ontoarte

"The Founder of the painting Movement “OntoArte” is Antonio Meneghetti, who felt the calling of art in its dynamic and chromatic essence. In this art, signs determine concepts, and colours shapes. Observing a painting by Meneghetti is tantamount to looking at an open space of infinity and time, where the two dimensions, space and time, melt into each other and they create an artistic expression. “OntoArte” is to be intended as a philosophic current applied to living art. The etymology of the verb “onto” has deep roots, from the Greek “on, ontos” present participle of “eimi”, I am. Thus, it is quite simple to infer the meaning of “being”, which is movement and life. It is sufficient to stop in front of a painting by Meneghetti and understand the true meaning of OntoArte. In spite of the fact that colours are fixed on the canvas, the observer is led to follow the path and the movement of the images and of chromatic signs, almost in unspoken symbiosis and in the shadow of the bold, though assured gesture of our painter. The white strokes of the brush engrave a mark in the darkness of matter, while the brush depicts forms, capturing images and setting them side by side to thought. Yet, beyond the chromatic strokes, Meneghetti’s colourless graphic mark is to be observed. It creates in the observer a psychological reaction, which even leads to atarassia, psychic serenity which can be reached only if the spirit, free from human passions, is close to the thought of man, back to the origins and to ordering nous. However, the art of Antonio Meneghetti is not only abstraction and pure thought. It is also shape and colour, which reach and impress even the ordinary man, who admires the work in its aesthetic part, and not form for form’s sake, in its synthesis. Therefore, we can state that Meneghetti is a complete artist, who satisfies the knowledge and the needs of experts, but is liked for the chromatic and dynamic vitality of the mark also by the ordinary man, if he is an attentive observer. Some would like to attribute to Antonio Meneghetti the extrinsication of a philosophic thought. This is true to some extent, but it is not true under another point of view. “It is true” when the work of Antonio Meneghetti is seen by an observer who is a follower of the cognition of “OntoArte”. “It is not true” when the observer is the ordinary man, who is attracted to the simple nature of the signum. Together with the chromatic addition, which itself determines a being, a movement is, therefore, something which is alive. Man is not aware of it, but such observation leads him to reflections on the thought of human intelligence, on the dynamic in its essence, on life. It is a closed circle, but this cannot lead to the conclusion that the art of Meneghetti is not pure Art. Some could say: “It is modern art, I don’t understand it ”. It is not true, if this thought itself creates an emotion in the observer. Therefore, if Meneghetti has stimulated a reaction, be it soft or violent, it has provoked a thought in the visitor. If we go back to the “cogito ergo sum”, we have solved the thought of the ordinary observer, who, though he doesn’t know it, has applied the philosophic principle of being, of thinking, of the vivification of art, of “OntoArte”. Some could say that Meneghetti has not discovered anything new, because OntoArte has always existed in its essence. It is true, but he is to be credited with interpreting and revealing it. Indeed, the world still hides from us all that is not yet known, and the continuous discovery of things and thoughts give prestige to those who reveal their essence. Then, if even the ordinary man stops to look at an object, even though he is not aware of it, he puts into practice the philosophic thought of the “ergo sum”, therefore of life and of art with it, in its essence. In Meneghetti’s works the three principles of Benoît, “Khàos – Kòsmos – Harmonìa”, can be found. This summarises the evolution of mankind from the “Big-Bang” - if it took place, in the absence of cosmos eternity - to the contemporary evolution phenomenon. The phenomenon manifests itself through reflexed perception. Meneghetti perceives a psychic perception, which he first elaborates, and then transmits with a signum. He reflects this signum to the observer, who in his turn understands such a sign and makes it his own. The accumulation of many signs gives rise to the constitution of simple forms, which – when they are seen as colourless – might even seem shapeless, since chromatism gives a reading key, with a psychological nature. Indeed, this key combines signum and perception at an intellectual level, and then - when reflected – it gives rise to an intelligible visual image. Meneghetti, an artist, a painter, and a man of thought, is all this, when seen by an attentive observer. The common man might not appreciate Meneghetti’s thorough understanding of human knowledge, but man will certainly appreciate the value of Meneghetti’s works of art. Man might only see the simplicity of sign and colour, without appreciating the structural vision he is endowed with, or the cultural message that Meneghetti’s works of art promote. The analysis of these observations leads us to a single consideration: we wish OntoArte may become soon a common wealth, for a better understanding of contemporary and modern works of art".

Francesco de Benedetta, Ph.D. President of AIAM International Academy of Modern Art