In Naples, Michael Rotondi's solo exhibition entitled Ca piogg dint o cor

On display from March 2 to 30, 2019 in Naples (in three locations: at the Refectory of the former Library of the Complex of San Domenico Maggiore, at the BRAU Humanities Area Research Library of the University of Naples Federico II and at Spazio NEA), the solo exhibition Ca piogg’ dint’ ’o cor ’ is configured as a tribute by Michael Rotondi (Bari, 1977) to the Neapolitan capital. The very choice of dialect within the title (a quotation from the song Tu t’e’ scurdat ’e me by the famous Neapolitan artist Liberato) sounds like a declaration of love to the city.

The exhibition organized by Milan-based gallery AreaB in partnership with Spazio NEA, in collaboration with theDepartment of Culture and Tourism of the City of Naples, enjoys the Matronage of the Donnaregina Foundation for Contemporary Arts. The solo show, curated by Marina Guida, takes the form of a site-specific project to which is added an anthological segment of works that summarizes the artist’s creative journey: from painting on canvas to digital painting, from experiments in motion graphics to environmental installations.

“The three spaces chosen to host the new landings of Rotondi’s research,” says the curator, “become installation environments. The three installations are to be considered as a single, diffuse and total installation that, through different media and languages, intends to develop a narrative of the city of Naples. Rotondi mixes with a punk approach, tradition and innovation, ranging from ancient art to illustration. In some of the works, the story of a microcosm starting from the outskirts of the Campania capital becomes the story of a generation, with its dreams, hopes and upheavals, in which the audience is called to identify itself through the different fruitive modalities fielded by the artist.”

At the Refectory of the former Library of the Complex of San Domenico Maggiore in an evocative setting in the dark, the unreleased video Botte, set in the Neapolitan neighborhood of Bagnoli, is projected, combining black-and-white animation and sound. In the BRAU exhibition rooms (where some remains of the city’s ancient Greek walls can also be admired) there are digital works in lambda print and an environmental installation that results from the assembly of postcards sent to the artist by people who live in Naples or have stayed there for a short time. Finally, Spazio NEA will host a short anthology with works on paper, textiles and heterogeneous materials and an environmental installation. On the opening night, it will also be the scene of a live performance by the artist with a DJset.

“Accumulation has always been part of a creative process that characterizes my work,” the artist explains, “where I generate with speed of execution papers, canvases, drawings. I prefer to install often juxtaposing everything, almost to the rhythm of music, to create a single expressive space.” Rotondi’s inspiration looks to both “high culture” and the “popular lesson” with suggestions from street art, independent illustration and punk, indie and pope imagery from the musical universe. It is therefore not accidental the attention devoted to Liberato in the title of the exhibition, with whom the artist feels he shares an approach to his work: just as the anonymous musician transforms the tradition of popular music through electronic solutions and the use of a youthful slang that draws on tradition, so Michael Rotondi innovates painting by interpreting it in a digital declination to the point of encroaching on installation and animation.

Michael Rotondi, an artist from Puglia who lives and works in Milan, has exhibited in the past at the Prague Biennial (2009), the Italy-China Biennial (2012), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (2015), MAC in Lissone (2016), Palazzo Reale in Milan (2017) and edition number 12 of Manifesta (2018). He was a finalist for the Laguna Art Prize in 2013 and the Cairo Prize in 2017.

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Pictured:
Michael Rotondi, Ca piogg’ dint’ ’o cor ’ (2019; enamel on canvas paper, 30 x 40 cm).

In Naples, Michael Rotondi's solo exhibition entitled Ca piogg dint o cor

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