An exhibition in Bologna dedicated to Aldo Mondino, from traditional to extravagant works

From January 30 to April 10, 2023, the Fondazione Palazzo Boncompagni presents, in conjunction with ArteFiera Bologna, the exhibition Aldo Mondino. Impertinences at the Palace, dedicated to a great master of the 20th century: Aldo Mondino (Turin 1938-2005). Curated by Silvia Evangelisti, the exhibition. realized thanks to the support of Emil Banca, presents about fifteen large-scale works that are particularly significant in the artist’s poetics, selected because of their relationship to the exhibition venue and as a testament to the great inventiveness and quality of the works, as well as to highlight the ability of Mondino’s choice of materials for his works, from traditional ones such as painting or bronze (significant in the exhibition Viola d’amore from 1985 and Gerusalemme from 1988), to the more extravagant ones, such as Scultura un corno from 1980, a horn-shaped column composed of three elephants in chocolate, to The Byzantine Word from ’99, made with countless chocolates with multicolored wrappers like tiles in a mosaic. In the main room of Palazzo Boncompagni, the Papal Audience Hall, visitors will be able to admire from the ceiling rods dangling Jugen Stilo, a chandelier made with Bic ballpoint pens for Mondino’s solo show at the 1993 Venice Biennale, while inside the large fireplace, will be placed 1996’s Trofeo, two female legs spread apart in bronze and glass. In the center of the same room, Mekka Mokka from 1988, a large carpet of differently colored coffee beans (at different stages of roasting) offered by EssseCaffè. Completing the exhibition are a series of works displayed in the Loggia and four in the building’s two interior rooms.

An eclectic artist who worked until the early years of the new millennium with originality and refined irony without ever hiding the dramatic nature of certain images or the manifest contradiction between the title and the subject of the work, Aldo Mondini has always played in his works with the ambiguity of language, acting on the literal meaning of words and created paradoxical but believable situations in terms of narrative.

It is from this characteristic that the title of the exhibition, organized by the Palazzo Boncompagni Foundation in collaboration with theAldo Mondino Archive, takes its cue.

"When our curator, Silvia Evangelisti, proposed to place in the Papal Audience Hall a sculpture composed of five chocolate elephants, and a mat formed of coffee beans entitled Mekka Mokka, I thought about how serious and profound the game can be, what emotions and thoughts it can evoke and more," commented Paola Pizzighini Benelli, president of the Fondazione Palazzo Boncompagni and sole director of Magnolia SRL.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Pendragon. Also inside is an ironic Aldo Mondino interviewed by Maurizio Cattelan. I Chose the Other Way and the Aldobiography written by the artist himself.

For info: https://palazzoboncompagni.it/mostra/aldo-mondino/

An exhibition in Bologna dedicated to Aldo Mondino, from traditional to extravagant works

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