150 x 250cm, Japanese paper on wood and pencils with inserts of oil prints
Text by Antonello Tolve

If we deconstruct the central panels of Polittico della Misericordia- Polyptych of Mercy (1444-1464) made by Piero della Francesca for the confraternity with the same name from Borgo San Sepolcro, we realize that Fabrizio Cotognini produces a modular structure divided into seven related rooms that on one hand retraces the original geometry of the piece (a rigid structure, a characters’ hierarchy, immovable iconographic grid), and on the other hand recalls the seven sins, the seven churches, the seven trumpets, the seven pieces by khesed. This is a figure that determines alliance, compassion, solidarity, opening, respect and love for the others. Even this latest piece dedicated to Misericordia (2013) is full of emblems and allegories, and processes the various interferences between archaic and present. Two dead snowdrops on a black background symbolize, for instance, the fall of ethical values on nowadays environment, while the plant (Galanthus nivalis) and the butterflies adorning the building in the middle of the composition, show hope, trust and longing for a better world. 

The characters on the four corners- Saint Sebastian (the strong, worth of veneration), Saint John Baptist (precursor of new), Saint John the Evangelist (the visionary) and Saint Bernardino from Siena (a Franciscan devoted to poverty and to simple things)- point out, even in the drawing offered by Fabrizio Cotognini, the main virtues (integrity and morality) through which the humanity can be saved from the actual maleström that swallows economy, politic and society. 

Furthermore, from a very un-iconic point of view the artist creates a new double tribute to an organization whose basis, strictly combinatory, reopen a dossier that, starting from Малевич to Reinhardt, from Joseph Albers to Sol Lewitt (if we want to quote some bright names), puts an accent on an elementary linguistic unit- the square- that is, according to Cotognini, the space of perfection, the minimal element that while celebrating man, invites to question oneself on nowadays collapses.