The sensuality of the fold. Fifty years of Umberto Mariani Sat 06 April 2019 - Fri 14 June 2019

The exhibition whose title is “The sensuality of the fold” curated by Marco Meneguzzo, revisits and re-evaluates the world of the artist from Milan, who for some years has enjoyed a renewed interest from the art world passing through the three  fundamental steps – only apparently far and diversified – of his path: the pop period, from the second half of the Sixties to 1974; “Aphonic alphabet”, from 1975 to the end of the decade, when painted folds that hide letters of the alphabet start appearing; and the latest period – on its turn divided into two expressive nuclei – where the “fold” becomes the unique protagonist of his work, developed three-dimensionally in canvas or in lead.

And this stylistic element becomes emblematic in what has become, over the years, a constant factor with Mariani’s vision and poetics: the sensuality of painting. The Milan-based project, with a core of over thirty works, features a pop moment exhibited in the gallery’s stand at miart exhibition, whereas an accurate selection of the other two periods can be seen in the gallery rooms. This way, visitors can watch the work evolution over fifty years, noticing differences and similarities, contingent reasons and constant themes within his whole activity. The fold, an element which few have been focusing on, but that is always present in the history of painting, is the trait-d’union of the two exhibition venues and above all, of the artist’s activity, who in this way, can combine the absolute novelty and peculiarity of his research – that almost becomes a brand – with the big river of the best painting tradition. The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue (Italian and English) published by Progettoarte-Elm, containing the curator’s critical text about all of the works on show and updated biographical and bibliographic information.