the difficult journey of life. The theme of the boat is very present in both artists' iconography. For Pacini, it evokes social issues of grim relevance. Works like Finisterrae, Riding the wave, and Ancòra e ancòra provoke reflection on the journey as emigration, the futility of the borders humans love to draw, and the hypocrisy of so much journalistic literature and empty talk. From the landlocked journey of Finisterrae, we move to the spiritual, symbolic realm of Fettolini’s Corpi in viaggio (Bodies on a Journey). Conceived as a homage to Böcklin’s masterpiece, The Isle of the Dead, this pictorial cycle features a boat emerging from a swamp. The artist uses the landscape as a way to narrate an inner journey. This is not only the boat of Dante’s memory, led by Charon between the banks of the river Acheron. The artist guides us through desolate moors veiled by sinister mists and populated by crawling creatures that have left traces on the muddy ground. This is a journey that doesn’t necessarily lead to hellish places. Rather, it is a journey into ourselves, toward our own island.
Section 2

Man is a dream, a consumption of the soul. Gripped and wounded by an ungenerous, fierce, and deceitful religiosity (The Apostles and Judas, IHS brand, A Magic Game), a desperate actor on the stage, an acrobat who deceives himself to survive (Uno di dodici and Untitled), he tears at the tar of the days the best he can. The two artists’ investigation spares nothing and no one. Even religion becomes a subject for reflection. Pacini interprets it as the opiate of the people, being ironic about the Catholic upbringing we have grown up with and pillorying the very system of religious culture. Works like Un, due, tre, stella and his neon IHS brend are sharp as blades. They are ironic and tragically caustic. Even Fettolini, despite his important relationship with the Christian faith, looks without indulgence at the errors and hypocrisies of Catholicism. It is no coincidence that one of his important series of works focuses on the figure of Judas Iscariot. He who sits on the other side of the table, the betrayer, is an emblem of the indispensability of evil to generate good, a warning to anyone who sees others as separate from themselves.
Section 3

The two artists also share a severe judgment toward the powerful and arrogant, such as the men in suits and ties or elegant outfits who stand out against the white, textured, and chalky surfaces of Fettolini’s Humanity series. No one is excluded: politicians, businessmen, priests. Their arrogance lacerates the silence suspended around them. These powerful people of the Earth should know that the ride on the merry-go-round is the same for everyone and only the comfort of the seat changes (Prima Classe). The bullies who have long since abandoned all sense of ethics should think about this, instead of standing there staring at us with their expressionless faces (Facce di bronzo).
Section 4

Increasingly empathetic toward this humanity of many vices and few virtues, Armando Fettolini loves to investigate the most hidden folds of the soul, exploring diversity as “otherness.” He is drawn to the outcasts, the excluded, the marginalised: the Figli di un Dio distratto (Children of a distracted God) with their featureless faces and gaunt, deformed, hunched bodies. These are anonymous, painfully lonely figures. They represent an invitation to overcome the constraints of social conventions, behavioral and aesthetic codes. This quest is also the subject of Il Mondo degli strani (The World of the Strange) series, in which in order to awaken our conscience the artist reflects on eugenic theories and the systematic elimination of the mentally ill by the Nazis. The silhouettes are now limited to the face: a face without features, anonymous and annulled by matter. Solitary, immobile presences; denied gazes and impossible dialogues for those who, distracted, neither speak nor want to learn their language. An attentive observer of human behavior, Fettolini reflects on the need to listen to oneself and to others, to communicate, to avoid the massification of thought, and to always leave a door open for the discovery and welcoming of others. Normality is an obsession that should be considered in all its meagerness and dangerousness. Pacini immediately echoes this with his Abbracci (Embraces), which are forced into tragic straitjackets. The asylum, madness, the condemnation of diversity - whatever it may be - is treated with an instrument of coercion that is immediately synonymous with a lack of freedom. And again, while Armando reflects and suggests, Lorenzo enters with a forceful hand, mercilessly throwing the crude truth in front of our eyes: ladies and gentlemen, we do not want to deal with those who do not meet our standards of normality. We are afraid of them.

His Uomini istrice (Porcupine Men) seem to translate the loneliness of Fettolini’s Strani into the third dimension: people who sting, who repel, or perhaps who are simply defending themselves. The thorns are on the outside, like armor, but also on the inside. And those on the inside hurt much more.
Section 5

Man is at the centre - a poor man, a stray, alone, isolated by fear or selfishness. White flies, rare and different. Which side do we want to be on? Free as strays, or enslaved to a model we don't even know, like Pacini’s sheep? Quel che l’una fa le altre fanno (What one does, the others do), recites the title of a masterpiece by Pellizza da Volpedo, inspired by a verse from Dante. The white sheep of Intervallo seem to ironically refer to that vision, but stripped of all spirituality. Mass communication, social media, fashions: they all push us in one direction without any real reason or purpose.

In a society where birds want to enter a cage instead of flying out (Parte_dì - Part_of), there is a dramatic need to reflect on the value of freedom and autonomous thought, even at the cost of leading a vagabond existence, like that of Fettolini’s strays, who are a mirror of the artist himself. An instinctive dreamer, a gypsy soul, allergic to rules and intolerant of cages, Armando shares with Lorenzo this ability to think outside the box.
Section 6

In the end, we find Buio (Darkness), a pulsating darkness that is not black but blue. Blue of air and sky, tension of infinity and rarefied matter, a slight movement. Blue of possible dawns. So, there is hope. Beauty is often where we wouldn’t look for it. For example, it can be found iin a strange beheaded traveler with his winged head under his arm. And it is the latter, The _heroic_capita, who teaches us to look at things from another point of view. Around him there is stillness and hope. There are the blue, airy spaces, open horizons full of serenity that his friend Armando has created for him. The stars can rise if we learn to observe the world with other eyes and if we try to seize opportunities and not just wish for them. Definitely a relief! A great relief. So, after all, something can still be done. Art can still help us out of the Darkness. It may not change the world, but it may improve it.

All that remains is to listen to this infinite fading. Let your eyes resonate, your soul vibrate. All is not over.