Linea

Linea
A reconstructed clay pot, part of the original collection of Montesuvian Pottery. The pottery served as a major inspiration for the art movement.
Location	La Rossa
Influences	Montesuvian Pottery

Linea (Ros. for "line") is a contemporary art movement that originated in La Rossa, characterized by continuous, unbroken lines that span the full length of what is usually dark clay pottery. Followers of the artstyle tend to limit themselves to the traditional black-and-white coloring, in order to preserve the simplicity of form that characterizes it. While the customary approach sees the firing of clay in environments of low breathable air, which leads to a darkening of coloring on its surface, modern approaches tend to use darker clays enriched in manganese, or the application similarly manganese-colored, black earthware glazes. Carving through the dark surface coating through a process known as sgraffito, the relatively brighter lower layers are revealed. Many artists tend to add additional white coloring to the etchings, in order to increase the contrast.

Heavily associated with Rossan nationalism in the years following the Second Calming, the artstyle evokes the earliest examples of art on the island, most notably the Montesuvian Pottery discovered in 27 TT. Unlike Colscritto, a related art movement, linea continues the traditional approach of creating etchings on circular clay pots. The lines, spanning continuously the entire circumference of the pot, thus join into themselves, creating an unbroken repeating pattern. Despite the focus on traditionality, avantgarde approaches have seen playfulness with the form, including changing the shape of the pots, intersecting lines, and other variations. Most pieces in the form of linea end up utilizing one or two lines, which are used to represent concepts or patterns to various degrees of abstraction.

Linea is one of the two major art styles that have arisen following inspiration from the Montesuvian Pottery, alongside colscritto. Where linea takes the form of continuous lines, colscritto uses a multitude of discrete knife strokes across the surface of the pottery. Both may be considered part of the Patriota that has arisen following the Second Calmings, as attempts to establish a shared national identity in contrast with the wider archipelago led artists to draw upon the historical traditions of the island, oftentimes with modern re-imaginings. The Padeno art scene has produced a number of linea artists, most notably Benito B. Panestrotti.