The Green Lion

PRESSRELEASE
ANCIENT PALACES - THE GREEN LION : THE CREATIVE SPIRIT ITSELF

Where: Palazzo Cesi - Corso Lincei, Acquasparta (TR)

Period: from 23rd of may to the 24th of june

Vernissage :  friday the 23rd of may  h.18.00

Opening: Monday - Saturday  16.00 - 20.00
          Morning opening saturday the 24th with guiding tours

Info line: +393285930092  mail: info@camaver.com

The Green Lion

The Green Lion is the name of the event which is going to take place in Acquasparta (TR) during the whole month of June 2008. The most important part of this occasion will be the great contemporary art exhibition organized by Camaver Kunsthaus International.

The artists' artworks, strictly selected by the Gallery, will be exhibited in the wonderful halls of Cesi Palace. The 2008 edition will be the fifth time of the prestigious exhibition. In accordance with the previous editions, this group exhibition will be part of the Renaissance Festival of Acquasparta; it will involve several artists coming from all over the world. Owing to their personal experiences and their different artistic languages, the artists create a multi-varied event that, as was the case with earlier editions, will  
be exceptionally interesting from many points of view.

Green Lion is the ambitious title of the artistic event that will present, not only paintings, but also sculptures, photography, literature, music and movies. The exhibition is inspired by one of the most important members of the group of Renaissance scientists and inventors who made up the "Lincei Academy" at Cesi Palace: Giovan Battista Della Porta. Della Porta was a Universal Man, he was the Vice President of The Lincei Academy but, even more so, he was one of the most important men in his time. He was an alchemist, he invented the camera obscura, and he was one of the first to write many books about modern natural sciences, physiognomy, cryptography and optics, among others. The Green Lion was the symbol used by alchemists to encompass different
concepts: it represents the natural world: both the vegetable and the mineral kingdom; it was the symbol of the lymphatic energy of plants, but also of the process of transmuting metals. The green lion was often associated with VITRIOL (acronym of an ancient Latin: "Visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem - veram medicina". ("Visit the inner earth and by discovering your true self you will find the hidden stone - the real medicine.) Furthermore the Green Lion represents one of the essential stages in the alchemic process: transmutation, evolution, generating substances. 
Very often the lion has been portrayed with the sun into its mouth, trying to swallow it. This symbol is a kind of synthesis, implying the act of regaining control over both natural and vital energies.

We can consider alchemy as being something more than an ancient form of
science: it linked science with metaphysic. Natural sciences and occult sciences became intertwined, with the aim of finding explications for natural phenomena. Alchemists aimed at creating an elixir for longevity, as well as the famous philosophers' stone. This was an attempt to overcome the lack of balance they observed all around them and which they defined as diseases.
So alchemy became a way of controlling spiritual energy through unique acts, and by means of a number of specific symbolic rituals, corresponding to particular procedures (putrefaction, calcination, distillation,
sublimation).

Finally, we can consider the Green Lion as a representation of the "creative spirit itself", described as the agent of any interior transformation. In other words, art becomes a process not mediated by the intellect, but by pure instinct, the handmaiden of the creative spirit. The “Green Lion” exhibition in Palazzo Cesi in Acquasparta will present many of the results manifested by this creative spirit.

Others Events:

Friday the 23rd of may opening of people award for the best artist on show

Saturday the 24th
h. 16.30 trailer of the movie based on the novel "Il Fabbro di Acquasparta"
h17.00 reading of the novel "Leone Verde" by Carlo Mario Cerroni

Guiding tour of the exhibition