Ortigia on display: Syracuse kicks off widespread art project

In Syracuse kicks off this summer a diffuse art project entitled Ortigia on display: the idea of the organizers (Ragusa-based Sudestasi Contemporanea Gallery) is to bring art out of traditional circuits to create a branching path through the historic center of Syracuse in order to compose a kind of large-scale installation on an urban scale. The event, to be held in July and August 2018, will have the patronage of the City Council. The event will focus on two main exhibitions and side events (concerts, shows, performances and minor exhibitions). The two cornerstone exhibitions are two solo shows, Lei by Mauro Drudi (Cattolica, 1963) and Portraits by Andrea Ventura (Milan, 1968).

Lei is a large installation composed of 300 wooden paintings that reinterpret Antonello da Messina’s image of the Virgin Annunciate in a pop key. Portraits, on the other hand, is a series of portraits of famous people made for major newspapers around the world. Both will see their central core set up in as many exhibition venues that will serve as the “mother site” for each individual exhibition, while the rest of the works will be located in businesses that will sponsor the event. The visitor will then be taken on a particular journey through the alleys of Ortigia by following the course of the exhibition through maps distributed in the participating businesses, or downloadable from the Sudestasi Gallery website(www.sudestasicontemporanea.com).

The cycle of exhibitions will officially open on July 7 with the opening of the exhibition Lei, curated by Angelo De Grande, which will be held in Syracuse from July 7 to September 2 at the Church of San Cristoforo. It will then continue with Portraits, an exhibition curated by Francesco Piazza created in collaboration with the Bellomo Museum in Syracuse at the premises of SAC (Sant’Agostino Contemporanea) from Aug. 3 to Sept. 3. Minor events on the program include the exhibition GHRAPHEIN 4x8, a small show consisting of 8 graphics by Afro, Alechinsky, Pasmore and Man Ray, which will be held until Oct. 30 at the Grande Albergo Alfeo.

Sudestasi Contemporanea Gallery, which is organizing the event, operates as a center for the promotion and dissemination of contemporary art and images. The gallery’s interest is mainly oriented toward graphic production, understood both as a gesture of artistic making and as a tool of conception and communication (drawing, original printing, photography, animation, illustration, publishing, design). Recently, it has also added to its usual activity a new service called Rent Art, an initiative by which public and private facilities are offered the opportunity to rent works of art at affordable prices.

Pictured: one of the portraits from the Lei series by Mauro Drudi.

Ortigia on display: Syracuse kicks off widespread art project

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