"MÉMOIRES RUPESTRES" (2008)Painting by Jeannine Martin.
Rock art: meanings
For what reason did artistic expression arise? Why does the cause for which it arose make us realize how human nature itself remains immutable? It is in fact undeniable how art is capable of crystallizing humankind in its different evolutionary stages, which, always and in any case, have externalized, albeit with great variability of expression and rendering of reality, a particular worldview, in itself linked to beliefs or ideals of a religious, political, cultural, etc., type, to which man has always had to rely, both to express the consistency of his being and to relate to the community of individuals forming part of his own historical moment. Let's take an example: the Mona Lisa, if it had been created today, would probably have gone unnoticed, because it was intended as a simple portrait, in an age when the medium of painting has now largely detached itself from the need to faithfully represent the real thing. At the time of its creation, however, the masterpiece was even purchased by Francis I of France, as it was recognized as a potential emblem of Italian Renaissance culture, well exemplified by the technique of sfumato and the use of aerial perspective. Today, despite the multiple artistic approaches, surely dictated by different purposes of art, a mirror of being and of the reality in which it manifests itself, the Mona Lisa remains a necessary legacy, that is, a precious symbol of the man of the past, to which reference must necessarily be made, in order to be able to create continuity with the present, giving coherent forms to the motions of the contemporary soul. It is precisely in the latter that the synthesis and constant is realized, aimed at uniting the man of all ages, who, basically, has always lived tried to express and synthesize his outer and inner moment, through painting, sculpture, etc. In the case of the cave paintings, they would seem to manifest the human desire to externalize rituals of initiation, but also utilitarian hunting magics, capable of increasing the abundance of prey, as well as shaping forward-looking images, in which the hunter was made aware of the dangers, which he knew he would have to face in order to procure food. In addition, another theory, developed by South African archaeologist David Lewis-Williams, would see such paintings as the works of Paleolithic shamans, people who were able to retreat into the darkness of caves to enter a trance-like state, which stimulated them to paint images of their visions, perhaps with the idea of drawing power from the cave walls themselves. Finally, some of the most recent studies would seem to interpret the cave paintings as externals of the mating cycle of animals, which, in keeping with the lunar calendar, would turn them into the first known evidence of a proto-writing system, capable of explaining the subject matter of many similar works. In conclusion, it is good to highlight how the cave paintings in question, to be referred to as wall art of prehistoric origin, placed on the walls or ceilings of caves, remain, like the Mona Lisa, alive in the memory of art history, reappearing, with new forms, in the language of the likes of Giuseppe Penone, Pablo Picasso, Pierre Soulages and Banksy.
"TRIBE-I" (2021)Sculpture by Mahesh Anjarlekar.
"FAUVISME RUPESTRE" (2022)Painting by Jean-Luc Lopez.
Giuseppe Penone: the space of the cave
Caves were the places where prehistoric humans used to shelter, referring to a dark environment where sounds could rumble but rain was unable to wet them, although ravenous predators still managed to get close. It was probably this ancient image that inspired the installation, titled Sculture di Linfa (2007), by Giuseppe Penone, an Italian artist and sculptor born in 1947, who created it on the occasion of the 2007 Venice Biennale, an event in which he gave shape to his desire to make the aforementioned environment concrete, reproducing it through the use of manipulated natural materials, capable of bringing the viewer to live a rather primordial experience, both visual, olfactory and tactile.
Pablo Picasso: the subjects
If we think of rock art we are reminded, first among others, of the recurring images of animals, which, as mentioned above, are nothing more than manifestos of a greater closeness with nature, to be necessarily linked also specific beliefs with a religious and ritual flavor. A similar attitude was taken, many centuries later, by the figurative investigation of Pablo Picasso, who, through the exploited symbolic image of the bull, wished to allude to deeper meanings, aimed at underscoring the powerful and vital brute force of the mammal, a subject that he unequivocally borrowed precisely from rock art, so much so that the master himself declared how 'modern man had not actually invented anything new...
Pierre Soulages: tangible signs of human existence
Rock art has also influenced the stylistic features of Soulages, a French painter and engraver born in 1919, who was largely fascinated by the realistic, as well as abstract, signs left on caves by our ancestors, in which he recognized the concrete manifestation of a strong, as well as innate, desire to express oneself, capable, according to him, of making human beings venture into the darkness of caves! Precisely what has been said is re-proposed by the art of the master in question, who generally expresses himself through the creation of grooves left on the surface of the canvas, a support usually black, on which the light imposes with its presence depth, reflections and shades, ready to vary according to the angle of observation. The viewer will thus seem to enter the dark caves mentioned above, a place where only flashlights could make known to all the symbolic messages left by man.
