His daily comings and goings are ac- companied by countless references from specialized critics and cultural journal- ists. However, in this case it would not be adequate to wax lyrical and fabricate a eulogy by cut & pasting from reviews or catalogue blurbs. I will try instead to explain why and how the extraordinary phenomenon that Marco Cecioni pro- poses to us comes about, through his movement, figure and colour combined into the cyclic unity in his painting.
Cecioni has always been faithful to his paintbrushes. In the 70s his work was filled with ideological willfulness and a clear predominance of objectual artistic practices. In spite of the oft-mentioned death of painting, in Italy during the following decade – quite a remarkable time – what was called the trans-avant- garde took place. Which means that the art of painting, like any other happy liv- ing being, has always defied its assassins, including Joan Miró in the 20s – thus in this scene Cecioni is not alone.
Trans-avant-garde took contem- porary Italian painting into some of the greatest American collections, and brought with it a revival of figurative ex- pressionism and a renewed interest in man, nature and the environment.
There is change or constant reno- vation, which are often not the same thing, in Cecioni’s paintings. In the 90s he radicalized his idealization of figures
through a poetic process. A result of this approach are the Butterfly Women that he now presents on our cosmopolitan island.
It could be said that his discourse as a painter is closer to Palladino than Baselitz or Luperz, which is why I stated in the beginning of this article that talk- ing about a recognized painter with a long trajectory is no mean feat – espe- cially in Cecioni’s case, since his painting deserves a thorough monograph and since his works have not been shown in one great exhibition that may collect all of his best paintings, objects and ce- ramics, allowing a simultaneous analy- sis with which to appreciate even more the tireless energy of this artist, who swings between northern and southern Europe, searching for those anthropo- morphic insects which are, after all, his life’s passion and artistic raison d’être.
What I am trying to say is that the painter we are discussing today is an experienced artist, while youthful in his works, which are an exercise in self- correction and experimentation. The exhibition that B12 The Gallery will offer in Ibiza is a reflection of the artist’s con- stant evolution over the last years.
I wish for the aforementioned lack of a splendid monograph to be at last sat- isfied, and I find that Ibiza-Eivissa is the right stage for the realization at last of an exhibition that collects his works, finally pointing at the maturity of this artist. For now, and thanks to my very reliable sources, I know that congratulations are in order for this exhibition, extensive to the artist for his multi-faceted artwork whose constant evolution takes place in my own home country. It is therefore a great pleasure for me to congratulate this artist for the work he will be present to us now in Ibiza-Eivissa, and also for the pieces he is already preparing for the next season in Italy and the Balcans.
Joan Abelló, art critic and historian