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Wilfried Senoner da Luca, born in 1945, moved to Milan to continue his studies and we all had great respect. He build a connection between Milan and the local art scene and has brought many interesting people to our town.
The retrospective exhibition organised in 2001 by Eva Perathoner, Wilfrieds wife, showed all the technical and stylistic variation of the artist that passed away in 1999.
His Ideas were different from ours and he brought a new wind into the scene and that was beautiful.
Through him I got to Milan too, he helped us out and introduced us to his friends. He brought famous artists to our Valley which wasn't well received by the locals, because they were the ultimate expression of Milan's art scene.
He opened up to so many ideas in Milan, eventually finding his own way later on.
A new wind blew in the 60-70s and let young creative people to open up to new ideas and to the world. Wilfried wanted to speak up with his art and his person.
It was a revolution to go against those conservative institutions which was our valley.
Wilfried was born and raised in the big family of Gabriel da Luca, where the tradition of woodcarving was at home. So we can say that the handicraft is an important pillar as is the local art school and the Brera Academy for his artistic development. That means to earn his living.
I have always appreciated his great knowledge, he knew how to draw, paint and model with clay. He had a great knowledge of art history and that is beautiful. He knew a lot of things, he was a genius, a really fast worker, maybe he knew a bit too much in that field.
His artistic eclecticism allows him to not be influenced by what the tradition suggests, neither by the fashions of that time. His carvings and paintings often have the dimensions of a dreamworld. The figures are enigmatic and mysterious, they arise from a subjective visual world.
He was involved in many artistic and contemporary events in Milan through the Brera Academy and he picked up ideas from everywhere, bringing them together in his paintings and sculptures and that was great but maybe there was too many different worlds he tried to combine in one little garden.
He was quick and picked up ideas, sometimes too quick, way too quick. He went from one style to another, doing well in all of them. Once he was an Odin, then a Valier, a Bui and then he switched to create a gothic altar. As we say in the valley:” He had a good hand.”
He is not only a great worker but a company person, who fills his life with art and culture. He wants to improve his talent and wants to deal with the problems of his time. While his ten year engagement with the opposition of the town hall, he often had the chance to speak up.
One of the funniest things I remember, regarding the towns cemetery, was when they dumped all the garbage behind its walls. Truckloads of garbage made every funeral unbearable. So, as act of protest Wilfried took a garbage bag to the town council and dumped it right in front of the mayor, making some laugh and others angry.
He always fought, not just for the town hall, but to improve other things too.
We went to Omaha, Nebraska to work for one month. The day before we left, a restaurant manager asked us for a crucifix and a madonna, so we drove out into the woods to cut a tree and carved the statues in just one day.
Despite the fact that it was a log and we didn't have anything to drill with, we brought them the sculptures. They invited us for dinner and soon we realized the wood was already opening up, so I told Wilfried to eat up and run.
A world of art filled with forms, drawings and colours. A world of fantasy with a great creative endeavour. All this suddenly loses its creator due to a ski accident on the 12th of january 1997.
We were very good friends, it is such a shame that life can be like that. Wilfried surely is gonna be missed a lot.
I see his paintings in a different way now. There was a certain avant-garde in his works, his style is more modern than anyone else's nowadays.
Already in his 3 dimensional paintings, Wilfried is talking about death. This is a portrait of himself with a big scar on his forehead, that seems to have a prophetic value.
His last works have left the biggest impression on me. In his paintings I can see his accident as if he knew what was going to happen. I can almost say with certainty that he knew, because he had those skills.
He never talked about it, because he was afraid of it. But I saw it in his paintings with red stains and squirts all over, like blood. I wouldn't be surprised if he added them intuitively.
As impulsive as he was only death could stop his inspiration and defeat him. He that had of life the enthusiasm and of art the vividness.
Here it looks like he had seen ahead of what could have happened to him. On the other hand it tells me a lot, because whenever something bad happens to someone, like a disgrace, in the end there is always life that is born again and that is what he wants to represent with the sun and the apple. Something has to die, for something else to be born again.