Robilant+Voena is pleased to present The Maverick Mimmo Rotella as part of "Mimmo Rotella 2016", an event organised to commemorate the ten year anniversary since the death of the artist.
The exhibition brings attention to some lesser known and unusual methods employed by Rotella and therefore will focus only on a few techniques which were explored by the artist during his career. Rotella, who is best known for his décollages and retro d’affiches, which are deliberately not exhibited in this show, was interested in a wide range of artistic methods. Through his experimentation with both materials and techniques, by the 1960s the artist had begun using further innovative artistic practices such as photographic reportage.
The exhibition will bring together some of the most important examples which exemplify this technique, such as a Violenza Segreta (1963), Ice Cream (1963), Pax Mundi (1963) and Divertiamoci (1966). During the same period the artist produced his artypos, which were made using typography sheets. Examples made with this technique are Grande Source (1966-1971), 3 Bottoni (1971) and Bottiglia con bicchieri (1971). Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, the artist further developed the photo reportage technique and produced a series of paintings using the most incisive images of the Italian “years of lead”. From this series are works such as Italy in torment (1979), Italy's Trial (1979), Reperti (1979), I Guerriglieri (1980), Storia del Terrorismo (1980) and Lufthansa (1979). During the late 1980s and early 90s, the artist returned to painting in the style of sovrapitture, obtained by placing a pictorial sign of great visual impact on posters and décollages. Some of these works realised on metal sheet are L’aereoplano (1987), Shakespeare (1987), Sul Muro (1990), Cessna (1988) and The Kiss (1990). Later, in 1990 the artist turned his hand to sculpture and created a ceramic series called Replicanti, also present in the exhibition.
"Mimmo Rotella 2016" is organised in collaboration with the Mimmo Rotella Institute, which was created in 2012 by Inna and Aghnessa Rotella, with the aim of creating the catalog raisonné of the artist, promote Rotella’s art and protect his figure both nationally and internationally. The Mimmo Rotella Institute is directed by Antonella Soldaini along with the scientific support of Veronica Locatelli.
