Eliseo Tells Salino

Monographic volume dedicated to Eliseo Salino (Albissola Marina, 12 August 1919 – 19 February 1999) realized following the traveling exhibition of the same name, curated by Greta Canepa and Simona Poggi, held since 13 May 24 September 2017.

The 2017 in Albissola it will be remembered as the year of Eliseo Salino, for the intense season of events dedicated to the historical study of this extraordinary protagonist of art, described in his creative path so vast and exuberant as to be able to range in themes, from the most popular to the most courtly, and in the materials, from ceramics to bronze sculpture, from canvases to slate, from small-format works to monumental works, up to the very high skills of a refined humorist, illustrator and gastronome. There is a lot of Albissola in him and more, and this is a trait that deserves to be examined in these brief notes with which I want to introduce you to the catalog.
Each painter who has lived and frequented the Ligurian town represents a particular vision with his own expressive world and his own poetics, an important piece of history, a single facet among the thousands that make up the splendid diamond of this great artistic event born on the fertile basis of the ancient ceramic tradition on the banks of the Sansobbia. But with Salino it is different, the gaze widens much more: the title of the event could also have been "Eliseo tells Albissola" because the essence of this place is within him and radiates everywhere from his works like a lighthouse in the middle of the sea. In fact, in each of his works we find the scent of clay used in factories together with dialogues with the great international artists of the time; we see the harmonious union of the history of Ligurian ceramics with the influences of the most up-to-date contemporary art. There is the culture of a territory, where not only his caricatured characters appear treated with his peculiar irony but also the cribs and the unmistakable witches that characterize his production and describe the many souls of an ancient people composed of religiosity and spirituality but also of magic, dream and transcendence, not to mention his love for the culinary tradition in which food, the recipes and flavors are inextricably linked to his art, to the culture and identity of a community. Salino was therefore a talented and curious artist of life in all its meanings, able to always surprise you.
[taken from the text by Simona Poggi]