Transavanguardia in Milan
The Palazzo Reale in Milan , hosts from December,a retrospective exhibition dedicated to the Transavanguardia, an important Italian artistic movement, born in the late ‘70s whose artists are important performers on the international art stage.
The Milan exhibition brings together the works of 5 artists of the movement while other personal exhibition, dedicated to the individual artist, are scheduled throughout the country.
The exhibition opens with works by Nicola De Maria, the only abstract rappresentative of the group .
Large surfaces and strong colors are predominant notes in all the works while some, as “Ma Fleur” of ’79
are distinguished by the purity of form and color, or other by a multitude of traits that bind almost thread-like forms and figures, as in “Angels with flowers” of a few years later.
The abstract language prevails even in the most realistic paintings like the “Molti anni per finire un disegno stellato a Torino(Many years to finish a design star in Turin)” with its well-defined skyline.
The next painter in exhibition is Francesco Clemente with his “Io e lei a tavola”
and the series “The Fourteen Stations” , a group of 12 large oils on display for the first time in London at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1983. A strong dramatic impact, plastic, fluid and oversized shapes, full of the spirituality with more than a hint of sensuality and physicity.
Emblematic is the No III Station: a cry coming out of a gaping mouth with teeth like skulls.
Striking in the next artist later, Sandro Chia, is his technical mastery, the use of form and color compositions with classic full-bodied, strong and warm material use to be seen in “The hand game” , 1982.
Fascinating the “Garibaldi” from 1980, crossing the sea in a blaze of blue, green and brick with the figure borrowed from classical forms while in the “Ponte di rane senza rane (Bridge of frogs without bridge)” the landscape resonate with echoes of Cezanne.
In the exhibition, Mimmo Paladino, not only a painter but also a sculptor and creator of installations is present with some great pictures, with figures only designed on the color as in “Earthquake” , kind of a catalog that gathers the presence of a reality turned upside down, or the “Untitled” from 1983, a modulated figure on a table on the wall topped by the sickle of death.
What is striking in the works of Enzo Cucchi is the prevalent use of the color of earth and sand, the apparent simplicity of form, the essentiality of the lines.
Significant, looking like an antique egyptian design is “A terra d’uomo” , 1980
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