The first movement of the eyes is to absorb the drawings by Camilo Meneghetti in its entirety, to then rebuild it part by part. A wild and indomitable landscape - and perhaps untouched by man - can quickly be seen. The details that build the image create small oases where its non-image character gains strength. The observer gets a sense that in these spaces, where the world is not replicated, smells, tastes and touches are taken as visual signs.
And then things begin to change. Where once forests could be seen, the impression of urban chaos now looms, and landscapes are replaced by kinesthetic representations of the world. Only then does one realize that no image imitates the world - there is only paper and material deposited upon it.
The artist seems to draw attention to the materials of his drawings, thereby extracting the observer from the faithful representation of the world, and instead throwing this observer into the sensitive universe shared by artist and audience. These drawings are more than portraits or landscapes: they are reflections of a universe transposed onto the paper by a nearly sculptural movement. From the details gradually presented by the artist, indicators can be noted on his work - indicators on the staggered harmony in the world.
Camilo attacks the paper by creating a mass, a black volume which falls apart in front of one's eyes and creates the feeling of standing before a landscape - one that can be seen only through the imagination of the beholder. The artist is chipping away at the drawing, as do sculptors, removing layers of material (graphite) and embedding images, sensations, tastes, smells etc. It is a sculptural process of the drawing, which is understood upon the mismatch of visual codes, so as to expand sight to all human senses.
Paulo Gallina
(July 29th ,2014)