How can art intersect with sports? With this post I take you into the world and works of Velasco Vitali, an artist whose passion for tennis shines through in his work.
Since 2017, Vitali’s artistic production has taken on new nuances, ranging from elegant monochromes to intense depictions of red clay. This is how tennis, in addition to being a game of physical strength and endurance, has become a powerful expressive tool for Vitali.
THE WORKS OF VELASCO VITALI
In 2017, the acquisition of a new studio with a tennis court marked a significant turning point in Velasco Vitali’s career. Here, the artist began to explore new modes of expression, painting paintings characterized by strict monochromaticism on shades of red, reflecting not only the characteristic color of the red clay of tennis courts but also a deep immersion in the very essence of the game.
Vitali’s artistic evolution moved toward the initiation of the “Red Earth” cycle, inspired by Kazimir Malevič’s famous “red square.” A theme that carries with it a load of symbols related to color and matter, in which the focus shifts to the fragility and dustiness of red ochre, with compositions that evoke corners and segments of tennis courts.
The work becomes a dialogue between form and void, where color becomes a metaphor for art and sport, uniting imagination and physical reality.
Matteo Codignola, curator of the volume “Terra Rossa” reflects on the deeper meaning of tennis as a dream and a metaphor for life: the tennis court represents an empty and immaculate space, a symbol of endless possibilities, before the game begins and transforms it. This vision of purity and potential is centrally thematic in Vitali’s works, where the court is often depicted free of imperfections, an ideal to aspire to in both art and sport.
Through his unique interpretation of tennis and symbolic use of color, Velasco Vitali invites us to reconsider not only sport but art’s ability to transform and elevate our everyday perceptions. His works offer a fresh and deeply reflective vision of how passions can merge, creating new horizons of expression.