The Wave
TEMPERA ON CANVAS 30 x 60 cm.
Lately I noticed something unbelievable: Emanuele now looks at the world to paint it! I noticed this today, while we were at the beach, by the swimming pool. He was looking at the tiles and at the water lapping against them in an unmistakable way. Indeed, he looks to paint, and paints to tell something about his life, about what he sees and he does. He has no other way! I don't know if this happens to all mums... but sometimes, for an instant, I have the impression be inside Mele's mind, like if I were myself thinking what he thinks and for a single moment I were understanding him perfectly...
There is certainly a form of empathy or ancestral symbiosis between parents and children; perhaps it is more noticeable when human functions are bare-bones and only the essentials are left, as in our case. My voice, e.g., has an obvious effect on him. If he sleeps I must speak softly, otherwise he wakes up, as if this sound was an important call, something he must listen to carefully...
I found myself speaking softly in a gigantic crowded hall at the Rimini fair, almost below the stage with musicians and singers, because otherwise Emanuele would have woken up from his sleep. And indeed it happened! How could he tell my voice in the midst of that all, while he was sleeping? Who knows! A girlfriend of mine noticed, e.g., how Emanuele did not react when we lighted a firecracker fountain on his birthday cake, but he turned his head immediately when I called him.
I thought that the more we are simple and "poor", the easier it is to recognize the voice of God, Father-Mother. It came back to my mind the wonderful prayer by St. Ignace "Soul of Christ", where it says "At the hour of my death call me". I don't believe there is a moment more simple and essential than death, when a man is truly naked, owning nothing and alone. I think that if the Lord calls us in that moment it will not be difficult at all to recognize His voice...
Mele painted several paintings so far, and probably every one depicts something, even if we don't know the subject. The one I like best is this one, its title is "The Wave". A wave that overwhelmed and submerged us while we were sitting by the seashore, looking at Giovanni, Emanuele's brother, and his dad bathing in the sea. The most interesting thing in this painting... cannot be seen! It's the way in which he painted it. He asked for white paint all in the middle, and he grabbed it with his hands drawing it towards himself, just like the foam of the sea waves rushing towards you on the beach... I realized immediately the subject of the painting, but I should say that there is little doubt, and it can be understood by everybody.
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