ROOM 3 – 1978/1986
The 1980’s marked an important period, full of interesting stimuli and developments which then influenced Vigliaturo's works in the following years. From 1978 to 1986, Vigliaturo explored landscape painting, working on a black background with a series of oils on wood applied with spatula.
He was strongly affected by the quiet atmosphere of historic centres and houses with pointed roofs, so he represented them with bright colours, full of a lively poetic and lyrical sensitivity. The first metropolitan images are dedicated to Venice, where he stayed for a short period at the beginning of the 1980’s and with which he established not only professional links. In “Venetian Corner”, the old houses have bright chromatic contrasts, whilst the line maintains its constructive function and the Lagoon confers an overall suspended dreamlike quality.
Developing over a decade these themes on black backgrounds, he explored the concept of en plein air, and participated in numerous competitions: he was awarded a prize in 1979 with the work “The Dome, Turin” during the competition “Pittori all’aria aperta”, promoted by the newspaper «Stampa Sera». During this period evidence of careful research and study, together with the concepts learnt with Luigi Bertagna and Edoardo Ferrero, Vigliaturo redefined his own painting methods, less tied to academic rules. Influenced by this new approach is the oil on wood “I would like to give everything...to the world” where the artist portrayed himself in an ideal interior, and the objects – a book, symbol of culture, and a cup, emblem of rationality and a return to order – are linked by subtle balances.
Sensitive to the debate, poetic trends and the formal research which have animated 20th Century art, in July 1983, he visited Palazzo a Vela in Turin during the important retrospective exhibition dedicated to Alexander Calder, an American sculptor who represents one of the highest meeting points between American and European figurative culture. He was enthralled by the joyful simplicity, the linear drawing and by his flat and cropped forms, and he dedicated “Homage to Calder” to the artist. It’s a conceptual work which preserves its own autonomy, even with its evocative play of references. He intensified his research and began to use new materials: wax, brass thread, metal, stone, and polyethylene. “Self portrait” and “The Gladiator” are clear evidence of his increasing interest in sculpture.