women as central actor
WOMEN
The art of Gualtiero Passani is filled with female figures. He has depicted them in every possible position and location. They are arguably his most revisited subject, one that has been present in every artistic passage and periods. Women in Passani’s early work was represented as a maternal figure rooted in the family, a wife and mother; more specifically, a wife under duress, struggling under the impact of war and deprivation. But this is the only period during which Passani presents a woman in a secondary role to that of a man who holds the role of head of the family. It is a relatively short phase. After the age of Passani begins to conceive of the woman in a primary role. The male subject in his paintings is presented in smaller form, or in the background of a painting relative to the female who takes up the lion’s share of the field. The woman becomes the primary actor, the figure who appears to determine the outcome of events.
In Passani’s work, woman reveals herself rounded in form, a lived-in, welcoming and very often available; but available on her own terms. The man accepts these terms, aware of the power she is capable of exercising.
Very often the man is forced into the role of observer and often ends up becoming an extra in a dramatic comedy in which the woman is the main character. There are many works where the woman performs ablutions in bathroom; where she flaunts a pregnancy or shows herself as a source of attraction of male desires. In any case it is she who leads the game and the man is forced to succumb to her preponderant personality.
Passani’s pencil or brush outline the female figure as if it were a caress. It does not enhance her beauty; in fact it often emphasizes its flaws; but it is always a gesture of love, understanding, affection and complicity.