From Images To Words: A Group Of Italian Authors Accepts Leonardo Longhi's Challenge

By Stefano Vignaroli and Leonardo Longhi

Being part of a circle of writers who meet and exchange ideas through a Facebook group - nowadays it's all done through social networks - I launched to the others the idea of creating a story or a poem inspired by a Leonardo Longhi’s sculpture. That said, in a very short time the convened responded and, even faster, we created this beautiful little volume. A challenge? Yes, a good and beautiful challenge. Leonardo challenged us to move from images to words. Who won the challenge: the sculptor or the authors? I'd say both. Try reading the words, keeping the images in mind, and you will see that images and words will no longer appear to be opposite, but complementary. In Oscar Sartarelli’s words, no longer Wolf and Deer, but two souls in one body.
What we find in Leonardo Longhi's wood sculptures and in the writings of those authors who participated, is a single entity: the man. In its various facets, but always the man.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
• Release date: Jul 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781071554548

Book preview

AUTHORS

PREFACE

It’s so true! The most interesting encounters happen by chance. Just as, by chance, the most beautiful, the most intriguing, the most interesting ideas are born. I met Leonardo this way, by chance, while I was walking with my dog in the area of Porta Valle, in Jesi. Actually, I would say that it was my dog who wanted me to meet him. As if he had felt an alchemical affinity for the sculptor, Jenny, my little dog, rushed into his workshop, demanding from him the attention and the cuddles that every dog usually asks those who are in his best interest. Thus, was born a friendship, and a mutual admiration, of a writer towards a sculptor and vice versa.

Being part of a circle of writers who meet and exchange ideas through a Facebook group - nowadays it's all done through social networks - I launched to the others the idea of creating a story or a poem inspired by a Leonardo Longhi’s sculpture. That said, in a very short time the convened responded and, even faster, we created this beautiful little volume. A challenge? Yes, a good and beautiful challenge. Leonardo challenged us to move from images to words. Who won the challenge: the sculptor or the authors? I'd say both. Try reading the words, keeping the images in mind, and you will see that images and words will no longer appear to be opposite, but complementary.

In Oscar Sartarelli’s words, no longer Wolf and Deer, but two souls in one body.

What we find in Leonardo Longhi's wood sculptures and in the writings of those authors who participated, is a single entity: the man. In its various facets, but always the man.

And if you happen to pass through the alleys of Jesi and get the chance to Leonardo, ask him directly. He will talk to you about the man, about that strange game of nature that merges two souls into one body, about that law that makes every human being an eternal double, a fusion between the indomitable wolf and the sweet deer, between images and words.

Stefano Vignaroli

PREMISE

For those who don't know me, a little introduction, is a must. My name is Leonardo Longhi and I've always liked art in all its forms, but I focused myself in sculpture, which is the one I prefer. I started working on wood at a very early age and until now I have worked with different types of wood, but I gave my preference to the olive wood because, if we can say so, it has its own inner life, because of its particular and unique grain. It’s like if the wood spoke, like if it had already written inside how it wants to be sculpted. Working in symbiosis with my soul, I try to bring out from the wood a trait of my personal life: whether it is a thought, a fact, a feeling, a religion or anything else that expresses something important to me. This passion of mine started when I still was a child, when I was about nine. I learned the art of sculpture along the way, that little by little let us grow up together. I’ve always tried to improve myself and honestly, as it’s said by many, you never stop learning. A bit like everything else. And so, I gladly accepted this new experience proposed by my friend Stefano Vignaroli that later on was turned by him to a group of authors from Jesi and elsewhere. I never imagined that such interesting and articulated work would come out. A challenge? No, I'd say perhaps a union of forces. What more can I say? Happy reading!

Leonardo Longhi

I TAKE BACK MY SOUL

Story by Franco Duranti

Everything seemed to go smoothly, on the tracks of normality before that adventure. Until the day when Stefano could no longer control his soul and decided that was time to leave. His mind, before that long journey, was in constant turmoil.

He was going through a period of his life full of hindrances. His head was in a constant movement: it walked, ran, then stopped abruptly and then suddenly started again. In its aimlessly wandering, his mind clashed with a thousand thoughts which appeared twisted like vine shoots.

Inside his head, that he’ve been carrying around for over fifty years.

«Damn it!» he thought at that moment, while traveling off-road on those dirt tracks in the Afghan desert. «This damn