Review by Anna Landolfi (Arti Libere)

It is only a first goal achieved, but not finished. The road that Valerio Pisano has been following for some time. Artist by chance, despite clear observations of his works that demonstrate an introspective research resulting from an innate creativity that allowed a natural path, historicizing the phases of his professional growth. The title of the exhibition “Serendipity” has a reason. A deduction that confirms how much the unexpected surprises us without having looked for it. It is an instinctive process that involved the artist we are appreciating, and which will allow us to surprise ourselves, precisely because of his creativity. The exhibition you are attending is the first act of a script written and interpreted by the very common and almost unnoticed objects of everyday use. The evolution of his thought about matter culminates with his sculpture placed in the Bosco Selene in Lanusei. Last but not the end of an evolutionary process that has yet to be manifested. Priest. In the title, the mystical secular sacredness of the artist. Artists are the transference of the Divine with men, and Valerio Pisano demonstrates this. And to dare to challenge the Gods, the artist proposes himself with works that desecrate but do not outrage the infinite. The road that Valerio Pisano walks has a mysticism that is free from common faith. His is an introspective interpretation of his "Self" and this allows him to observe the world in which he lives with an in-depth vision of things. It is a Dadaist profusion, which makes the object the primary sense of its function. The artist takes away the reason for which it was designed and gives it another dimension. He transmits to us his thoughts, completely distorted from their origins. It is an intellectual transfusion that undermines the use for which it was designed. It provokes, stimulates, encourages and even makes us smile, after all, a bottle of saline solution can also become an art drip. Just like the great Dadaists of the early 20th century, from Picabia to Dermée to Mutt, who made Dadà an avant-garde art, challenging academic concepts. This is demonstrated by the double-ended scissors, the handcuffs with castanets, and above all the fork with a ready morsel. It might even make us a little angry to think: "What is this?" instead, it is his proposal that makes us reflect. An invitation to think. Everything we are surrounded by has a function unrelated to use and reviewed with another objective. He deconstructs the obvious, and in doing so Valerio Pisano crosses artistic currents by applying them to himself, elaborating them and producing pieces of contemporary art, testifying to how much an object changes into another object, maintaining the same structure for which it was designed. The artist gives another value to the same object, and we will find out shortly. We consider the artist an "amanuensis". The elaborate graphic works represent hyper-realistic worlds. Abstract figures, meticulously outlined with a pen. Meticulously. This is the reason for considering him an "amanuensis". And the scribes were priests responsible for their infinite patience, for the reproduction of sacred texts and representations, and here it brings back its mystical secular sacredness. Obviously the artist must be considered in our contemporary world. And there is no reason to think of him as an artist dictated by omnipotent laws. If it surprises us, it means there is something supernatural about it. Art is always a sign of something divine, otherwise we wouldn't be moved by Michelangelo. Valerio Pisano goes through the stages of his life. The provocation, the graphic symbolism, the allusions and references to one's own use. His instrument, the very common ballpoint pen, creates a sentimental symbiosis. Signs are born . The Bic becomes a sign. Attention, not a signal. The signal indicates, the sign requires interpretation. The form. The Bic becomes a module. Having lost its useful function, it becomes the protagonist under the direction of the master. The pen is repeated, it is upside down, distorted, it has anthropomorphic mutations. It repeats itself endlessly, it comes alive. Valerio Pisano directs it. Like the series of couples linked to the cultural tradition of the area. He dresses them, poses them, gives each couple a territorial identity. A tribute to its land and so Bic begins to become an interpreter. Like stage performers, the quick-change artists, the cyclist, the athlete, the athletes, the Vitruvius man. We would say that it pays homage to the infinite human genius. An example of dramatic transformation? Bic like Arturo Brachetti. The man, the pen, transform into other identities. We could dare to compare the artist, risking blasphemy in the masterpiece of the Sistine Chapel in which God gives life to Adam. The artist dares to give him a pen. In the work Adamo rossa, Valerio Pisano innocently mocks Art. Art defined as the famous “Capital A”. It's the courage to dare. But the references to Leonardo da Vinci, to Michelangelo, are homages to geniuses. The lady no longer has an ermine, but holds a pen. Saint Sebastian is pierced by Bic pens. And transgressing by paying homage to the past, the artist respects it. It takes from the past and brings it back to today. He's a historian. The artist does not venture predictions. Tomorrow is a utopian reality. He doesn't know. But if it is the past, because it is history. Valerio Pisano does not lack courage. It's precisely that pen Bic continues to deconstruct it. It itself becomes the subject of history. He makes a mockery of it, which could be a scandal if he wasn't fair to the story. In 1984 some very intelligent students from Livorno carried out this operation: They brought to light three sculptures by Modigliani, three sculptures that the tormented artist threw into the Arno. Even Giulio Carlo Argan, an extraordinary art historian, was mocked by it. The prank was discovered and the boys reported. But the “collective persuasion” message was in doubt. Valerio Pisano, with sculptures resembling the Bic ballpoint pen, persuades the observer. This is demonstrated by the sculptures forged and made into archaeological finds . This artistic operation is not predictable. It is a discovery made from excavations of sites where there were humans. Archaeological finds of human presence. High joke. Masterfully produced in the workshop, made ancient thanks to oxidation techniques, the artist takes us back in time, giving a past to what is now called contemporary. The term contemporary has no value, the present does not exist. The moment you do an action, it is already past. And I am preparing to do another one that becomes a done thing, that is, past. It is an infinite line that is life. For these reasons, Valerio Pisano's sculptures are actually testimonies of the past. They cannot be considered historical fakes. The artist, researcher of art history, puts into practice what is unique, making that specific object the eternal protagonist of time. Skip the story. It deepens it. He interprets art in his own way. The “Kamasutra” series is harmony. The physical context is a paradigm of behavior among human beings. Physicality understood as an absolute attitude of balance. The energy infused between two lovers that dominates the entire universe. And the fact that two Bic pens do so takes nothing away from their ideal message. There is no action without it being done with love. And Valerio Pisano proves it with Serendipity.