Banksy: surfaces ready to change over time
What do cave art and Street art have in common? Easy: the latter's medium, as well as its variability, in that walls, whether of cities or caves, can be subject to transformation, dictated by natural factors, as well as by man's own modifying activity. Unlike the former form of expression, however, the latter, together with its symbolic meanings, is frowned upon by the authorities, so much so that as we know, it is often opposed and censored in its manifestations. In reality, however, the much-feared graffiti could be understood as an extension of cave art, in that it too was created in an attempt to understand and synthesize the external world. In this sense, it is well known how Banksy himself argues that if our civilization were destroyed, future generations could put together 21st century life using the very doodles on subway walls. Probably in order to give continuation to this thought, the artist created Cave Painting Removal (2008), a mural depicting a municipal worker, intent on cleaning a wall covered with drawings inspired by those of the Lascaux caves (France), priceless prehistoric art, which, in the same way as graffiti, is now considered as an act of vandalism to be removed.
"RÊVERIE RUPESTRE UN" (2022)Painting by Claude-Yvan Conne.
Cave art memories (2018)Painting by Lefolhub.
Lefolhub: Cave art memories
The masters mentioned above, unquestionably passionate about cave art, must surely have been familiar with the best-known example of the genre, to which Lefolhub's oil stylings also seem to clearly refer. I mean the paintings in the Lascaux Caves (France), a cave complex where there are wall art works dating back to the Upper Paleolithic, depicting mainly three categories of subjects: animals, human figures and abstract signs, which, again in total affinity with Cave art memories, also exclude allusions to images, aimed at capturing the surrounding landscape and its vegetation. Other commonalities are equally found in the color choices brought forth by Artmajeur's artist, who opted for the use of prehistoric black, yellow and red. Everything seems quite clear and consistent until we read the artist's own description of Cave art memories, as the painter actually admits that he wanted to draw inspiration from the pastoral life and hunting scenes of the Sahara. This place far from the aforementioned France brings us to the less popular, but equally noteworthy, rock art of the central Sahara, which, dating from numerous periods starting around 12,000 years ago, shows the culture of ancient African societies, manifesting itself in works of art carved or painted on natural rocks. Among the many examples in question, from which Lefolhub may have actually drawn inspiration, is certainly that of the Cave of the Beasts, a huge natural rock shelter, which, located in the Western Desert of Egypt, was decorated with Neolithic rock paintings dating back more than 7,000 years, which contain more than 5,000 figures painted with red, yellow, white and black pigments, many of which were intentionally disfigured in prehistoric times.
First cave art (2019)Painting by Michael Peddio.
Michael Peddio: First cave art
Bright colors and drips, probably borrowed from the instinctuality of action painting, repropose their primordiality by meeting with the animal world, rendered by means of simple silhouettes, skillfully crafted in order to refer, as per the title, to the first works of art in human history: cave paintings. This description leads us to continue the narrative begun and then interrupted above, which, with regard to the rock art-contemporary art union, refers to modern masters, who have deliberately repurposed prehistoric stylistic features or ideals, such as, among others, also Thomas Hirschhorn, author of Chandelier with hands (2006), a sculpture in which large shapes attached to a wooden structure personify food, the search for which was surely the pricipal activity of primitive man. These species of "chicken breasts" were conceived as suspended from the ground precisely in order to be safeguarded, that is, preserved for later consumption, while they are accopompanied by some hands, intended to symbolize those individuals who in times now too long ago left their footprints on the cave walls. At this point comes into play the art of Joseph Beuys, who, as not everyone knows, also approached cave art through the creation of some watercolors in which, as in cave art, the figure of man is not the sole or pricipal subject, a fact that drastically distances it from the "humanist" figurative investigations that followed it. Pursuing this intent, Beuys painted animals in orange tones, reminiscent of cave art, immortalizing them together with people without any differentiation.
Bison (2020)Painting by Elisabeth Pierret.
Elisabeth Pierret: Bison
Against an abstract background with earthy yet celestial flavors, the heavy, though seemingly light and synthetic, silhouette of a bison, an astremely recurrent subject within the figurative investigation of rock art, imposes itself, as if suspended between the realm of clouds and that of rocks. The popularity of this animal still remains unclear to archaeologists, who often interpret such a view as simply a desire to document the reality of early artists in art history, although it is easy to link the presence of these mammals, like that of others, to specific ritual or magical practices. On the other hand, if we were to decipher the bison by referring to Native American culture, which gives great importance to this mammal, it would be considered a totem animal, associated with the Wakan Tanka, or the Great Spirit, an absolute deity sacred to all the people, who, if it appeared in a dream, often used to warn about the coming of an imminent danger, while when it was contemplated after a ritual or collective prayer, it stood to indicate that the request in question had been heard to be granted. Finally, it is good to point out that the animal also embodied the supernatural, in that it was identified as being able to give life to enable humans to exist, making us reflect on the fact that everything in nature is present in abundance, only if human beings are able to respect and accept it authentically, that is, without pretension but with gratitude.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli