HOMAGE TO Marcello Mariani
curated by MAXXI L’Aquila, in collaboration with Archivio Marcello Mariani
December 8th 2021 - january 9th 2022
"Homage to Marcello Mariani" goes beyond the walls of Palazzo Ardinghelli and draws an imaginary path through the streets of the historic city centre to discover the artist's works on display in some buildings that open their doors to visitors. From the Palazzo dei Combattenti, headquarters of the Carispaq Foundation in Piazza Battaglione Alpini a few steps from the Fontana Luminosa to the BPER Banca headquarters under the porticoes of Corso Vittorio Emanuele, right in front of the nineteenth-century Palazzo Cappelli Cappa which houses the Giorgio de Marchis Bonanni D'Ocre Onlus Foundation, up to the headquarters of the Rectorate of the University of L'Aquila in Palazzo Camponeschi: these realities have actively collaborated in the realization of the project sponsored by the Municipality of L'Aquila.
The MAXXI L'Aquila exhibits the work Archetypal Cross consisting of five canvases arranged on the floor to form a Greek cross: some of the representations refer to an earth dimension, with archetypal forms that lead back to natural elements. Other forms refer to an idea of the otherworldly, of angels, almost as if to relieve oneself of the weight and earthly events in order to rise towards the divine. This constant tension between earth and sky, lightness and gravity, constantly recalls the author's relationship of great intimacy with the Abruzzo region and with the city of L'Aquila, whose buildings have often been the subject of interventions by the artist who, with an attentive look, he used to re-appropriate pieces of plaster and fragments found in the street which he then used in the creation of works of art. The link with the capital is witnessed in numerous works, the colours of the buildings in the city can be found in many of Mariani's paintings: "I loved and I love this city - confessed Mariani in a 2015 interview released to the local newspaper News-Town - but, after the earthquake, it is as if there had been a divorce between us. The day after the earthquake I immediately went to collect the debris from the house and the soil from the garden; I then used the walnut for the cuttlefish and the elderberry for the violet. In this way, I tried to react because I no longer had anything and everything was destroyed. Now I'm trying to reconnect with the city and painting helps me a lot in this: all these patinas, these walls, these dirty yellows, these greys on white. It's all a painting that I looked at to take, digest and give more".
BPER Banca, the Giorgio de Marchis Bonanni d'Ocre Onlus Foundation and the Carispaq Foundation exhibit examples of the Archetypal Forms painted throughout the artist's career. At Palazzo Camponeschi, on the other hand, a photographic exhibition is set up with 20 photographs of Mariani taken by Gianni Berengo Gardin and present in the volume Percorsi di Luce published by Mazzotta in 2008. The setting is possible with the courtesy of Gianni Berengo Gardin and Fondazione Forma per La Fotografia.
