PISCOISO

clique na imagem

Empatismo Etymologically Empatism comes from the word "empathy", from the Greek emp�theia "passion", composed of en "in" and p�thos "affection". Philosophically empathy represents the projection of one's own emotional states in the aesthetical object, while psychology describes empathy as the ability to identify oneself in other people's state of mind and lower down to his thoughts to the point of reaching his deepest emotions. All this, in ways that are complex and varied, constitutes the fundamental principles of Empatism; artistic movement that I have conceived and theorized. Empatism is above all passion, to the greatest extent of the term, is pathos, affection, materialization of one's own inside motions, identification, state of mind in the shape of Art. Empatism is investigation of depth, not dictated by logic or evident facts, neither from psychological techniques or philosophical theories but brought about by an emotional situation, just as deep. An investigation that is objective since it is not finalized to digging deep inside in search of oneself ego, but to grasp the deepest emotional states to see reflected those of the entire humanity. Any expression of Empatism is therefore introspective and shareable no matter at what latitude or longitude our thinking bodies are, no matter how much melanin is in our epidermis, or how different are the ideas that crowd our minds: tears are all the same, smiles have all the same light; the rest is only politics. Empatism is expression, both esoteric and exoteric of how much of us is in others and vice-versa; a complete map of the human chromosome built not through the glass of a microscope but through the filter of Art. An emotional D.N.A. a "genome project" of creativeness... Empatism means being ready to vibrate with the entire humanity. To unearth one's own alchemical "nigredo" (blackness) in search of how much humanity is in each one of us, pulling out the perfume and the stench that the entire humanity share, though stubbornly refusing to accepted. Empatism is digging in the shadowed zone (where the extreme is possible) where we are perfectly similar despite our differences, that makes every human being the compendium, the "container", of the whole race to which he belongs. For this reason I have chosen as pseudonym (in times when its use is judged obsolete) "Andros" which means man. A man, all men. 1) The essential fulcrum of an Empatist's search is the human being: his pains, his delights, his whys and his answers. His life and his death, with all the awful and wonderful that lay in between. Precise purpose of his artistic passion is to sound the human depth, to give color, form and words to his internal winces, to hymn to the perfection of his thinking body and to the physicalness of his mind and to exploit all the expressive possibilities in full... the rest is abstraction. 2) Creation always passes through suffering and pain. Even illness, physics or mental is an Artist's good companion. Is it sad? Is it tragic? May be yes, but unavoidable. Only an hypertrophic sensibility can intercept the imperceptible, only who is a healthy carrier of nothingness can succeed in seeing where the others remain blind, only who has in himself the germ of insanity can go on hoping to be able to transmit his own visions to a world committed to totally different tasks. But to be sensitive means to regret for a caress, to be crossed by nothingness will expose you to the risk to get lost in its nonexistent depths, to be insane means to face the harsh of existence every cursed day. Empatism is a live broadcast of this pain. Empatism is the disease and its cure... poison and antidote at the same time. 3) The ideal way to represent Empatism is figurative; but there are no creative limits, rules or axioms. The sensibility of the artist has been, is and will always be, the measure of every form of art and its strongest demonstration. 4) As in any other form of Art, technique is fundamental in Empatism; any Art that tries to do without is destined to evaporate quickly. An artist without technique is a soldier without weapons. Art without technique is not free to express. Techniques have to be studied and then forgotten, to create new ones. They must be the result of a research, of endless reasoning put in practice test after test, experiment after experiment. Technique is important. This is why each artist should create his own, avoiding to repeat endlessly the past, giving his own contribution. To leave a shred of himself. But technique can't be Art. No technique, no matter how sublime or addressed to virtuosity, will ever replace "the craftsmanship of the discomfort", "the skill for uneasiness", the dismay of who sees and recognizes reality but is unable to accept it. 5) The suffering and the sense of inadequacy that the Empatist feels are nothing else but an hyperbole of that of the entire human kind. A drama with which to cohabit and that must be explored, careless of the cost and the result, because it is only through revelation that the illusion of freedom becomes possible; and illusion is as much as we can long for. 6) It is fruitless to investigate moments of joy and pleasure, ephemeral instants so difficult to capture and so poor in meaning; better not waist these rare moments but live through them without deepening their significance. A lot more useful is concentrating in relishing the bitter taste of suffering: it permeates such a vast part of our existence and is so rich in meaning that any artist endowed with sincere talent, will be unable to evade its spellbound and, in certain cases, even be overpowered by it. For these reasons, far from an inbred attitude to masochism, the Empatist will more often indulge in the strong emotions of grief rather that in those of joy. 7) Empatism doesn't need deceptions, mean tricks, sensational expedients, resonant proclamations, obliging personalities, artists of the manger or mercenary critics. Empatism only needs itself and two human beings: the first one prepared to lower in the abysses of his unexpressed humanity and the second willing to see what emerges from there without fearing to look in the mirror and free from the hypocrisy to feel immune; giving once more life to that marvelous experience that we have called Art. Sandro "Andros" Paolella - Milan, 20 September 2001 .