The Mazzoleni gallery in London establishes a link between Antiquity and the present by bringing together the works of three great figures of Italian art and a contemporary Mexican artist: Giorgio De Chirico, Salvo, Giulio Paolini and Jorge Méndez Blake.

For thirty-five years, the Mazzoleni Gallery, based in Turin and London, has offered a rich and comprehensive perspective on post-war and contemporary Italian art. To celebrate its tenth anniversary in the English capital, the institution continues to present museum-quality exhibitions. “Mythology Reinterpreted” sheds new light on the vision of three major artists whose works remain both historical touchstones and a timeless source of inspiration.

This pictorial journey juxtaposes "the metaphysical reflections of Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978), the conceptual and figurative practice of Salvatore Mangione, known as Salvo (1947-2015), and the exploration of identity and art history by Giulio Paolini (1940-)." For Mazzoleni, all three have always shaped the gallery's identity, blending classical and modern approaches.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE PAST ON THE PRESENT

The exhibition invites the viewer on a journey through the ages via a series of Roman archaeological objects. Giorgio De Chirico invites us to explore the enigmas of time and existence through the representation of key elements of ancient civilizations. Salvo constructs this same dialogue with Antiquity, notably with his painting Una sera (2001), depicting columns immersed in a hypersaturated, imaginary landscape. As for Giulio Paolini, the 84-year-old artist offers an introspective exploration of art history. His sculpture L'altra figura (1983), composed of two Greco-Roman heads and fragments of a third, ruined one, explores mystery, absence, melancholy, and nostalgia for the past.

Their approach is thus contextualized with the contemporary works of Jorge Méndez Blake (1974-). The Mexican visual artist explores the relationships between language, text, literary history, and ancient architecture as a space for reflection and collective dialogue. His magnificent painting, Amphitheater Reconstruction (We Sit, We Listen, We Discuss) VI (2023), created in pencil on paper, exemplifies this. Here, he explores the evolving image of the amphitheater as a "birthplace of poetry and a symbol of the potential for communal discourse," where individuals sit, listen, and can actively participate.

CONTINUITY OF TIME AND SPACE

This curatorial journey into the heart of art history aims to highlight its relevance in contemporary visual culture. “Throughout all these exhibited works, one can discern a common attitude among the protagonists of 20th-century art, who were able to address the question of time and history in a highly personal way, arbitrarily expanding and shrinking the boundaries,” explains curator and researcher Benedetta Casini, who adds: “The depth of De Chirico’s metaphysics is counterbalanced by Salvo’s apparent naiveté, while Paolini’s reflection on identity and the double finds its resolution in the 21st century, with Méndez Blake’s journey to the origins of the democratic state.”

The Mazzoleni gallery took this reflection even further during Frieze Masters in London last October. It juxtaposed Giorgio De Chirico's Le Muse inquietanti ("The Disquieting Muses," 1959) and Andy Warhol's The Disquieting Muses (After De Chirico) (1982), thus inviting the viewer to continue examining the influence of Antiquity on the artistic canon.

“The history of the 20th century is full of figures who seem to distance themselves from the present, or even turn their backs on the future, to cast a nostalgic gaze upon the ruins of the past,” continues Benedetta Casini, adding: “It is this timeless mythology, suspended in the indefiniteness of context, that runs through the production of the artists represented in ‘Mythology Reinterpreted,’ linked together by a dense network of references, quotations, and iconographic parallels.”

« MYTHOLOGY REINTERPRETED: A JOURNEY THROUGH ANCIENT INSPIRATION
IN MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART »
MAZZOLENI GALLERY
15 OLD BOND STREET, LONDON (ENGLAND)
UNTIL JANUARY 24, 2025
MAZZOLENIART.COM