Mimma Sardella’s review

Once upon a time…

Magic and utopia in Gaia Velli’s works, where the unconscious and the dream dive into everyday life, directing the actions of each of us, unconscious partners of an ancient, or better still, ancestral rite.

Gaia Velli, a new generation Apulian artist, takes immediately the viewers by hand and leads them in the fairy world of dreams without mediation, interrupting any realistic reference to photos, in order to privilege the visual observation of a reality that, even if manipulated, does not escape to the here and now of shooting. A spell well managed then, one would say almost scientifically, due to the mastery of medium and the passion of observation that the artist discloses, ensign of a cultured and allusive research, holding back in the quotation, extracted from the pictorial work and not completely unrelated to the context, taken from a personal visual art inventory. They are quotations easily educed, proportionally studied, entrusted to his poetics in perspective as to an ancient compositional mantra. A research that demonstrates a precocious maturity, due to study and attention to details, to a passion supported by the knowledge of technical means, giving nothing to chance. Her colourful figures emerge to liven up the spaces of deserted interiors, of that same desert that too often nourishes our everyday life, reminding us that beauty will save the world (Dostoyevsky, the Idiot). But will the world save beauty? This is the title of Salvatore Settis’ recent book where he states a self-evident concept, that “beauty will not save the world unless we save beauty”. Gaia instinctively tries to take that path, a difficult salvation, expressed at times with conscious ability: and it is she who leads our thoughts beyond the image, a reflection of drowsy consciences, managing to reopen our mind’s eyes on the spaces of Beauty. New perspectives. Where will she take us? We wait for the sequel, while enjoying her current achievements.

Mimma Sardella