Only a sensitive man that keeps attention to concrete things and that is both proud and introspective can be able to entail the architectonical power of a dome in a 24cm painting.
During the centuries, the men built domes, sacred monuments and sanctuaries on an octagonal or circular base. The magic numbers three, four and five were taken into strong consideration during these constructions. These numbers were all under number 9 that represents the perfection. Especially, number 8 (according to the cabala) contains the numbers indicated above which are considered as being the numbers of both the divine and the humanity. These numbers are essential to sound and colour. They both have the same vibrant essence.
The circle represents the divine while the division into parts is the symbol of the humanization of the divine that materializes and becomes smaller so that our eyes and our senses can perceive it. The mosque of Omar has a golden dome on its top; it reaches the sky and it competes with the sun. The dome of Saint Peter is made of white marble. Do they remind the saint sepulchre or the sacred mountain?. The circle, the square and the cross are the fundamental symbols that represent both the universe and the real world perceived by the personal experience.
Under the dome there is a centre. It is represented by number 1, that still according to the cabala, gives origin to the movement and that attracts everything toward itself and supports any kind of strength. In the centre there is the totem; it is here where the initial revelations and the repetition of the rituals of initiation take place. This is certainly the most sacred area that guides the man in experiencing the inner and the outside world.
The centre brings outside from the labyrinth; it is the organization of the chaos and it gives sense to the reach of knowledge. Roberto Perotti tries to reproduce the myth of humanization of the divine, it analyzes it many times by changing the colours and by dividing the light, by materializing the quantity of colour needed and by rearranging the position of the bricks of the dome. He represents this by using many different combinations of colours.
He is both an abstract and material painter; he is the painter of both the symbol of the sacred and the Pagan land. Many colours are used to represent the earth like gold, ochre, white as the clouds, green as the grass, red as the fire and blue as the sky.
His paintings are the guide towards the mystery of the sacred which is represented by a combination of colours and by a soft/light mark. The dome aims at the sky as the psyche aims at the inner infinite. It can be said that his paintings try to reach (in a figurative way) the unconscious of men. Under the dome there are the believers while above it there are the sky and the sun. The divine is everywhere. Perotti positions himself and ourselves under the sacred dome in order to discover the essence of knowledge (inner knowledge?).
In his paintings only the essential forms are drawn but they have a strong meaning. The need of knowledge is strong. What Roberto Perotti does is the search of the sacred by using the colours of the rainbow.
We all can only hope that Roberto Perotti has not yet found an answer to all of his questions; in this way he can continue his sublime research.
Gianluigi Corinto
trad: Alessandra Di Falco