“Soul and ink” is a fascinating book just released for Utet and signed by Luca Barcellona, ”artist of the written word” who works as a freelance graphic designer and calligrapher after having conducted in-depth studies ranging “from classical calligraphy to experimental writing and on large walls “. Luca Barcellona is now a teacher of calligraphy and lettering and holds crowded workshops and seminars all over the world. This volume, to be read and explored, more than a manual is a real song of love for handwriting. Which, as we know, is an increasingly obsolete practice and still deserves to be rediscovered since it has a lot to teach. It is from this observation that Luca Barcellona’s analysis moves, who considers handwriting «a skill that we are progressively losing». Many people, in fact, being forced by circumstances to resort to pen and paper betray insecurity and discomfort. And more and more, signing at the bottom of a document or filling out a form is experienced as a real bogeyman. To confirm this, even in the few lines entrusted to the guestbook of a hotel or an exhibition, the expert eye can understand if those who wrote them still have the habit of writing by hand.
If the habit of writing by hand breaks down it is a great pity. And it’s not about being a pastor or a nostalgic. Barcelona explains in fact: «It has been found that handwriting stimulates brain activity, and that children accustomed to fixing their thoughts on paper demonstrate greater neurological capacity than those accustomed to keyboarding. Not only that: the habit of handwriting has also been related to the areas of the brain related to imagination and creativity ». The way of writing speaks a lot, tells, reveals. It is a means, one of the most personal, to establish the relationship with what is outside of us. “Picking up a pen and putting it in contact with a sheet of paper reveals so many things about a person that it is probably impossible to list them all.” From the stroke to the graphic flow, to the distribution of the text on the sheet, each element is highly individual, very unique: “our writing will always be” unique “” and it must be affirmed with certainty that “no one will ever exactly replicate our way of writing” .
Writing by hand is the result of an automatic process, of course, but it is also perhaps above all a graphic gesture that immediately becomes an expressive gesture, “the result of the motor responses of our neurons”. What “is written by our hand inevitably leaves an expressive trace, and not just a message”. Barcelona clears the field of any possible misunderstanding, clarifying to the reader the distinction between handwriting and calligraphy: if for everyday writing or handwriting the essential objective remains to convey a certain message in an understandable way, calligraphy is «that discipline that deals with aesthetics of writing “. Calligraphy thus gives “the right aesthetic form to the text, adding color and emotion to the message that the words carry with them”. In this field it is easy to believe that everyone has the skills acquired in the first years of school, but leafing through the text of Barcelona, discoveries are made that surprise. For example, it is difficult to think at first glance that the “term” cursive “identifies a rapid and continuous writing characterized by the use of frequent ligatures, that is the connections between two or more letters written without removing the pen from the sheet”. We think we know and we don’t know. Over time the notions end up dispersing, falling beyond the invisible line of our daily horizon, so that we risk the unpleasant sensation that every day a small part of us is lost forever. Switching to digital form, comments Luca Barcellona, ”is a bit as if at a certain moment we stop having personal tastes”. If the new technologies are now necessary and structural, the pitfalls they hide must be defused with intelligence and judgment: “The current technology is a technology that, if on the one hand it seems to be useful, on the other it seems to dictate our daily life, the medium seems having replaced the purpose, and the container seems to be more important than the content. In this situation, picking up a piece of paper and writing a message in your own hand becomes almost a revolutionary act ». Carrying this ability into the future is also a responsibility. A commitment to safeguard each and every one: «Writing by hand remains a very important achievement for the human being, changed over the centuries in form and tools, but survived with extraordinary tenacity. It would therefore be a great defeat if it disappeared completely, supplanted by a few decades of technology ».
Luca Barcellona’s book is an invitation to pause in thought on the act of writing and to try to consider its implications which are, of course, virtually infinite. The examination involves the different aspects involved in the writing gesture. Posture, discipline, concentration. Because «when we write we are still doing graphics» and «writing brings with it a precise aesthetic research». If leaving one’s mark is an ancient need nestled in the human heart since the dawn of time, those who learn to juggle letters almost experience the thrill of having acquired a “super power: the more words you learn, the more things you can write, even sentences that have a complete sense, you can read them and, if necessary, use them to enrich a drawing, or vice versa ». Moments to cherish and cultivate taking into account the importance of our relationship with handwriting and the “many decisions to be made, when we put the pen on a sheet”. Learning to write by hand is a wealth for life: “Neglecting the teaching of writing (and more generally of manual skills), or approaching it in a superficial or even incorrect way, is today the root of many cognitive problems that are encountered in the age of learning ».
