Contrast of Sediments
- Technique
- Mixed media on canvas: folded cardboard or paper, adhered as flaps; acrylic with sandy aggregate and splatter; superimposed earthy glazes.
- Dimensions
- 131 × 163 cm
- Year
- 1995
Horizontal bands and folds build a serene relief in which light settles on mineral grain, between earth and lime.
About the work
Like a wall made up of layers, the canvas is arranged in a sequence of horizontal strips that alternate ochre fields with three dark bands, dense, with a more compact texture. The rhythm is interrupted in the lower section by a broad whitish, speckled register, which cools the palette and restores to the whole a limestone clarity. A pale frame, barely suggested, contains the composition and reinforces its character as a facing.
The structure rests on folded vertical modules: regular flaps that project from the plane and generate fine indentations between one piece and the next. These joints act as breaths, small shadows that shift with the angle of view and turn the reading into a slow, measured sway. The lateral view confirms a restrained yet decisive relief, concentrated in the folds and in the thickness of the layers.
Matter dominates through its granulation: over the ochres appears a pale splatter, like dispersed lime, while in the dark bands the grit clumps into a rougher, heavier skin. The light does not reflect; it settles: it becomes caught in the grains and on the raised edges, making visible Pagliari’s constructive patience and his way of translating the Mediterranean landscape into stratum, touch and silence.
