“Everything moves and sways…”. And we are here with that everything. Starting from the writings of Lucretius on the laws of nature and the nature of things, we know that motion is a principle that characterizes every type of matter, from that relating to cosmic space to that of the human soul.
In a space at Plus Florence in Florence where the project “Scenarios”, the exhibition “ is hostedSPACE SHAPES AND COLORS” with the installations of the artists PATRIZIA QUADRELLI and MARISA SETTEMBRINI. The exhibition I curated is a sort of thermometer of the spectacularity and historicity of new art, of an art that becomes a vehicle for new ideas carved into Western culture, of an art capable of regenerating worlds and men, and also becomes a compass in a sea of propositions of international culture and arts.
Here is what I write about the Florentine installation of the artists Settembrini and Quadrelli: “The installation work of the artists Patrizia Quadrelli and Marisa Settembrini continues, which occurs in cycles and sinks and rotates around the geometries of the world, a sounding that today grasps and shows the symbolism of rain, thus grafting their creative discourse on the great environmental themes capable of upsetting the landscapes of the world. The “new fragmentations” are still clear, traces innervated in the offshoots of Lucio Fontana’s spatialism and even more so in the disseminations of Pino Pinelli. Geometric shapes, constructions, accumulations, extensions, insertions, an analytical yet complex language that we observe in our daily lives. Two come to mind statements by Johannes Kepler (17th century) who say: “Where there is nature, there is geometry”, and again “Geometry is the archetype of the beauty of the world”. Clear and explicit statements. How symptomatic is Paul Klee’s statement: “All art is a memory at its origin, it is in the darkness, its fragments always live in the artist.” The shapes 
implemented by Quadrelli and Settembrini seem like falling rain, but also the memorial language of home, shell and nest, art made spatial, but these forms seem to lose their corporeality and try to cover the infinite, so it is a a step out of geometry and a step into poetry. How clear the scenography of the world appears in its installation as a whole, the theme of immensity, the reverie of infinity, the grandiose spectacle that takes over the surrounding world, in a universe in which details are erased, time does not exist and space extends without limit. However, immensity is not only a general idea formed in contemplation of a grandiose spectacle, but it also has an intimate resonance, it is, in fact, a daydream. A show, attributable to the category of immensity, can have different resonances. This intense poetic work is a continuous exit from fossilized metaphors, it is discovering further meanings, other perspectives, it is the poetic expression that has the task of reopening, keeping alive all the other possibilities of reading the world, those intimate resonances that are in each of us”.
Patricia Quadrelli was born in Saronno in 1958, where she lives and works. After graduating from the Art School, she then attended the Painting Department of the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera. She has always had a strong curiosity for the phenomena of modern and contemporary art. Her natural inclination and aptitude for artistic creation and the meeting in 2015 with the artist Marisa Settembrini made her desire to undertake an artistic path of study, research and experimentation mature. The fascination of glass and materials and the symbolism of forms were the elements of her initial research, to arrive at the current more informal and symbolic work. In 2017 she was invited by Prof. Carlo Franza with a solo exhibition at the Plus Berlin in Berlin, and in 2018, with a solo exhibition, at the Plus Florence in Florence and at the Exhibition “Cielo e terra. Omaggio a Girolamo Comi” on the fiftieth anniversary of his death, at Palazzo Comi, Lucugnano (Tricase). In 2018 and 2019 she participated in the exhibitions “Transiti Contemporanei” and “La misura del respiro”, in Milan at the Artestudio 26 headquarters, both curated by the Historian of Contemporary Art Prof. Carlo Franza. Also in 2019 she held a solo exhibition entitled “I colori del sogno” at Plus Florence in Florence. In May 2021, the illustrious Art Historian Prof. Carlo Franza invited her to hold a solo exhibition entitled “Della poesia per frammenti” at Plus Florence in Florence in the “Scenari” project, and in September she was present at the exhibition “Autoritratti e Ritratti” – Casa Museo Sartori – Castel d’Ario (MN). Between 2021 and 2022 she held a solo exhibition entitled “Fra sogn
oe realtà” in Milan in the Spazio Contro Corrente in the Nuova Balconata Milanese–Due Project, presented by Prof. Carlo Franza. In 2022, Prof. Carlo Franza again invited her to the “Monumental dissemination in Venice” Project on the occasion of the 59th Venice Art Biennale, and to the installation project “Nuove Frammentazioni” at Plus Florence in Florence. In the same year, in September, she was present at the “Artisti per Nuvolari” exhibition – Casa Museo Sartori – Castel d’Ario (MN). In 2023, she was present with a large solo exhibition “L’imperfezione e l’infinito” at the “Mondi” project by Prof. Carlo Franza, at the Circolo degli Esteri-Roma. Also worthy of note are the awarding of the Jury Prize at the Premium International Florence Seven Stars in 2021 – and the Critics’ Prize at the Premio delle Arti Premio della Cultura in 2022.
Marisa Settembrini was born in 1955. After attending the Brera Academy and the Kunst Akademie in Munich, she was Professor of Painting at the Brera High School. Her activity began in 1976 with the invitation to the exhibition “The new Italian figuration” at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome, on behalf of the Roman Quadriennale. Numerous personal exhibitions in Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice, Alcamo, Lecce, Todi, Milan, Erice, San Vito Lo Capo, Pavia, Brescia, Sondrio, Loreto, Teglio, Mantua, Recanati, Matera, Genoa, Naples, etc.) and abroad (New York, Munich, Berlin, Dusseldorf, Prague, London, Paris, etc.), and participation in important exhibitions. Present in various foreign and Italian museums. She won the Lyceum Prize for graphics in 1984, the Cortina Prize for painting in 1994, the Saint Vincent Prize in 1995, the Bormio Prize and the Milano Prize in 1996, the Turris Magna Prize- Città di Tricase, the Arts Prize- Culture Prize in 2000 and 2003, the Premium International Florence Seven Stars-Grand Prix Absolute in 2017, in 2018 the Artecom Prize for Culture in Rome at the Vallicelliana Library and was awarded the honor of Ambassador of Art in Florence. In 2011 she was invited to participate in the 54th Edition of the Venice Biennale. In 2019, promoted by the Marche Region-Department of Culture and the Municipality of Recanati-Department of Culture, she held a solo exhibition dedicated to the poet Leopardi for the 200th anniversary of the Infinito; and then in Matera Capital of Culture 2019. In 2021 she held a solo exhibition in Rome for the twentieth anniversary of the Farnesina Collection, promoted by the Circolo Esteri of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2022 she was invited to a Project/Biennale di Venezia 2022. Italian and foreign critics and writers have written about her art, from Giulio Carlo Argan to Luigi Carluccio, from Antonio Del Guercio to Enzo Fabiani, from Ferguson to Carlo Franza, from Virgilio Guzzi to Domenico Montalto, from Elisabetta Muritti to Nello Ponente, from Franco Russoli to Roberto Sanesi, from Walter Schonenberg to Marco Valsecchi, and again Fulvio Papi.
Carlo Franza