Gerardo Paoletti

罗雪梅、宁彦昕

塔罗牌是一种神秘的护身符，它连接着人们心中的困惑与欲望。在新冠疫情下，意大利艺术家杰拉尔多·保莱蒂试图探索当前环境下人们共享的集体潜意识：通过塔罗牌展现了一个冲突、破碎、混乱的世界——就像我们现在生活的地方。艺术家采用数字技术，结合视觉表现、视频和声音，创作出这一系列作品。22张牌分别对应一张大阿卡纳——占卜师对一副塔罗牌中王牌的称呼。通过这些塔罗牌，保莱蒂旨在揭示混乱中世界的复杂性与神秘本质。

“在人类文明中，死亡是个普遍思考的话题，它激发了对未知世界无限的猜想和探寻”

当今社会，信息、科学、政治、全球化时常相互冲突。艺术家用死亡的语言对这个充满分歧与对立的时代进行探索。保莱蒂借用一位著名的意大利作家路伊吉·皮兰德娄的理念，主张我们要一遍又一遍地重申“死者的语言”，也就是说，我们要不断重提曾经发生的事情，因为某种程度上，今天是昨日的再现。我们并非生活在一个独一无二的时代。事实上，在人类文明中，死亡是个普遍思考的话题，它激发了对未知世界无限的猜想和探寻。这副塔罗牌中，出现很多骷髅、红色的魔鬼以及其他怪异的角色。它们是存在于中世纪死亡视觉意象的形象。14世纪前后，黑死病——一个恐惧与死亡的信使——如末日预言一般降临欧洲。那些被感染的人所遭受的丑陋、痛苦、突然的死亡把这个物质世界变成了人间地狱。生与死变得模糊不清，人的存在成了注定的孤独与绝望的黑暗。

第16张塔罗牌——“塔”，与其传统意义一样，很好地表达了毁灭的时刻。作品中，蓝色背景的天空被大片金叶麻覆盖，就像地狱之火的仿照。各色冠状病毒的形象从天而降，与中世纪描述瘟疫的方式映照：如箭雨一般从天堂落下。伴随着一道闪电，楼房燃起大火，滚滚黑烟冲上天际。身形怪异的地狱之王像一只背上长着翅膀的红色长颈鹿，在燃烧的塔顶举着一面病毒的旗帜。面目狰狞的恶魔探出窗外，绝望地哭喊着，想要从这个已然成为死亡陷阱的地方逃脱——这一幕好像弗拉·安吉利科《最后的审判》中的地狱场景。正如保莱蒂所说，在全球化的构建中，多样性连同它善与恶的一面都被压抑。楼房的下半部分借用达芬奇的《维特鲁威人》作装饰。建筑结构的均衡与人体的完美比例似乎把遥远的人类文明带进这个光怪离奇的世界。画面前景，一个穿着职业装的恶魔在燃烧的塔旁，正用铲子清理地上发现的病毒实体。它戴着王冠和鸟喙状的面具。这使我们想到保罗·福斯特作品中，带着长喙面具、治疗瘟疫的医生形象。面具下，这个恶魔形象露出狰狞的笑，我们可以听到共鸣，他似乎正在享受着“毁灭胜利”前的时刻。

“保莱蒂通过解构现实世界的复杂性与多样性,构建起一个新的世界”

第二十一张卡片——“世界”展现了一个由死神和魔鬼占领的半个地球。在地球的上方，一只骷髅模样的公鸡坐在马桶上陷入沉思。地球的另一半被垃圾和病毒实体替代。看起来有毒的废弃物正从地球排出。失去家园的魔鬼在垃圾堆上摇晃着白旗。骷髅状的公鸡是古典符号融合而成的一个当代新肖像。在意大利文化中，公鸡暗示傲慢和好战，而骷髅是死亡的重要提示。翅膀代表着一个不朽的灵魂。这个形象带给我们的不是恐惧，而是一种同情。根据古典神话，气、水、土、火四种元素支配着世界。但这些元素因人类的行为而面临威胁。污染能破坏地球上美好的一切。如果找不到可持续的替代品，那么地球宝贵的资源将被耗尽。最后，连魔鬼也找不到栖息的地方。

人类的行为改变了这个世界，所有经典的象征意义也需要重新表达。保莱蒂通过解构现实世界的复杂性与多样性,构建起一个新的世界。在他的创作中，死亡不仅仅是一个主题，更是一种语言的表达。在这场人类与瘟疫的斗争中，我们需要对世界建立起新的信念。死亡只是我们正视和探索灵魂的一种方式，是我们反思这个世界的意义和本质的途径。

