Attention is the basic element
If we want to consider the lightning times of the creation of the world, recounted in the Bible, we must never forget the time it took for God to carefully study the elements and the laws which then formed part, and still do, of the entire universe. as much as I can imagine an imaginable thing, I would venture to estimate that time of divine attention as a small eternity, since at some point it had an end.
And if attention serves God himself. it is all the more useful to the man who cannot do everything. Rambaldi recognizes this important truth, which does not become the key element both in the choice of materials and in the way he uses them.
The artist prefers handcrafted paper and travels long distances to find it.
Each land produces a different card and each card hides its own secrets and character. When the artist is about to question the elements of his creations, still virgin, he does so in silence, and with his gaze and touch he tries to study them thoroughly: every relief of the paper, every fold, even the most hidden is called on appeal.
Sometimes the paper is stiff, sometimes it bends easily, other times it unravels too quickly when hit by a drop of water. To make a valid statement you need to dialogue with the materials, all carefully chosen, and bring them together on the surface.
It takes skin contact before joining all the elements.
The artist studies colours, powders, experiments with patinas and does so on small surfaces like the cells of an organism. Observe their vibrations and the light they emanate and then like a music composer, he joins the cells and creates the work as a concert, a symphony, a minuet and a suite.
Rambaldi, who was born as a sculptor, offers maps of his routes, which always lead to him, home.
In his sculptures, the movements of the pieces of wood, assembled and glued to each other, end with a return to oneself and never remain open.
The shape of the sculptures is always closed and complete. When one journey ends, another begins, sometimes longer, sometimes more difficult even if shorter, and if we placed one of his sculpture-maps on the ground, we would see that the streets always merge without a way out, looking like a village impenetrable.
San Giovanni in Persiceto - Bologna, September 2020
Hana Silberstein