Bologna, a nucleus of large works by Aldo Mondino on display at Palazzo Boncompagni

Aldo Mondino. Impertinences at the Palace is the title of the exhibition curated by Silvia Evangelisti, scheduled from January 30 to April 10, 2023 at Palazzo Boncompagni in Bologna. Following the success of the exhibitions Michelangelo Pistoletto. From Renaissance to Rebirth and Marino Marini. Horses and Horsemen at the Palace, it is then the turn of Aldo Mondino (Turin, 1938 - 2005), an extraordinary and eclectic artist who worked until the early years of the new millennium with originality and refined irony without ever concealing the dramatic nature of certain images or the manifest contradiction between the title and the subject of the work.

In his works, the artist has always played conceptually with the ambiguity of language and, acting on the literal meaning of words, has shuffled the cards and created paradoxical but credible “situations” in terms of narrative. It is from this characteristic that the title of the exhibition Aldo Mondino. Impertinences at the Palace, organized by the Fondazione Palazzo Boncompagni in collaboration with the Aldo Mondino Archive.

Realized thanks to the support of Emil Banca, the exhibition presents about fifteen large-scale works that are particularly significant in the artist’s poetics, chosen 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 ingenious and heterogeneous 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 Sculpture a Horn of 1980, a horn-shaped column composed of three chocolate elephants, to The Byzantine Word of ’99, a 190x240 cm panel made of countless chocolates with multicolored wrappers as “anomalous” tiles of a large mosaic.

In the main hall of Palazzo Boncompagni, the Papal Audience Hall, visitors will be able to admire from the ceiling rods hanging 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, which becomes the symbolic center of the exhibition, is the extraordinary Mekka Mokka of 1988, a large carpet of differently colored coffee beans (at different stages of roasting) offered by EssseCaffè. A series of works displayed in the Loggia and in the two interior rooms of Palazzo Boncompagni complete the exhibition.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Pendragon (graphic image by VIVA) with images of the photographed works set up, texts by the curator, Antonio Mondino and Paola Pizzighini Benelli, as well as an ironic Aldo Mondino interviewed by Maurizio Cattelan. I chose the other way and the ’ Aldobiography written by the artist himself.

“Last April the Palazzo Boncompagni Foundation was established to promote cultural events and initiatives, particularly related to the figure of Gregory XIII and the palace where he was born: the choice of inaugurating the Foundation’s activities with a monographic exhibition dedicated to Aldo Mondino is by no means accidental, and we are happy that this coincides with the year of celebration of the 450th anniversary of the ascent of Ugo Boncompagni to the papal throne,” says Paola Pizzighini Benelli president of the Palazzo Boncompagni Foundation and sole director of Magnolia SRL. “When our curator, Silvia Evangelisti, proposed to place in the papal audience room a sculpture composed of five chocolate elephants, and a mat formed by coffee beans titled Mekka Mokka, I thought about how serious and profound the game (the ”game,“ another element of the society of Ugo’s time) can be, what emotions and thoughts it can evoke and more.”

“Emil Banca has always supported projects in the artistic and cultural sphere with the firm belief that our society and the world as a whole increasingly needs beauty, in all its forms and expressions,” comments Emil Banca General Manager Daniele Ravaglia. “We are therefore proud to support the Fondazione Palazzo Boncompagni in this important new cultural project that includes an exhibition of works by master Aldo Mondino, an artist who has been able to range in a truly original way in various artistic expressions, leaving a wealth that thanks to this initiative set up inside theinside the historic Bolognese palace Boncompagni, from today will be visitable and will offer the opportunity to have a truly stimulating experience both visually and sensorially.”

Bologna, a nucleus of large works by Aldo Mondino on display at Palazzo Boncompagni

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