Gillo Dorfles in Paestum: an exhibition recalls the relationship between the great critic and the Park

From September 17 to November 17, 2020, the Torre 28 space in the Paestum Archaeological Park will host the exhibition Gillo Dorfles. His Paestum, curated by Nuvola Lista and Antonello Tolve: the exhibition, organized two years after the death of the great art critic Gillo Dorfles (Trieste, 1910 - Milan, 2018), aims to evoke the relationship that the artist and critic from Trieste had with the territory of Paestum and its community. On display is a collection of about one hundred works, including minimal materials, canvases, graphics and ceramics, made during Dorfles’ many sojourns in Paestum when, far from the big cities of the north, Gillo returned to painting. The exhibition is the result of a collaboration between the MMMAC | Museo Materiali Minimi d’Arte Contemporanea and the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia, with the financial support of the Campania Region and the patronage of the Municipality of Capaccio Paestum.

There will be works covering a time span from the 1940s to the more recent oepres of 2009 and 2010. Also included in the itinerary is an unpublished video in which Gillo Dorfles is filmed while painting. And then, to make the exhibition at Tower 28 even more engaging, a dense array of panels has been included that accommodates some sentences written by Dorfles that accompany the public and invite them to reflect on the vast horizon of interests that have fueled his theoretical and creative journey. “Between the drawings and paintings on canvas, the papers and cards, the ceramics and silkscreens and the jewelry, Gillo’s world (anagrafe Gillo was Angelo Eugenio) is shown today in all its coherence and evolution,” says Antonello Tolve.

“When an exhibition on Gillo Dorfles was proposed to me in Paestum’s Tower 28, I was thrilled,” says Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of Paestum Park. “The intense relationship that Gillo had with the Paestum site and that emerges clearly in his artworks places him among the protagonists of the 20th century who gave new impetus to the knowledge, fame and centrality of the Magna-Greek site in contemporary art, literature and culture. This exhibition is also intended to bring out the connection between archaeology and the contemporary in a site that continues to provide stimulation and return new discoveries and is in constant flux, thanks in part to the involvement of multiple entities in the area such as MMMAC.”

“His stay was punctuated by work, relaxation and habits,” recalls Nuvola Lista in the introductory text to the catalog. "Work saw him participating in the openings of the exhibitions he curated, from Mimmo Paladino to Lucio Del Pezzo, from Arnaldo Pomodoro to Carol Rama. He would grant a few interviews. But much of his stay was in search of the concentration and inspiration he needed to paint and discuss future projects. The atmosphere of Paestum made everything easier."

The exhibition, which is accompanied by an Edizioni MMAC catalog (176 color pages, 28 euros, with texts by Maria Cristina Di Geronimo, Nuvola Lista, Antonello Tolve, Gabriel Zuchtriegel and an anthology of writings by Gillo Dorfles published for the museum’s exhibitions), can be visited daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. Admission is included in the Paestum Archaeological Park ticket.

Gillo Dorfles in Paestum: an exhibition recalls the relationship between the great critic and the Park

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