Milan, Umberto Mariani's works at the exhibition The Sensuality of the Fold

With an exhibition project that winds its way between the miart exhibition spaces and the gallery rooms, Progettoarte - Elm in Milan presents from April 6 to June 14, 2019 an extensive anthological exhibition dedicated to Umberto Mariani (Milan, 1936), on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his career. The exhibition entitled La sensualità della piega (The Sensuality of the Fold), curated by Marco Meneguzzo, revisits and reevaluates the work of the Milanese artist by reviewing the three fundamental moments of his career: the pop period, between the second half of the 1960s and 1974; the “Alfabeto afono,” between 1975 and the end of the decade, where painted folds appear to conceal letters of the alphabet; and the last period (itself divided into two expressive nuclei) where the “fold” becomes the sole protagonist of his work, now made three-dimensionally in canvas or lead.

It is precisely this stylistic element that becomes emblematic of what has been configured over the years as a constant in Mariani’s vision and poetics: the sensuality of painting. The Milan project, with a nucleus of more than thirty works, provides for the pop moment to be exhibited in the gallery’s booth at the miart fair, while a careful selection of the other two periods can be seen in the gallery rooms. In this way the public can observe the development of more than fifty years of work, noting differences and similarities, contingent motifs and constant themes within all of his activity.

The fold, an ever-present element in the history of painting, is the trait-d’union of the two exhibition venues, and especially of the artist’s activity, which in this way manages to combine theabsolute novelty and recognizability of his own research (which becomes almost a “figure,” a “brand”) with the great river of the best pictorial tradition.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual (Italian and English) catalog published by Progettoarte-Elm, containing the curator’s critical text, reproductions of all the works on display and updated bio-bibliographical apparatus.

For all information you can call +39 02.83390437 or send an e-mail to info@progettoarte-elm.com.

Pictured: Umberto Mariani, Alfabeto afono U (1976; acrylic on canvas, 80x80 cm)

Source: press release

Milan, Umberto Mariani's works at the exhibition The Sensuality of the Fold

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