I'M A MOSAIC
from 12 October 2024 to 12 January 2025
Ravenna
The MAR – Art Museum of the City of Ravenna and the State Academy of Fine Arts of Ravenna present *I’M A MOSAIC!* From Severini, Sironi and Fontana to Paladino, Plessi and Samorì, curated by Paola Babini, Giovanna Cassese, Emanuela Fiori and Giovanni Gardini. A fascinating journey that takes the visitor back to the origins of the mosaic renaissance that took place in Ravenna in the 1920s, through the seminal developments of the 1950s, right up to the surprising mosaic interpretations in contemporary art.
Through a journey through 20th- and 21st-century art, the exhibition traces some key milestones in the history of the School of Mosaics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna in the year of its centenary (1924–2024).
Indeed, from 1924 onwards, thanks to the founding of the School of Mosaics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna, followed in 1948 by the establishment of the Mosaicists’ Group, mosaic art entered a new golden age, opening up to new contexts and artistic poetics, before becoming one of the visual languages of the contemporary world. The city has successfully reinvented the ancient technique that made it one of the world’s art capitals: on the one hand, it has broken free from the exclusivity of the culture of restoring ancient works; on the other, it has followed in the footsteps of the great masters of the twentieth century, who in turn were able to draw inspiration from the language of mosaic, reworking it into works of great expressive power. The mosaic work has achieved autonomy from the pictorial ‘cartoon’, becoming a work of design, street furniture, sculpture and installation.
The exhibition is divided into eight sections that trace some of the key stages of this renaissance: from the major works of the 1930s to those created by some of the most significant names in Italian art of the last century, right up to the most original works of today.
The exhibition has been made possible thanks to the support of the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna, Orsoni Venezia 1888 and Ravenna Trentatre.
Aldo Mondino
Contemporary mosaic is characterised by ceaseless experimentation, marked by a constant focus on the materials used, which are sometimes combined in unconventional ways. An example of this experimentation is featured in the exhibition through the works of Aldo Mondino, to whom the MAR dedicated a major solo exhibition in 2003 entitled "Mondino Aldologica".
The playful element plays a fundamental role in the Turin-based artist’s creative process, including his uninhibited use of materials, with provocations rooted in a highly personal and refined cultural imagination.
This ongoing process of experimentation with materials finds expression in the sugar mosaics presented by Mondino at the 1993 Venice Biennale, or those made of chocolate, such as Oro y Plata from 1999, exhibited in I’M A MOSAIC!
“I have never been attracted to mosaics made of stone, marble or enamel, thinking that I would have impoverished my sketch or even altered its meaning, losing spontaneity. […]”, states Mondino in the interview published in the Aldologica exhibition catalogue. “I have often used the mosaic technique, replacing the classic tesserae with small squares of sugar […]. The paintings featuring Peyrano chocolates also derive from the mosaic technique. My friends Giorgio and Bruna Peyrano […] prepared for me, using their moulds and an endless array of coloured papers, a special mixture that lasts forever […]”
In Lave nere, Milo Mondino plays with irony through linguistic assonance and wordplay between the title and the work. Furthermore, whilst using the ancient technique and conventional materials, he subverts the concept of the mosaic floor into that of a decorative mosaic rug.
12 October 2024 – 12 January 2025
MAR Art Museum of the City of Ravenna
MAR Art Museum of the City of Ravenna
Opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 9.00 – 18.00
Sunday and public holidays 10.00 – 19.00
Closed on Mondays / the ticket office closes half an hour earlier
Tuesday – Saturday 9.00 – 18.00
Sunday and public holidays 10.00 – 19.00
Closed on Mondays / the ticket office closes half an hour earlier
Oro y plata, 1999
cioccolatini su tavola
40 × 50 cm
Tappeti stesi, 1985
olio su eraclite
650 × 400 cm
Lave nere di Milo, 2003
mosaico su supporto sintetico flessibile (pietre, smalti e oro)
100 × 150 cm
Opere correlate
Nessuna opera correlata trovata