Giacomo Balla, Fortunato Depero, Julius Evola, Enrico Prampolini, Arturo Ciacelli, Gerardo Dottori, Mario Radice, Manlio Rho, Mauro Reggiani, Atanasio Soldati, Carla Badiali, Alberto Magnelli, Fausto Melotti, Gianni Bertini, Annibale Biglione, Oreste Bogliardi, Enrico Bordoni, Albino Galvano, Mario Nigro, Ideo Pantaleoni, Bruna Pecciarini, Jean Leppien, Adriano Parisot, Regina, Nino Di Salvatore, Angelo Bozzola, Piero Dorazio, Carla Accardi, Achille Perilli, Giulio Turcato, Antonio Sanfilippo, Lucio Fontana, Roberto Crippa, Corrado Cagli, Quirino Ruggieri, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Afro Basaldella, Gastone Biggi, Claudio Verna, Michele Cossyro, Leinardi, Paolo Catani, Marcia Hafif, Getulio Alviani, Alberto Biasi, Grazia Varisco, Davide Nido, Roberto Pan, Veronica Montanino, Alberto Parres, Alberonero, Sten Lex, Teo Moneyless Pirisi, Bros, Etnik, GUE’, 2501, 108, Matt Cercas, Tellas.
Curator | Giuseppe Stagnitta, Giancarlo Carpi e Raffaella Bozzini
16/6 30/9 2018
Museo Gagliardi | Noto | Italia
The exhibition traces the innovative trajectory of Italian abstractionism, from Futurist forerunners to the latest experiments in Street Art, bringing together over 70 works from foundations, archives, and major private collections. Historical abstract artists engage in a dialogue with contemporary creators, offering a sweeping panorama of the evolution of visual language in Italy.
The journey begins with Giacomo Balla’s “iridescent interpenetrations” of 1912 and progresses through analogical abstractionism explored by Balla, Fortunato Depero, Julius Evola, Enrico Prampolini, and Gerardo Dottori, culminating in Prampolini’s “cosmic idealism” of the 1930s alongside Arturo Ciacelli. The 1930s abstract elaborations around Carlo Belli’s theories are represented by Carla Badiali, Alberto Magnelli, Fausto Melotti, Mario Radice, Mauro Reggiani, Manlio Rho, Atanasio Soldati, and Luigi Veronesi, revealing the rich dialogue between personal inclinations and collective movements.
The post-war decades showcase members of the Forma and MAC groups, including Carla Accardi, Pietro Consagra, Piero Dorazio, Achille Perilli, Giulio Turcato, Antonio Sanfilippo, Gianni Bertini, Annibale Biglione, and Oreste Bogliardi, alongside coeval abstract works from the Art Club and Spatialist experiments by Lucio Fontana and Roberto Crippa. The exhibition also highlights the informal and linear abstractions of Giuseppe Capogrossi, Afro Basaldella, and Bice Lazzari. The 1960s and 1970s bring kinetic and optical works by Getulio Alviani, Alberto Biasi, and Grazia Varisco, as well as analytical or “radical painting” by Claudio Verna, Paolo Cotani, and Marcia Hafif, and Michele Cossyro’s phenomenal abstraction.
Contemporary abstract expressions emerge in dialogue with urban culture, presenting the pop-inflected works of Davide Nido, Roberto Pan, Alberto Parres, and Veronica Montanino, alongside cutting-edge Street Art by 108, GUE’, CT, Etnik, Moneyless, 2501, Sten Lex, Alberonero, Ligama, Tellas, and Bros. Across a century of Italian abstraction, the exhibition reveals how geometry, color, and structure continue to inspire experimentation and redefine the boundaries of visual experience.