London's Mazzoleni Gallery links antiquity and the present by bringing together the work 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 wide-ranging view of post-war and contemporary Italian art. To celebrate its tenth anniversary in the English capital, the institution continues to present museum-caliber exhibitions. "Mythology Reinterpreted" sheds new light on the vision of three great artists whose work remains as much a historical reference as a timeless source of inspiration.
This pictorial journey thus 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 secular journey through a series of Roman archaeological objects. Giorgio De Chirico invites us to probe 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), featuring columns immersed in a hypersaturated imaginary landscape. As for Giulio Paolini, the 84-year-old artist proposes an introspective exploration of art history. His sculpture L'altra figura (1983), made up of two Greco-Roman heads and fragments of a third in ruins, explores the mystery, absence, melancholy and nostalgia of the past.
Their approach is thus put into context with contemporary works by Jorge Méndez Blake (1974-). This Mexican visual artist explores the relationship between language, text, literary history and ancient architecture as a space for reflection and collective dialogue. A case in point is his magnificent painting Amphitheater Reconstruction (We Sit, We Listen, We Discuss) VI (2023), created in pencil on paper. Here, he explores the evolving image of the amphitheater as "the birthplace of poetry and a symbol of the potential of communal discourse", where people sit, listen and actively participate.
© Courtesy of the Artist.
CONTINUITY OF TIME AND SPACE
This curatorial journey to the heart of art history aims to highlight its relevance to contemporary visual culture. "Through all the works on display, we can read an attitude common to the protagonists of twentieth-century art, who were able to address the question of time and history in a wholly personal way, arbitrarily expanding and shrinking boundaries," explains curator and researcher Benedetta Casini, who adds: "The depth of De Chirico's metaphysics is counterbalanced by Salvo's only apparent naiveté, while Paolini's reflection on identity and the double is resolved in the 21st century, with Méndez Blake's proposed journey to the origins of the democratic state. "
Galerie Mazzoleni took this reflection a step further during Frieze Masters in London last October. It juxtaposed Giorgio De Chirico's Le Muse inquietanti ("The Disquieting Muses", 1959) with Andy Warhol's The Disquieting Muses (After De Chirico) (1982), inviting the viewer to continue examining the influence of antiquity on the artistic canon.
© Courtesy of Mazzoleni, London - Torino
« L’histoire du XXe siècle regorge de figures qui semblent s’éloigner du présent, voire tourner le dos à l’avenir, pour jeter un regard nostalgique sur les ruines du passé », poursuit Benedetta Casini, ajoutant : « C’est cette mythologie intemporelle, suspendue dans l’indéfinition du contexte, qui traverse la production des artistes représentés dans “Mythology Reinterpreted”, reliés entre eux par un dense réseau de références, de citations et de parallèles iconographiques. »
« MYTHOLOGY REINTERPRETED: A JOURNEY THROUGH ANCIENT INSPIRATION
IN MODERN & CONTEMPORARY ART »
GALERIE MAZZOLENI
15 OLD BOND STREET, LONDRES (ANGLETERRE)
JUSQU’AU 24 JANVIER 2025
MAZZOLENIART.COM
