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John Lane

The art of Eliseo Lagana
b y John Lane

Eliseo Lagana is Sicilian; he was born in Messina , home of the great Antonello, and spent the first twenty years of his life in that city. Although I myself have never set foot upon the island, I like to think that some of its vibrant light and violent contrasts are to be found in the hot reds, pungent blues and rich textured qualities of his paintings.
Yet Sicily is not only hot and fierce, it is also an island of great cultural depth: it has been a bridge between Europe and Africa, a platform between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean ; a place where the worlds of Christian and Muslim also met; a place, too, where Greek, Phoenician, Roman, Arab and English all left their mark. This depth of historical association – the comfortable rubble of a land worked and loved by scores of people and generations – has also left its mark on Lagana’s work; striated, textured, layered with the accidental detritus of paint.
But if Lagana’s paintings have in them a strong colouration and decisive calligraphy, a southern extraversion, they none the less possess a deeply poetic and contemplative mood which expresses (so the artist tells me) the introverted nature of some of these island people. At all events, Eliseo Lagana feels much at home with other introspective people, such as the British and their land, to which he has been a frequent visitor. Sitting in a garden last summer, he told me how much he enjoyed the stimulation of balancing, on the one hand, his native world of passionate sensualism, “the vibrancy and contrast of southern light and temperament” and, on the other, his adopted world of Englishness, subtle and subdued. The marriage of these opposites contributes, I believe, not only to the tension but to the sense of equilibrium, the balance between opposing forces, which one senses in his work.
In a sense Eliseo Lagana is a romantic. Like all romantics he has had to discover his own imagery. Paul Klee has been a certain influence and so, perhaps, has been the biomorphic abstractionism of Kandinsky. Morandi’s cross-hatched etchings have also held an attraction if only because of their undoubted mystery. But Lagana is his own man and his pictures, intimate in scale, self reflective, even private in mood, speak to us in their own voice. It is a voice at once bold and tender.
His way of working may be wholly compositional, that is to say only concerned with lines, shapes and colours, but that way he draws not only upon deep levels of imagination but upon a deep reflection of nature. Lagana is someone who has studied trees and clouds, stones and hills, with an attentive and meditative devotion. A story is told of one of the Jesuit fathers at Stonyhurst pointing out the young Gerard Manley Hopkins and saying that Hopkins was a great scholar. “Impossible” said the gardener, “I saw him the other day staring at a piece of glass on the path and going round and round it. I took him for a natural”. But meditation on glass, as Lagana knows, may involve the meanings, causes and the principles of things.
Being and stillness are, in fact, especially important to this painter; they precede the creative act and guide and inspire an art which distils a mood once reflective, philosophical and musical. Thus, we do not simply gaze at the surface of his paintings; we are immersed in them. With intensity we study the grains, activities, surfaces and textures - all the phenomena of paint - out of Which They Have Been Created.
Lagana Described Himself has His work in terms of "inner landscapes" Which Arise from states of stillness. Thus in His Art, Being Becomes Form, attention materialises into matter, emptiness is crystallised.

John Lane, famous English writer and art critic, founder of Schumacher College, was for many years director of the foundation Dartington.

The Art of Eliseo Lagana

John Lane

Eliseo Lagana is from Sicily, was born in Messina, Antonello birthplace of the great, and he spent the first twenty-two years of his life in that city. Although I have never set foot on the island, I like to think that his bright light, with its sharp contrasts, is found in deep red, in sharp blue and rich textures of the paintings of Elisha.
However, Sicily is not only warm and fair, is also an island of great cultural depth: it was a bridge between Europe and Africa, a platform between the East and West Mediterranean, a place where met with the Muslim world and the Christian, the land on which have left their mark of their presence, the Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, Arabs and Spaniards. This historic and meeting people in a land worked and loved by many people for many generations, also left a sign in the work of Elisha, striated, textured, stratified deposits from accidental paint.
But if on the one hand the work of Laganas have strong colors and strong mark, un'estroversione south, on the other hand, not less, show a highly lyrical and contemplative mood, reveal the introverted nature which is also and often (so he told me the artist) in the island. In any case, Eliseo Lagana feels at ease in the land of introspective people, like the British. While conversing together, last summer in a garden, he told me to love a certain search for balance between his native world of passionate sensuality, the vibrations and the contrasts in light and temper of the South, and his adopted world of Englishness, thin and quiet. The union of these opposites helps, I believe, not only to live but also to the sense of balance, the balance of opposing forces, who feels in his works.
On the other hand, it is true that Lagana has spent many years in northern Europe. After graduating from the University of Messina, has gone to Paris, and then to Budapest, Warsaw and Monaco, and then arrive and settle in our land, the first of Wales, Bangor and in Cardiff, where he discovered the art of engraving, and then to London, where he has resumed to study at the Art College in Croydon, and then at the Slade School.
In a sense, Eliseo Lagana is a romantic. As the Romantics had to explore her own images. Paul Klee has had some influence on him, and also, perhaps, the abstraction of Kandinsky Biomorphology. The etchings by Morandi have also attracted much, if only for their undoubted mystery. But Lagat belongs to himself and his paintings, even intimate in size, reflective of meditative tone, speak with their voice. It 's a soft but clear voice.
His way of working can sometimes be largely compositional, ie involve only lines, shapes and colors, but in doing so, he evokes not only the deep levels of imagination but also a profound reflection on the nature. Laganas is one who has studied the trees and clouds, rocks and mountains, with careful and contemplative devotion. (.) Being and tranquility are in fact very important to this painter, before the creative act, lead and inspired art that distills a reflective mood at the same time, philosophical and musical. So we do not just stare at the surface of his paintings but we immerse ourselves in them. We study it with intensity texture, surfaces and textures, all the elements that compose them. The same
Lagat has described his paintings as "inner landscapes" that are made visible through the stillness. Thus, in his art, be it becomes form, the focus is materialized in the subject, silence is crystallized.