Despite having disappeared from the important manifestations of Contemporary Art, painting has always continued to manifest itself through its graphic versions, occupying a very important niche in the art market. Already after the Second World War this trend had established itself through the graphic versions of the works of the most important artists, figurative and abstract, without distinction. What was sold was the “signature” placed on the graphic version; therefore Guttuso but also Vedova, Schifano, Guidi and all the others (we are talking about Italy, obviously). These graphics were rarely created as original works, because an already well-known and famous painting by the artist was usually translated graphically. Graphic publishers took care of this, with skilled technicians and printers carrying out the entire process. The artist, the Maestro, only intervened at the end to sign the edition sheets. Few and solitary pure engravers who kept the ancient art of engraving alive, usually confined to teaching and in the second or third row compared to the famous artist-painters. See works: http://www.bacart.it/categoria-dotto/bac-artisti/rinaldi/ On the market, a work executed by technicians, but with the signature of the famous master, achieved much higher prices than the original etching by a pure engraver. Laws and mysteries of the Art Market! Today I am following the evolution of both painting and graphics and I notice a revival of painting-painting (but with little real innovation) and of graphics (much more interesting and creative). There are artists who “pictorially” execute original graphics with surprising results. In practice, with the help of digital techniques, they manage to produce matrices, with pictorial effects superior to traditional painting itself. Conceptually we start from the experience of POP Art, but we no longer resort to the silk-screen or lithographic tool for the reproduction of a subject, given that digital allows a palette with an infinite combination of colors and the possibility of transferring the final result onto any support (paper, canvas, plexiglass, etc.), and in the preferred edition number. Among the artists working in this direction, Enrico Rinaldi is certainly one of the most innovative in terms of technique and content. Present in our Gallery and on our website, we are certain that his works will stimulate the public and critics to take an interest in this expressive research with surprising results. There are several portraits dedicated, not surprisingly, to characters with a strong POP value, other works are homages to artists of the past, still others are on the more challenging “social” side, with themes linked to current events.
