A major exhibition in Ravenna on contemporary mosaic sculpture. Here are preview photos

Opening next Oct. 6 and running until Jan. 7, 2018, is the major exhibition with which the city of Ravenna, world-famous for its famous mosaics, aims to tell the story of contemporary mosaic sculpture. Montezuma, Fontana, Mirko. Mosaic Sculpture from Origins to Today (this is the title of the exhibition) will be an exhibition of considerable size (as many as one hundred and thirty-seven works will be on display), will be held at the MAR - Art Museum of the City of Ravenna, and will start from very far away, namely from the Aztec civilization: in fact, the exhibition will open with an anthropomorphic Sacrificial Knife Grip, made before 1521, and currently preserved at the Museum of Civilizations in Rome. Indeed, the great contemporary artists who tried their hand at mosaic sculpture drew considerable inspiration from the mosaic arts of Mesoamerican civilizations, which were rediscovered in the 1930s. So much so that, in Rome itself, an exhibition on the art ofancient Latin America was held in 1933.

The narrative will then move to the 1930s, when Gino Severini (Cortona, 1883 - Paris, 1966) “rediscovered” the use of mosaic in a decorative function. Artists such as Mirko Basaldella (Udine, 1910 - Cambridge, 1969) and Lucio Fontana (Rosario, 1899 - Comabbio, 1968) similarly felt the appeal of mosaic and also discovered it through the art of the Aztecs and other Central American civilizations. The two are considered precursors of mosaic sculpture, a genre that later had a vast development starting from the late 1960s: artists such as Nane Zavagno and Riccardo Licata developed two different ways of understanding this particular art form (the former used to experiment even with materials foreign to tradition, while the latter conducted his research by sticking to more usual techniques). From these two different strands then developed the experiences of other artists, from the 1980s onward: Antonio Trotta, Athos Ongaro, Sandro Chia and Mimmo Paladino often inserted experimentation with mosaic into their art.

This brings us to more recent epochs: starting in the last two decades of the 20th century, mosaic sculpture has undergone several developments (also being influenced by the most up-to-date movements: in fact, part of the mosaicists’ research starts from the accumulations of the exponents of Nouveau Realisme) reaching, moreover, particularly original and innovative results, and the Ravenna exhibition intends to give a summary of this by proposing a large series of works by artists (including important designers such as Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass) active from the 1980s until today (there are also works created in recent months). Some artists have even decided to devote themselves completely to mosaic: we have thus reached the point where mosaic sculpture has achieved its own well-defined autonomy.

The MAR exhibition, which is curated by Alfonso Panzetta with the collaboration of Daniele Torcellini, aims, we read in the presentation, "to probe and document the birth, theevolution of this language and the different declinations of the concept of tessera by sculptors starting from the 1930s, a moment in which, after Gino Severini renews the practice of mosaic as a function of architectural decoration, the plastic mosaic researches of Lucio Fontana and Mirko Basaldella, among the most brilliant artists of the second Italian twentieth century, are initiated."

The exhibition will take place in the context of the fifth edition of Ravenna Mosaic - Biennial Review of Contemporary Mosaic, is organized by the Municipality of Ravenna - Department of Culture and the MAR - Art Museum of the City of Ravenna, has the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Emilia Romagna Region, and has received contributions from the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna, the Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, and Marcegaglia Carbon Steel. The catalog is published by Silvana Editoriale. Information on times and tickets will follow.

Here, as a preview, is a photographic selection of some of the works the public will find on display in Ravenna:

Aztec Culture, Anthropomorphic handle of sacrificial knife (ante 1521; wood, turquoise, malachite, spondylus, mother-of-pearl, metal, 9.5 x 14 x 7 cm; Rome, Museum of Civilizations, “L. Pigorini” )

Lucio Fontana, Gallo (1948; black and gold mosaic on cement, 84 x 59 x 31 cm; Rome, Soprintendenza Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, photo Antonio Idini)

Mirko Basaldella, Furore (1944; Venetian mosaic, h 26 cm; Rome, Collezione G. Bertolami - on loan from the Museo della Scuola Romana)

Adolfo Wildt, The Tree of Life (La fontanella santa) (1921; marble, mosaic, gilded bronze and onyx, 47.5 x 44.7 x 10 cm; Forlì, Palazzo Romagnoli, Collezioni del Novecento)

Mimmo Paladino, Vanity (1988; mosaic, 48 x 43 x 8.5 cm; Ravenna, Ravenna City Art Museum, photo Giorgio Liverani)

Ettore Sottsass jr., Porta Loveletters (1996; mosaic in gold tesserae, aluminum, wood, h. 35 cm; private collection, photo Daniele Casadio)

Riccardo Licata, Laszlo (2010; h. 197 cm; Moscow, Ismail Akhmetov Foundation)

Roberta Grasso, 25 euros/etto or Marshmellows (2011; soft mosaic with Venetian enamels and carrara marble, 70 x 90 cm; courtesy of the artist)

Pietro D’Angelo, The Tree of Life (2015; 120 x 110 x 50 cm; artist’s property)

Orodè Deoro, Victoria (2016; hand-cut ceramic and epoxy putty, 80 x 36 x 30 cm; courtesy of the artist)

Andrea Salvatori, Untitled - II version (2017; purchased glazed ceramic dog covered with more than 2,000 white earthenware cubes glazed with transparent crystalline, 46 x 60 x 45 cm; artist’s courtesy)

A major exhibition in Ravenna on contemporary mosaic sculpture. Here are preview photos

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