Nicola Verlato, Myth Generation: a contemporary mythology at the Museo San Domenico in Imola

Through Jan. 19, 2025, the halls of Imola ’s Museo San Domenico host Myth Generation, the most important anthological exhibition dedicated to Nicola Verlato, curated by Diego Galizzi, director of Imola Musei. Organized by the Municipality of Imola - Imola Musei with the support of the Giovanni Bonelli Gallery in Milan, the exhibition offers a total immersion in the creative universe of the artist from Verona, between painting, sculpture and digital art. With more than fifty works, including paintings, drawings and sculptures, the exhibition represents a journey through Verlato’s expressive path, famous for art that interweaves the legacy of the past with the suggestions of modernity.

Nicola Verlato (Verona, 1965) is distinguished by an artistic language c that mixes pop surrealism, academicism and visionary hyperrealism. Drawing inspiration from Renaissance and 17th-century art, the artist combines classical iconographies with images from contemporary culture, including influences drawn from cinema, comic books, video games and virtual reality. This approach allows him to explore modern mythologies, rereading them in the light of artistic tradition and shaping narratives that interrogate the cultural identity of our time.

The exhibition includes a selection of works that show how Verlato manages to transform myths of the past and present into powerful and visionary images. Among the cycles on display, the one dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini stands out, where the artist investigates the sacrifice of poetic art through the director’s life and death. Alongside, pop iconographies of figures such as James Dean, a symbol of a dramatic and precarious destiny that echoes the dangers and uncertainties of our time. Verlato is rooted in the great figurative tradition, drawing inspiration from Pontormo, Caravaggio, and classical statuary, but at the same time he looks to the future, contaminating his art with science fiction, comic books, and 3D modeling technologies. This fusion creates works that seem suspended between eras, evoking a sense of continuity between past and present. With Myth Generation, Nicola Verlato invites audiences to reflect on the construction of myths, interweaving art and imagination to narrate the complexity of modernity through the timeless lens of mythology.

Image: Nicola Verlato, The flood 2 (2023; oil on canvas, 120 x 90 cm)

Nicola Verlato, Myth Generation: a contemporary mythology at the Museo San Domenico in Imola

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