Bob Venosa
Manas Manna

Liquid, crystallized, irradiating, hypnotic, resplendent, molecular, magmatic, ectoplasmic...

I always find it stimulating to observe the extravagant pictorial creations of Bob Venosa contained in this precious volume. The graphic rendering and superior paper quality of the book perfectly enhance the meanings of the works, conveying to the observer emotions and reflections on our 'earthly' and 'spiritual' life. The book is also supported by various notes in English with rather complex terminologies that span across multiple topics and curious disciplines such as Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Sufism, Psychedelia, Yoga, Alchemy, Astrology, Biogenetics, Cybernetics, Evolutionism... Inevitably, all these writings wonderfully connect and blend with Venosa's art, creating further engagement.

Bob has created album covers for famous musicians, is also a sculptor, and boasts experiences in computer art. He collaborated with Mati Klarwein, worked in television productions with Salvador Dalí, Ernst Fuchs, and studied Hatha and Kundalini Yoga with masters Swami Satchidananda and Yogi Bhajan. A page is expressly dedicated to Yoga with some fundamental positions useful for psycho-physical well-being. He has exhibited in San Francisco, Boulder, Colorado, New York, Vienna, Spain, Munich, Amsterdam, Cadaques, and other important cities. Among the over forty images, I would like to mention those that I consider to be his masterpieces, namely: "The Enlightenment," "Atomic Blossom," "Birth of a Nebula," "Prana Exhalation," "Fall of Lucifer," "Sovereign of Nebadon," "Isis," and "Parasamgate." The latter is in the collection of the 'monstrous' graphic designer and painter H.R. Giger of Zurich.

"The Enlightenment" depicts a woman's face completely enveloped by an imaginative monochrome azure evanescent aura. The work immediately establishes the style and energetic potential expressed through almost unparalleled technical skills in the use of transparencies, with fine engravings full of tensions and vibrations. The forms benefit from an enormous variety of shimmering colors as if they were minerals hidden in the bowels of our planet. At times, one senses in Venosa's work the strange sensation that the microscopic and macroscopic worlds are inexplicably connected by mysterious and inconceivable forces. His elaborate and painstaking 'structures' could be explained as an interpretation of evolution starting from protoplasm, then moving through Man and Woman to mysterious cosmic manifestations. Observing some of his works is almost like witnessing a sort of journey through time, both into the past, when we did not yet exist, and into the future, when perhaps humanity will have reached new levels of awareness and understanding. These representations and energetic emanations often hide faces of women, men, and sometimes even children, camouflaged among the fluid or solid veils.

"Isis" is a clear example and could represent a Jungian descent into the maternal womb. The hidden faces, upon a first and superficial examination, might escape notice as they are so skillfully interwoven that they appear almost invisible. The spatial tree "Atomic Blossom" is also magnificent, with its intense, penetrating, and decidedly alchemical colors. The tree image is often associated with vital force. "Prana Exhalation" and "Parasamgate," at the center of whose powerful amalgams might lie the graphic interpretation of the Divine. The luminous and wonderful creatures of "Fall of Lucifer" decidedly remind me of the science fiction film "The Abyss." The elevated level of detail sometimes translates for the viewer into a sensation of almost palpable extreme gratification. Casually observing these works means missing all the visual and conceptual pleasure. Therefore, a careful and prolonged examination is necessary for each single image. Often, the artist creates what is hidden in his subconscious, his fears, the positive and negative experiences accumulated, and perhaps even his most ambiguous and hidden aspirations. Venosa's study is also an attempt to represent the unknowable or the immaterial, that is, everything surrounding us that currently we are not able to 'see' or 'reach'. In his art, there is an attempt to dissect how the Divine and the animal are linked within Man, and their eternal struggle.

Venosa, at the opening of the volume, hints at his personal experimentation with hallucinogens, which allowed him to obtain 'visions' of dynamic energy concentrated and manifested in a form he himself defines as 'angelic'. Personally, I do not agree with this system of achieving creativity. I firmly believe in personal research in all its forms, based on passion, love, and unfortunately, also on the suffering of our daily life. His works attempt to penetrate the wall of materialism that seemingly protects us, while in reality, it is largely based on fears and insecurities that may be irremovable. The artist becomes a conduit of the spirit-mind and makes an ascent into his subconscious at a symbolic level, opening himself towards the superconscious and the experimentation of new graphic forms.

Artistic greetings.