At the Residenza Rivabella di Magliaso, the works of Lilly Polana

Curated by Dalmazio Ambrosioni

The art of Lilly Polana it is quite special, practically unique. He paints, but without using brushes; colors, but without oil pigments, acrylics, tempera or whatever; draws, but soon the traces disappear. Yet his are unequivocally paintings: beautiful, colorful, bright. Happy. They depict animals, especially dogs and cats, but also those of the forests, savannah, seas and oceans, as well as vegetation, especially flowers. Sometimes it composes more committed subjects such as peace, brotherhood, dialogue.

The absolute peculiarity consists in the fact that he paints with his own technique, which he has refined in an inimitable way. That is, with stamps, only stamps, which he expertly arranges on the canvas. Use stamps from Switzerland and from all over the world, large and small, new and old, chosen according to expressive needs, based on color but also on motif, size, texture, perforation, watermark, writing, postage ... Only stamps, nothing else , on a mostly black background, but often adapted to the motif and the chromatic tone of the painting. He started with this technique twenty years ago, after a period dedicated to oil painting, and since then he has held exhibitions almost everywhere, attracting great interest.

To mark the anniversary and exhibit the most recent creations, it is now back with a new exhibition at the Rivabella Residence in Magliaso. Until the end of March 2022 he presents his very particular paintings made in the last year. The title, "In flight in colors. 2001-2021: my first twenty years of artistic life”Summarizes the qualities of his paintings with stamps, which he has been making with absolute skill and exhibiting to the public for exactly two decades.

Lilly Polana, the stamp artist

Lilly Polana was born in Bern from a dynasty of artists of Hungarian origin. Her maternal grandmother Helena Czyrnianska played the piano four hands with Franz Liszt and her maternal grandfather, Oskar Dickmann, as well as being an excellent painter, was an excellent violinist with a gypsy streak. Together they formed a band in which their children also played. They arrived in Switzerland in the early 900s. Lilly's mom Irma Aurelia was born in Zurich and married a career military Lucerne. Lilly grows up between military uniforms and music, piano and violins, softly romantic atmospheres. She likes to draw and dreams of the south. As soon as he can, from the age of twenty, he visits Italy and England, he chooses Ticino for its Mediterranean air. In 1969 she married Edoardo Polana, settled in Caslano, and their daughter Sandra was born. He paints in oils but cultivating the desire for novelty. And so the first paintings were born, for which he only uses stamps. The technique is refined, each touch is definitive and unrepeatable. This very particular painting becomes the center of his artistic activity which meets the attention of critics and the favor of the public. The pleasure of art exhibitions is born, which follow one another regularly and which are marked by praise for the originality and technical expertise, for the themes, the colors, the emotions it manages to give. Virtuoso of chromatic harmonica, she has given concerts and recorded CDs.