Calligraphy is a casket that contains boundless beauty and infinite wonders. History. Style. Taste. Penalty. Fantasy. Its field of action ranges from precious ancient manuscripts to colorful graffiti on the walls. Going into that extraordinary tour requires a spirit of observation, diligence, attention to detail. But also and above all passion and flexibility: «you need a remarkable, almost chameleon-like flexibility of thought to be able to pass from one writing style to another because each of them requires a suitable mindset». And again, it is necessary to study the great masters of the past to recognize in them the possession of “a pioneering genius and creativity” to rely on. Furthermore, to operate in that area, it is necessary to manage the anxiety of the small unexpected event that can spoil a set of great elegance and in spite of coming to ruin everything. Step by step “one learns the patience it takes to feel gratified by one’s efforts; this hardens our mind in a profound way and is a teaching that will come in handy in very different circumstances ». Practicing handwriting becomes an experience of self-awareness, work on oneself, a little ritual, a little fantastic and always deeply linked to the individual nature.
The history of writing has accompanied that of the human being, making evident an inexhaustible flow in perennial change, which already today lays the foundations for what will be tomorrow. A promise of survival based on dynamism: «Writing is alive precisely because it changes and evolves according to the tastes, tools and fashions of the time. Today’s calligraphers are “writing” contemporary history with their work, and perhaps laying the foundations for what is to come ». The long, enthusiastic, constructive study commitment of Luca Barcellona has led him, over the years, to ever more solid awareness. Up to revealing to him what concerns him in the first person: «there could also be space for my vision, which could combine classical calligraphy with more contemporary languages; a small window into a centuries-old history, of course, but in which everyone can and must make their own contribution. It is a way of giving back a part, albeit a small one, of what history offers us, and I think that those who hear this call are required to respond and leave their mark ».
“Soul and Ink” reminds its readers how a blank page, even with the ever looming threat of horror vacui in the background, is a prairie of possibilities. Not just a tool for the message, but a blackboard for emotions. Training in an attitude towards life, using talent and training. And always, I respect: «A calligrapher who takes care of his instruments also takes care of his work. Quality and attention should be present in all his actions ». In the Barcelona volume, what is underlined is combined with stories that reveal a wisdom that goes beyond the practice of handwriting and becomes a gentle life lesson: the author remembers being “literally kidnapped, looking at the tigers depicted on panels of rice paper of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. In calligraphy I am definitely attracted to getting a lot with a little; the example of Japan is extremely insightful in this: complex paintings made using only a bottle of ink, a brush and water. The real tools here are the eye, the technique and the practice, without tricks or tweaks of any kind ». Interior essentiality that also speaks through objects: “I prefer a clean work environment, limited to the things I really need”.
Apart from all that this volume wants and manages to clarify, reading its pages allows you to know a little of the author’s modus operandi: his search for clarity in his work, in fact, gradually becomes a rule of life and an expression of wisdom. . To such an extent that Luca Barcellona can now serenely declare: “I am no longer interested in surprising others with precision, with huge or very small letters, because after all it is not for the judgment of others that one writes, but for one’s own inner growth, and a work will be perfect, or finished, only if our gratification confirms it. And consequently, others will see it “too”. I write “here and now”, in the exact moment in which I make my gesture, it contains all the experience I have accumulated. Again, calligraphy taught me a lot, to accept my failures and to look ahead ».
A game of awareness that alternates letters and white spaces, knowing that fullness and emptiness have the same importance, as notes and pauses, harmonious balance of action and contemplation. It is then that the attitude towards the world can become open, curious availability: “When we are faced with the opportunity to learn something, we must be like dry sponges, with a maximum absorption capacity”. Overcoming one’s fears becomes an «approach to living», an intense «daily quest to be better people». Until you no longer tend to emulate someone but to achieve the best of yourself. And it is at this point that Oscar Wilde’s brilliant smile also helps: «Try to be yourself. Everybody else is taken ». In short, as Luca Barcellona observes, handwriting can pass from “niche for a few” to “niche for all”. Niche also intended as a refuge. Protected work space. And nothing else. In this regard, the author says that his goal by now «has gone from“ spreading ”calligraphy to“ defending ”calligraphy». In fact, “opposing alternatives to what we don’t like” is, in his opinion, “a form of resistance”. That quality time, meticulously spent in the exercise on a single sentence, sometimes on a single character, “forms the critical capacity, therefore also self-esteem, thus allowing us to aspire to the only truly honest judgment that counts more than the result: that from ourselves “. Luca Barcellona really loves handwriting. His guide book to share this affection. And to nurture feelings of renewed, indestructible friendship even towards the simplest ballpoint pen.