The Woodcutter 1980

Oil on glass. On the lower left are the signature and date, accompanied by the artist's symbol, the stylised figurine of a man in a wheelchair. This is a work on glass by the painter Mario Previ, who has lived and painted in a wheelchair since the age of eighteen, due to quadriplegia following a plunge into his Taro river. He said of himself: ‘The world, the passage of time, from this point of view (the wheelchair) teaches you many things. You learn to wake up every morning with a purpose, even if your body is in pain, if every gesture generates suffering and you depend on others, and giving up could be an easy solution. And instead, art, painting, together with the serenity of my world, of friends, give me incredible energy. They have saved me, giving me the strength to live'. In 1974, three years after the accident, inspired by a television programme on Yugoslavian naïve painters, in particular by the works on glass by Mijo Kovacic, Previ began painting and learning the art of glass painting as a self-taught artist, until he became known and appreciated for his paintings. In his naifs, Mario Previ recounts a reality that has almost disappeared, real stories albeit in a fairy-tale tone, revives lost traditions, glimpses of life that belonged to other generations, those of the peasant civilisation (from which he comes), but what emerges most from his visions are the ‘forë’, those that could once be heard in the ‘firossi’, the traditional evenings in the hamlets of Parma dedicated to getting together to tell anecdotes, stories and historical curiosities, often in front of the fireplace, when it was cold and snowing outside. The work is presented in the frame.

The Bonfire under the Snow, 1979

Oil on glass. At the bottom right are the signature and date, accompanied by the artist's symbol, the stylized figurine of a man in a wheelchair. It is a work on glass by the painter Mario Previ, who has lived and painted in a wheelchair since the age of eighteen, due to quadriplegia resulting from a dive into his Taro. He said of himself: "The world, the passage of time, from this point of view (the wheelchair) teach many things. You learn to wake up every morning with a purpose, even if your body is in pain, if every gesture generates suffering and depending on others and giving up could be an easy solution. And instead, art, painting, together with the serenity of my world, of friends, give me incredible energy. They saved me, giving me the strength to live". In 1974, three years after the accident, inspired by a television program on Yugoslavian naïve painters, in particular by the works on glass of Mijo Kovacic, Previ began to paint and learn the art of painting on glass as a self-taught, until he to make himself known and appreciated for his paintings. In his naifs Mario Previ tells a reality that has almost disappeared, real stories albeit in a fairy-tale tone, he revives lost traditions, slices of life that belonged to other generations, those of peasant civilization (from which he also comes), but what emerges most from his visions are the "forë", those that could once be heard in the "firossi", the traditional evenings of the hamlets of Parma dedicated to meeting to tell anecdotes, stories and historical curiosities, often in front of the fireplace fire, when outside it was cold and snowing. The work is presented in a frame.