Florence, Friday 16 December 2022 was a day full of events for the Florentine artist Filippo Rossi. A large sculpture and about twenty paintings, some very recent, mainly in shades of grey, black and gold with some hints of colour: this is the Particolari exhibition, with which the artist intended to reflect on the theme of Light, which has always central to its production. The works were exhibited from 17 December to 8 January 2023 in the foyer of the Teatro Niccolini in Florence. On the occasion of the exhibition, the Florentine publishing house Polistampa has produced a sumptuous monograph with the precious bilingual text by Timothy Verdon and entitled Passione Contemplativa / Contemplative Passion. Every year the Pagliai Polistampa editions also present the work of a great contemporary artist (we mention among others Guasti, Faraoni and then Scatizzi, Loffredo, Alinari, Facchini, Ghelli, Maranghi, Nesi, Possenti, Guarnieri up to Annigoni, Talani, Stefanelli ) through an exhibition and the publication of a calendar. The many visitors this year were therefore offered the now famous 2023 Artistic Calendar, which this year celebrates the 25th anniversary of the event, with the works of Filippo Rossi. The magical moment of the evening, however, was the presentation of the book by Timothy Verdon from the stage of the Niccolini Theatre. Accompanying the author, in addition to Mauro and Antonio Pagliai editors of Polistampa and the artist, were two figures of the highest level: the director of the Museo del 900 Sergio Risaliti and Cristina Acidini, current President of the Academy of Drawing Arts . Sergio Risaliti took the floor and in the speech he outlined the artist's historical-artistic lines of reference: ''...For Filippo Rossi there are above all 2 artists, perhaps three who are in his ropes and who have studied their lesson , absorbed and internalized in depth: Rothko, Burri, of which he can be a renewer, an interpreter and I would not exclude Barnett Newman as well, a great artist who has achieved through abstraction a spiritual transformation, a mysticism, a rather biblical line how evangelical. It is as if Barnett Newman stood in front of the burning bush, looked at the manifestation of God and frightened painted these sublime, heroic paintings that manifest the absolute invisible ... well, Filippo Rossi tries to reconcile in a very refined pictorial technique in the use of materials and techniques, his inner passions, his interiority, his existence, his personality, his existential journey of faith and his gaze on the Mystery or on the Mysteries of the Faith...'

Cristina Acidini continued, specifying that: '...There are works by Filippo that are magnificently set in civil, private contexts. But above all I really appreciate in his activity what is then narrated and described in his last part of the book, that is, that of his 'Workshop'... he who creates and spreads his artistic modality in all formats, not only in the monumental format but also in more enjoyable formats in civil environments, and even in small formats. This really reminds me of the workshops of the Florentine Renaissance and even earlier those in the Middle Ages, when a flurry of ideas originated from the artistic direction of the master which translated into large formats, cycles of frescoes, which if necessary could also be translated into miniatures or 'object of use, in short, this versatility of artistic expression that reaches different audiences, even through different formats, I found very, very interesting because we say that often today the fame of an international artist is also entrusted to the large or very large format, to the astounding pictorial cycle for the size of the canvases. But it is when quality is kept even in the small format that the goodness of the invention is recognized, when the entire work of an artist, from large to small, is crossed - by what Riegl in the Vienna school would have defined a kunstwollen - will of art, which completely pervades the artist's creativity...'

Finally, the author, Timothy Verdon, took the floor and, as he explained in the premise of the beautiful volume, recounted the birth and the interweaving of these two stories; his with that of the artist which are the basis of the creation of this precious editorial work:

Filippo supported me in the effort to articulate the intimate relationship that I perceive between art and faith on a methodological level, reading the drafts of my books (in which he sometimes collaborated) and listening (even many times) to my conferences as organizer and companion of my travels in Italy, Europe and America. For my part, having been close to him, his wife, children, relatives and friends for years, I think I know the texture of Filippo Rossi's life from the inside, indeed, that I am part of it. And if, on the one hand, this intimacy shortens the distance required by criticism, on the other it guarantees an informed subjectivity which, on a historical level, I believe is useful; the reader will then be ‘objective’, who will judge both the artist and the friend who narrates the story here.

Finally the artist, who, excited, thanked those present and in particular the author; his thought is well described in the exhibition poster: Man is naturally attracted to Light. That's it. In my works it becomes an in-depth element that detects textures, thicknesses, distortions, above all imperfections: a crumbling surface, a crooked line, an indefinite colour, a wound...And it is above all from these wounds that openings are created, these necessary for the passage of the Light. This is the task of Light: to awaken and revive the color we already possess, perhaps covered by gloomy hues layered over the years. Indeed, it is precisely the task of the Light to welcome, make shine, cure and heal these imperfections until they become pure Beauty'.

The event was then attended by Alessia Bettini, Deputy Mayor of Florence and Councilor for Culture and the President of Confartigianato Alessandro Sorani with the management staff.

On the Youtube Channel the video of the event.