Under the fourteenth-century vaults of the Rocca Albornoz, the papers and large works of Vincenzo Scolamiero – powerful images of a primordial nature – are juxtaposed with a selection of Etruscan artefacts from which the artist has drawn reflections and suggestions. The exhibition looks back at Scolamiero’s vast output and opens up new avenues of research, revealing a thematic and technical continuity that adds value to a coherent expressive identity.
From 8 July 2023, the National Etruscan Museum of Rocca Albornoz will host in the main hall and in the mezzanine rooms the solo exhibition by Vincenzo Scolamiero, a Roman artist with extensive Italian and international exhibition experience, as well as a lecturer in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. The exhibition is sponsored by the Municipality of Viterbo – Department of Culture and Education and is organised in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, the Edieuropa QUI arte contemporanea Gallery in Rome and the Roberto Bilotti Ruggi d’Aragona Museum of Contemporary Art in Rende (CS).
There are two forces at play: on the one hand, the courage of the museum management, which is opening the doors of the illustrious archaeological collection to a first exhibition of contemporary art; on the other, an artist who has always dedicated himself to pictorial experimentation – in terms of media and figurative tools – and who here places himself at the service of the material and immaterial traces of the ancient world. The exhibition does not have a strictly anthological character, but has gradually evolved as an internal and retrospective investigation of Scolamiero’s decades-long work: a kind of journey backwards, which, thanks to this process of interaction with the place, has opened up new figurative perspectives, enriching the repertoire with new forms and spaces. The selection of museum pieces thus became part of the exhibition concept, with all the cautious delicacy that the juxtapositions require. The 4 sections include about thirty works, including large canvases and panels, as well as some papers and a selection of tree and stone fragments, which have always been poetic inspirations for Scolamiero.
In the vast works in the entrance hall, the forms seem to engage in a struggle with the bowels of the earth and from there re-emerge in a titanic and poignant process. The second room gives respite to the eyes and the soul with large canvases the colour of the sky: open, airy and at the same time solid. The third section opens up to the passage of the wind, which impetuously confuses the forms and creeps between the clods and the stones, finding a temporary respite under the white glazes that Scolamiero has been placing on the boundary plane of his paintings for years, recomposing every creative impulse with rational control. In the final section, the dialogue with the Etruscan world intensifies. On the large formats, the earth releases the traces of its history in the mosses, in the dampness and in the sulphurous waters that thicken its geological substance. The ancient clay comes back to life in the pictorial mixture, while the exchange between two such remote cultures becomes possible and opens up new frontiers of exploration and comparison.
Vincenzo Scolamiero is a lecturer in Painting at the Department of Visual Arts of the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, the city where he lives and works. His works are held in important public and private collections. His first solo exhibition was held in 1987 at the historic Al Ferro di Cavallo gallery in Rome. He has subsequently exhibited in important national and international spaces, including Rome (in addition to several private galleries, the National Gallery of Modern Art, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Chiostro del Bramante, Gam, Macro), Milan, Venice, Bologna, Turin, Rimini, Treviso, New York, Seoul, Busan, Beijing and Fenghuang. He participated in the Rome Quadriennale (1996), the Venice Biennale (2011) and was the winner of the 65th Edition of the Michetti Prize (2014). In 2017, he collaborated with the composer Silvia Colasanti (video-scenographies and images for the title page and booklet of the Requiem Stringeranno nei pugni una cometa; 7 book-works on the String Quartet Ogni cosa ad ogni cosa ha detto addio, Edizioni Eos-Libri d’Artista by Piero Varroni in Rome). In 2019, the Museo Carlo Bilotti in Rome hosted a solo exhibition of his work entitled La declinante ombra, curated by Gabriele Simongini (De Luca catalogue). In 2021/22, his exhibition Del silenzio e della trasparenza was held at the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena – Magazzini del Sale rooms and at the Fondazione Accademia Musicale Chigiana, curated by the Municipality of Siena – Department of Culture and inner room Siena (De Luca Catalogue). In May 2022, he was the protagonist of one of Alberto Dambruoso’s Martedì critici. Since 1996, he has collaborated with the Edieuropa QUI arte contemporanea Gallery in Rome.
Patronage:
Municipality of Viterbo – Department of Culture and Education
In collaboration with:
Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, Edieuropa QUI arte contemporanea Gallery in Rome, Roberto Bilotti Ruggi d’Aragona Museum of Contemporary Art in Rende (CS)
Catalogue:
Controstampa srl – Acquapendente (VT) distributed by Effigi edizioni www.cpadver-effigi.com
Opening:
Saturday 8 July 2023 at 6:00 pm
Tasting by Casale del Giglio
LAZIO REGIONAL MUSEUMS DIRECTORATE
National Etruscan Museum of Rocca Albornoz
mezzanine floor Piazza della Rocca – Viterbo
8 July – 9 September 2023
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 8:30 am – 7:30 pm – closed on Mondays
Ticket office:
€7.00, concessions €2.00
Contact details tel. +39 0761 325929 drm-laz@cultura.gov.it
Director: Sara De Angelis
Press Office Roberta Melasecca Melasecca
Press Office – Ext. 14 next
tel. +39 349 494 5612 – roberta.melasecca@gmail.com
www.melaseccapressoffice.it