Magic, fantasy, poetry and immersion in nature. There is something archaic in the words most often spoken by Mara Montanari, the highly experimental 40 year-old Carpi-based painter of feelings.

Large-scale sculptures have emerged from her most recent experiments, in which metal is combined with curved 'petrified' lotus leaves, brightly painted to give shape to tropical flowers, animals and fantastic figures. These are now on show, together with her paintings dating from the 1990 to 1995 period, at the head office of the Banca Popolare dell'Emilia until Friday 24 April. 'I invented a "magical" process using oils,' says Mara, 'which I just knew would work. I'd been thinking of painting large leaves for years, and also of using my work to come into almost physical contact with nature.'

And nature - seen as a 'sourse and pathway of knowledge' rather than in a naturalistic and figurative sense - is central to the work of this unusual artist, whose limited output makes every painting or sculpture the synthesis  of 'long and intense spiritual and mental effort'. Or as she puts it: 'If I were a calmer person, maybe I'd do more of them. I could have fun doing series or repeating the same subject matter, as critics have sometimes suggested. But there would be no point or meaning to that sort of work. It just wouldn't  satisfy me.' Instead every new work is an adventure: 'Sometimes I start with  a fascinating title, often something evocative and poetic that fires my imagination and above all stirs feelings. That's the starting point for a journey that will lead me to the painting.' Then again, I might find inspiration in poetry or music. But it has to be something emotional, because a painting is a whole made up of feelings.' 

On canvas, images are joined to words, references, verses of poetry (with clear echoes of Miro', one of Mara's favourite painters), but always evoking nature 'my lifelong passion', whether it's the sea or a tropical forest, a frequently recurring theme 'even though I've never been there. My journeys are always made through the pages of a book.'
An exhibition in a bank may seem rather unusual for Carpi but is very common abroad, especially in Switzerland, where many banks have exhibitions spaces and concert halls to promote young artists. The opportunity came almost by chance, and at just the right moment. 'I don't tend to show my work much in gallery, but you have to put your work on show sooner or later, to get a reaction and communicate with people through your work.' 
After all, nobody paints for themselves, least of all an artist for whom painting is neither a hobby nor a job but something that, so to speak, gives voice to the soul.

Laura Parenti
From the Voce weekly
(Carpi, 23 April 1998)