The exhibition of work by Mario Schifano (Homs, Libya 1934-Rome 1998), one of the most important and popular figures in recent Italian art, is the new event in a programme devised by Palazzo Esposizioni for studying and boosting appreciation of the personalities and movements that made their mark on visual culture in the latter half of the 20th century, with a special focus on the culture that emerged in the fertile environment of the city of Rome.
“The soft and highly sensitive kernel of his soul is his passion for painting”: that was how critic and poet Cesare Vivaldi described the young Schifano in 1963. It is this essential, unassailable and broadly shared admiration, above all else, that the exhibition seeks to exalt by displaying a collection of over one hundred of his most widely acclaimed and representative artworks from public and private collections both in Italy and abroad.
The exhibition unfolds in the rotunda and the seven large exhibition halls on the ground floor of Palazzo Esposizioni, where, after a traditional biographical introduction with artistic photographs and documents, the artworks are displayed in chronological order from his earliest work right up to the 1990s. The exhibition paints a picture of Schifano’s life and career through his most important visual work, including his experimentation with materials, his monochrome works, his new iconographies filtered through the language of photography, his handling of art history themes, TV landscapes, images in motion, his work blending photography with painting and his more recent pictures with their explicit sense of social engagement.
Mario Schifano was known to have a predilection for producing similar works simultaneously, so the exhibition showcases works from the same series alongside one another, and the incisive innovations that pepper his career are documented as and when they first appeared.
As visitors move from one room to the next, they witness a ceaseless, exuberant regeneration of painting through the use of very different techniques, materials and processes, with film playing a key role. A programme of films will be screened at Palazzo Esposizioni’s own cinema theatre for the entire duration of the exhibition in order to allow visitors to return again and again, free of charge, to view Schifano’s work in the cinema.
The exhibition catalogue, published by Electa, includes not only an essay by the curator but also texts by art historians, many of them members of the younger generation, who have recently conducted innovative research into the artist and his work: Manuel Barrese, Fabio Belloni, Stefano Chiodi, Andrea Cortellessa, Giorgio Di Domenico, Flavio Fergonzi, Giorgia Gastaldon, Francesco Guzzetti and Chiara Perin.
The exhibition is also accompanied by a full public programme and a multifaceted schedule of educational events tailored to cater for a broad range of different audiences.