Andrea Chisesi's solo exhibition talks about vices and virtues at the Royal Palace of Caserta

Andrea Chisesi ’s (Rome, 1972) solo exhibition entitled Saligia (acrostic of the 7 deadly vices), curated by Marcella Damigella, will be hosted from July 4 to August 20, 2019, in one of the world’s grandest Absolutist-era royal residences: the Reggia di Caserta. A noble residence, built presumably starting in 1751 or 1752 by architect Luigi Vanvitelli and not completed until 1845, it was the residence of the Bourbons. A rare example of Rococo taste and later, of a more sober neoclassical style, together with the monumental Park with the striking Bath of Venus, the English Garden and the Italian Garden, it numbers hundreds of the greatest masterpieces of Italian furniture, sculpture, art and decoration. The palace was then the place where another important episode in European history took place: here, on May 7, 1945, the end of World War II was sanctioned in the royal apartments, with the signing of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender to the Anglo-American Allied Forces (and absurdly, it was here, two years earlier, on September 27, that the precious decorations of the Palatine Chapel were literally destroyed in the course of an Anglo-American air raid).

An exceptional container of art and history, and declared a UNESCO heritage site as of 1997, during Chisesi’s solo exhibition the Reggia will be inhabited for a little over a month by works depicting the most “perverse” Roman emperors in history and some first ladies of ancient Rome, as well as heroic figures taken from classical myth as well as figures from our current scene. The latter have been chosen from among those who have distinguished themselves more by events bordering on the paradoxical or by questionable political actions, if not even by scandalizing facts to say the least, men such as Trump or Cardinal Bertone. There are many works intended to dialogue with the collection, for example with the bust of Ferdinand II sculpted by Canova, the Toilette di Venere, in the vault of the Appartamento della Regina, with its famous boudoir, and also here, by Fedele Fischetti, the mural painting The Three Graces. Chisesi wanted to play with the place that hosts his exhibition, and also with the room where the press conference will be held at 11 a.m. on July 4: the Court Theater is in fact an ideal stage to talk about vices and virtues, since the eighteenth-century fresco on the vault, surrounded by the nine Muses, depicts Apollo trampling on the python, symbol of vice itself, and the work of Crescenzo La Gamba. The eighteenth-century back rooms, where Chisesi’s 68 canvases will be set up, are decorated according to a precise iconographic program inspired by the cycle of the seasons, enriched by allegorical quotations and especially of ancient myth, this, the reference of Chisesi’s entire sign repertoire.

Andrea Chisesi's solo exhibition talks about vices and virtues at the Royal Palace of Caserta

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