For Antonio Papasso

The "PAPIER FROISSÈ" is "…a technique consisting in the use of soft crumpled tissue papers (papiers froissès) placed in relief on the canvas beneath, which Papasso invented in the early ‘70’s and made his own" (1). Simple forms that seem to be still taking shape, and that have let him express himself artistically, speak as man to Man, beyond current fashions and transitional cultures.
From the start of his artistic career, which dates back to before the ’70’s, it seemed vital to him that, instead of riding it, someone or something opposed the abominable decay of the social, of people dressed in false ethical values more and more alienated from themselves, and still more, stripped of spirituality.
After a period of experiences and a show in Milan in 1979, presented by Roberto Sanesi, in 1981 Papasso exhibited more mature works, made with the same technique of (papiers froissès, in the Milanese gallery Zarathustra. Gillo Dorfles, a distinguished aesthetician, was its godfather and, after describing the birth and development of this innovation, claimed in the catalogue: "... it is a new way to open the road towards outside, towards the light, towards a new and different - perhaps more dangerous but also more fruitful - communication with our fellow human beings, with society and with the world" (2).
I would call it a communication close to music, which is freed in the depths, beneath the level of rational understanding, and touches some "chords": how, we do not know, any more than we know what the outcome will be. But it captures the depth of the soul and gives it back that spirit of fundamental life, giving meaning to human existence.

Papasso’s work is a gamble, played at great risk because he is swimming against the stream, but he remains faithful to a natural and original communication.

Giovanna Alliprandi (psychologist)
3 December 2007


(1) and (2) are taken from the complete text by Gillo Dorfles (1981).