OF TIME AND SPACE
edit by Ivan Jancár

The work of Renato Meneghetti is conditioned not only by the coded cultural and historical consciousness of the Italian population but also by its unparalleled atmosphere, as well as by the genius loci characteristic of the town of Bassano del Grappa, where the artist has worked since his youth. In his work, the presence of analytical and synthesizing elements is naturally not only given by this place but also by his systematic consideration of long-explored problems, founded on radiograms since the early 1980s, and this in itself is a necessary precondition for analysing the character of his works. I will return to the analysis later but, at first, I would like to discuss the synthesis within his work viewed from the position of the phenomenon of time.

Meneghetti is fascinated by not only the past and the present but also the future. In this connection, we might mention his passion for the complete restoration of architectural heritage, which, as a consequence, is naturally preserved for generations to come. The subject of revealing the internal, in his case creating Radiographs with more or less identifiable images of skeletons, quite naturally evokes the past. He does not focus on portraying actual historical events but instead on demonstrating spiritual values persisting over long periods. Meneghetti transforms radiograms of unknown, known or even close people into new, expressive and meaningful relations. I have the feeling that it is not only a question of literally penetrating beneath the skin of the portrayed but also the establishment of a deeper relationship. Radiograms, usually taken because of accidents or diseases, are predominantly images of human pain. They are images of one’s further fate. Although they may entail hope, they also give a message of the inescapable approach of the end of human life.

Radiograms are never a collective matter; a radiogram is always made of one single man and represents the fate of a particular individual hidden behind each radiogram. Therefore, the starting-point for Meneghetti’s work itself contains a history of at least part of human life. If we do not speak about themes or ideas but concrete, physical source material, an adequate example of a long-term conception for a creative programme in which the material for creation itself carried such an oppressive charge is difficult to find in the history of the visual arts. Possibly, figures constructed from the bones of the deceased in the known Kostnice could be a parallel; however, while this was a depersonalised anonymity of skeletons, Meneghetti works mostly with the radiograms of specific individuals.

Therefore, there is no risk of repetition in Meneghetti’s work. He must approach each work as a new theme, challenge innovative handling, and consider the psychological aspects of the work. The artist is a sensitive observer of individual fates. Many of his works are based on concrete facts and are often inspired by the dire fate of individuals. Other works are based on topical events of a period, especially those that negatively interfere with human lives – wars, the questions of mammon, extreme manifestations of views, or questions raised by cloning in order to produce identical individuals. If Meneghetti feels the necessity to complete the conveyance of a feeling or an idea, he often creates a series of works. By installing them in space, he summarizes human fate against the background of great spiritual legacies. Therefore, it is not surprising that the cross, as a symbol of suffering and forgiveness and love, becomes one of the most prominent motifs in his work. Equally frequent are works evoking in the end-result of the production of significant personalities from the history of world visual arts (Francisco Goya and many others), or directly confronting their production, as it was in the most significant early Gothic artist Giotto, with whose works he realized an exhibition in Padua. Unfortunately, I failed to see this exhibition, but it looked majestic, even from photographs.

As I have already mentioned, some of his works are executed in series and arranged as installations. Such a presentation, however, does not only entail an emphasis on the emotive effect of his works. It is at the same time a challenge to the viewer to pass through an installation, and in some places even touch the individual works to experience their message more intimately. For Meneghetti, it is therefore important to pause in time and realize the historical continuity, whilst also bearing in mind the fates of individual humans. It must be added that his Radiograms are not restricted to portraying human bodies but also animal bodies or structures of inanimate objects, such as wood, even though we may argue about the question of animate and inanimate. In his works he makes use of complicated visual technologies; he paints with alcohol, which gradually evaporates (the subjects of metamorphosis or the end of matter can be identified even in this), he gradually applies several layers of paint to the surface in order to create the most marked illusion of space and to dematerialise the corporeal.

What then is the proportion of clear pragmatic thinking or, here and there, even the scientific approach in Renato Meneghetti, and what part of that is spontaneous or, we may say, irrational, or even what is the proportion of accidental elements in his work? Rather paradoxically in his case, the delineation of certain fundamental notions does not limit his programme but constantly provides him with new options. Even for the artist himself, the material used contains moments of surprise or moments of inspiration, where he is able to employ even the slightest hints in order to raise insignificant moments to dominant ideas. He does not hesitate to create new fictitious identities. Here he is, however, more cautious and predominantly combines them by creating new symbols and signs.

Renato Meneghetti is a Renaissance type of artist (however, it is uncertain whether he would not have been declared a blasphemer during that period), with an extensively designed multimedia programme including performance, music and even architecture. In this context of an extensive programme, he is at the same time a free artist who does not allow himself to be influenced by marked artistic opinion or even radical declarations on the death of art, such as it was in Italy during the period he became known in the art scene. Similarly, in the context of Italian art he was not more markedly influenced by Arte Povera from the late 1960s, nor by trans-avant-garde in the 1980s, highlighting syncretism and nomadism, enabling artists free movement within different areas of historical and contemporary styles. We may say that his production oscillates between two basic contrasting tendencies, i.e. between an expressive and a meditative position. Many of his works have the character of short incursions of temperament into concentrated contemplation.

In such a concentrated programme, the fundamental question of life and death inevitably ascends into the foreground. Quite logically, motifs of the human foetus have begun appearing in his work, which are, quite naturally, not based on X-rays but rather on ultrasonographs. At the same time, these are images of the future portraying life, as his radiograms portray what will at least remain of a man up to a certain time. It is a question of transience. Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.

In several analyses, Meneghetti strives to reach points in which the differences between matter and the spirit disappear, naturally, into their symbolic level. This exploration and search by Meneghetti is not only confined to his Radiographs from the early 1980s but is permanently present in his work. In many of his works, particular figures, faces with prominent physiognomic features appear, looking almost saintly and transparent.
It could be summed up by stating that questions of space and time are dominant problems in his work. Other questions of his work grow out of these two fundamental phenomena. Finally, I should mention one particular series (Studio per Rx mandibola destra, ritratto di Ulisse nell´Egeo) where in six pictures initially at least, barely identifiable facial contours slowly dissolve into an almost abstract shape and thus change in space and time.

Ivan Jancár