By Luo Xuemei and Ning Yanxin

Tarot cards are mystic amulets that connect to feelings of bewilderments and desire in people’s hearts. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Italian artist Gerardo Paoletti has been trying to reveal the collective unconscious that people are sharing under present circumstances: His tarots presents a conflicting, broken, and chaotic world – as the one we are living in. The artist used digital technologies to create this series of works, which mix visual representation, video, and sounds. Each one of the twenty-two cards is named after one of the Major Arcana, which is how occultists call the trump cards of a tarot pack. With this, Paoletti aims at revealing the complex and mysterious nature of our world on turmoil.

“Death is a universal topic of reflection, which stimulates an endless array of conjectures and attempts at finding the truth about an unknown world”

In today’s society, information, science, politics, and globalization often enter in conflict with each other. The artist explores this moment filled with friction and tension by using the language of death. By referring to an idea of Luigi Pirandello, a famous Italian author, Paoletti suggests that we refer over and over again to the “language of the dead,” that is, we constantly refer to what has already happened, cause today is somewhat a repetition of yesterday. We are living a moment that is far from being unique. In human civilization, in effect, death is a universal topic of reflection, which stimulates an endless array of conjectures and attempts at finding the truth about an unknown world. In these tarot cards, the images of skeletons, demons in red, and other monstrous characters are common. They are images that inhabit the macabre visual imagery of the Middle Ages. Around the 14th century, the black plague – a terrible messenger of terror and death — arrived in Europe just like apocalypse. The ugly, painful, and sudden death that those infected suffered turned the material world into a living hell. Life and death became blurred, one’s existence reduced to a destiny of solitude and desperate darkness.

The sixteenth card of the series, “The Tower,” well represents these moments of destruction, which is its associated traditional meaning. In the work, the background of blue sky is covered by a spreading golden leaf, which appears as a reference of the fire of hell. Images in different colors of the corona virus are falling from above, echoing in an important way how the plague was described in the Middle Ages: Arrows coming down from heaven. A streak of lightning ignites the building and dark smoke fills the air. The king of hell, whose monstrous body resembles that of a red giraffe with wings on its back, is holding a flag of the virus on the top of the burning tower. Demons of terrifying appearances are coming out of the windows crying desperately for a way out of what has become a death trap – a scene that resembles Fra Angelico’s depiction of hell in his Last Judgement. As Paoletti says, in creating a globalized world, diversity – in its mix of good and evil sides – is suppressed. The lower part of the building uses Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man as decorative pattern. The balance of the architectural structure and the perfect proportion of the human body seem to bring a distant idea of human civilization into this grotesque world. In the foreground, right next to the burning tower, a devilish figure in business clothes is using a shovel clearing up instances of the virus found on the ground. He wears a crown and a bird-like mask. The image reminds us of plague doctors with their long, beaked masks as found in Paul Fürst’s works. Under his mask, this demonic figure is putting on a grisly smile, which we can hear resonating, as if he were enjoying this moment right before the “triumph of destruction.”

“Paoletti here deconstructs the complexity and diversity of the real world, while reconstructing a new one”

The twenty-first card, entitled “The world,” represents a half globe which is occupied by death and demons. On top of this half globe, a skeletal rooster sitting on the toilet is lost in deep thought and frozen from the action. The other half of the earth is replaced by piles of rubbish as well as instances of the virus. What appears as toxic waste is pouring out of the earth. The devil who has lost his home is waving a white flag in the garbage. The skeletal rooster brings together classic symbols and creates a novel contemporary iconography. In Italian culture, the rooster represents someone who is arrogant and belligerent, while the skeleton is a powerful reminder of death. And wings indicate an immortal soul. Instead of fear, this image brings us a sense of sympathy. According to classical mythology, the world is governed by four elements: air, water, earth and fire. But all of these elements are now endangered by human activity. Pollution can damage everything that is good in our planet. If sustainable alternatives will not be found, the earth would run out of its precious resources. In the end, even devils and demons will not find a place where to stay.

The behavior of human beings has changed the world. Classic symbolism is looking for being redesigned. Paoletti here deconstructs the complexity and diversity of the real world, while reconstructing a new one. In his works, death is not just a theme, but a language of expression. In today’s fight between humans and the pandemic, we are required to establish a new faith in this world. Death is just a way to confront and explore our souls, and to reflect on the meaning and the essence of this world.