Rome, at EUR's Vaccheria an exhibition that takes a trip through Pop Art

The spaces of the Vaccheria in Rome ’s Municipio IX Roma EUR in Rome announce Viaggio nella Pop Art: un nuovo modo di amare le cose, the new free-entrance exhibition project curated by Giuliano Gasparotti and Francesco Mazzei, which will open to the public from September 13, 2024 to March 31, 2025 with about 200 works from private collections and collected by the Rosini Gutman Collection curated by Gianfranco Rosini. From a farmhouse in the Roman countryside used as a stable to a cultural hub open to everyone’s involvement, a reference point for many young talents and artists in the area, the Vaccheria dell’EUR is a candidate to become the Roman House of Pop Art, a new Factory wanted by the President of the Municipality IX Roma EUR with responsibility for culture Titti Di Salvo. Kicking off the transformation process will be, in addition to the exhibition, the first edition of From Pop to Pop, a festival dedicated to pop culture scheduled from September 13 to 15 with free admission events for all. Spanning nearly eight decades, the exhibition itinerary of Journey in Pop Art: a New Way of Loving Things recounts the nonconformist and “popular” artistic current that was able to overcome barriers and determine identification. This consolidates a vocation already manifested in September 2022, when Vaccheria celebrated its opening with a major exhibition dedicated precisely to Warhol’s genius, managing to reinterpret and return to public enjoyment the spirit of a movement that revolutionized the “way of loving things.” The exhibition presents about 200 works by 45 Italian and international artists, traceable to Pop Art and its various modern and contemporary articulations: from the American Pop Art of the early 1960s to Noveaux Realisme, from the Roman circles of Piazza del Popolo to New Pop, passing through Urban Art and the New Web Generation.

The exhibition unfolds along three lines. The first is a focus on the great protagonists of American Pop Art, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg, and of New Pop with Marco Lodola and Mark Kostabi. On display are iconic works by Andy Warhol, such as Liza Minnelli and Cow, combined with some of his works that testify to his deep relationship with Italy and the society of the time. Famous among them is Fate Presto, a Pop Art-style interpretation of the front page of the daily newspaper Il Mattino of Nov. 26, 1980, which urged prompt action to help victims of the earthquake that devastated Irpinia. Completing the journey into the American mainstream are works by Roy Lichtenstein such as Sunrise, Shipboard Girl, Robert Rauschenberg with Sky Rite and Robert Indiana Liebe Love. The themes dear to Warhol are reinterpreted in a postmodern key by Mark Kostabi, whose work Gaming the Course of History, shown here for the first time, is featured in the exhibition. Vibrant colors and strokes also characterize the artistic production of Marco Lodola, founder of the New Futurism, whose Jim Morrison and the imposing three-dimensional sculpture Abbey Road, at the center of the exhibition path with its monumental load-bearing panels measuring 8 meters wide and 4 meters high, among others, is presented in the exhibition.

The second director of the exhibition focuses on the disruptive force of the female artists of New Pop Art, gathered around Niki De Saint Phalle’s Nana dansant. The female artistic presence is also enhanced by the works of artists such as Ilaria Rezzi, close to the Pop Surrealist current; Ludmilla Radchenko, with her “shouted” art full of irony; Erika Calesini and her exhausted objects transformed into something useful and functional; Olivia Gozzano, who blends photography and painting technique in a continuous search between spirit and matter; Annalisa Benvenuti with her metal sculptures; Sandra Tomboloni, Elena Arzuffi, Laura Lanci, Rita Mancini, and Marina Roos.

The last director of the itinerary takes us to the heart of Rome in the 1960s, rediscovering the Italian roots of Pop Art that are rooted in the School of Piazza del Popolo, born at the Caffè Rosati and Plinio De Martis’ Galleria la Tartaruga around the founders Franco Angeli , who made paintings with stencils and spray paint or paint and layers of gauze, on display with Olimpico and Olimpico swastikas, Tano Festa with his monochrome paintings and present with his 1981 work Manet, and Mario Schifano, a leading exponent, on display some photos he retouched with enamels and the homage to De Chirico Piazza delle Muse inquietanti.

Completing the exhibition are installations conceived by Giuliano Gasparotti and Francesco Mazzei and created by KIF Italia in the Vaccheria spaces. Both the suspended installation Pixell, a reference to the use of Polaroids in dialogue with the portrait of Liza Minnelli, and the video work Pop Mirage, will be a tribute to the genius of Warhol, who revolutionized the way art was produced in his Factory; while Hurricane will be a tornado of fluorescent colors that will sweep Niki de Saint Phalle’s Nana dansant. The exhibition is organized by Municipio IX Roma EUR with the support of Roma Capitale and the collaboration of Zètema Progetto Cultura. Organizational coordination by Gianfranco Rosini for IconArs S.R.L. The production of the artistic settings is by Kif Italia. The Catalogue is published by RG - Rosini Gianfranco Gallerie d’Arte with historical and critical texts edited by Titti Di Salvo, Giuliano Gasparotti, Francesco Mazzei and Gianfranco Rosini.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the first edition of the From Pop To Pop festival, an event organized by the Municipio IX Roma Eur that, from Sept. 13 to 15, will give three days of free and free admission events, including evening hours, dedicated to pop culture. On September 13 at 5 p.m. there will be a Walk in Pop Art, a visit to the new exhibition with Francesca Romano, organized by Tam Tam Cultura Aps of the Culture Council of the IX Municipio Roma Eur. At 6:30 p.m., lectio magistralis on Pop Art by Alessio Bertini. Finally, at 8 p.m., viewing of the 1968 film Diabolik by Mario Bava with music by Ennio Morricone. The day on Sept. 14 opens at 6:30 p.m. with guided listening sessions on jazz by maestro Livio Ventura. At 8:30 p.m., it continues with a viewing of the 1966 film Blow up by Michelangelo Antonioni and soundtrack by Herbie Hancock. From 10:30 p.m., space for music with a jazz concert by Lucrezio de Seta Quintet inspired precisely by the sounds of Hancock. It resumes on Sept. 15 at 11 a.m. with a Pop Art Brunch accompanied by listening to vinyls, to resume, at 6:30 p.m., with After Carousel the Dreams Begin. Researching Pop Art, a theatrical performance based on a text by Sandro Gindro, by and with Francesco Pezzella who will perform along with Andrea Biondi and Alessandro Palermo and Roberta Pia’s voiceover. At 7:30 p.m., Andrea D’Ammando and gallery owner and collector Gianfranco Rosini, under the moderation of Titti di Salvo, will dialogue on Quel filo tra Pierpaolo Pasolini e Andy Warhol. At 8:30 p.m., Elio Petri ’s 1965 film The Tenth Victim will be shown.

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Rome, at EUR's Vaccheria an exhibition that takes a trip through Pop Art

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