ART-REVIEW:Sidival Fila

Many times art tries to touch metaphysics, also sometimes art emerges from church. But there are times when art and metaphysics join hands and coexist harmoniously, as in the case of the Brazilian artist Sidival Fila, who lives and works today in the Franciscan monastery of San Bonaventura in Rome on Mount Palatine in Rome and he is the abbot. In 1985 Sidival Fila moved to Italy in search of his artistic and personal identity and in order to improve his knowledge of painting and sculpture. After a few years, and after various work experiences he decided to give way to his vocation to religious life, and thus abandoned his worldly projects and entered the Order of the Friars Minor of San Francis of Assisi. He was ordained in 1999 and started exercising his ministry at the Policlinic Agostino Gemelli in Rome, as a voluntary at Rebibbia prison (Rome), and later at the Franciscan Convents in Vitorchiano and Frascati, interrupting his artistic work for 18 years. Gradually, and starting with minor restoration works, he began to approach art again and in 2006 produced his first new artworks with poor media and an affinity with Informal art and Spatialism. He was invited in 2010 to exhibit at “Trasparenze: l’Arte per le Energie Rinnovabili”, a group exhibition held at the MACRO Museum in Rome, dedicated to sustainable growth and to the commitment to the recovery of the planet’s environment. In 2015 the “TrasFormAzione” exhibition (together with Yves Klein and Tito) at Bilotti Museum, marks his remarkable reappearance in Contemporary art. In 2016, Sidival Fila was invited by Dominique Païni to participate in the exhibition  “DRÔLES DE TRAMES!”, at Le Fresnoy – Studio des Arts Contemporains – in Lille, France, where his works were called to dialogue with works by :Thomas Bayrle, Blanca Casas Brullet, Dan Flavin, Sheila Hicks, Ryoichi Kurokawa, Sol LeWitt, Jean-Michel Meurice, François Morellet, François Rouan and Pablo Valbuena. Sidival Fila in his first solo exhibition in France, that is on presentation at the Galerrie Jérôme Poggi Gallery presents 10 monochrome, pleated and sewn painting works (black-yellow-ivory) made from fabrics he collects at his workshop at the monastery of San Bonaventura. Sidival Fila first collects all kinds of fabrics in his Roman workshop, be they heavy sheets, tablecloths or liturgical vestments, damask silks or simple scraps of quality fabrics, from the 17th century to the present day. His works are silent and strong at the same time, they exude calm and peace of mind but also a series of metaphysical agonies that pulse and interweave between them in the threads, the stretches and the straight lines creating a spiritual universe that everyone can penetrate and travel on the great paths of the joy and the sadness, the sorrow and the happiness, but certainly all these works guide you to the ultimate using as stepping stone Minimalism and Abstraction. Just like the works of Lucio Fontana, Yves Klein or Dan Flavin, their spiritual light springs through the inner path and process of the artist who is solitary or is on retreat.-Efi Michalarou