NEL FONDO DEL TEMPO

Mucciaccia Contemporary inaugurated and opened its doors to the public Wednesday, 3 May 2017, at 6pm in the center of Rome, at Piazza Borghese 1A. Founded by Giulia Abate and Giuliana Gamba, this new space is devoted entirely to contemporary art.

In the same tradition that has seen the opening in 2006 of Galleria Mucciaccia in Rome and then in Singapore and London, the aim of Mucciaccia Contemporary is that of supporting and promoting a new generation of artists, national and international, whose works can stimulate the young and passionate to collect. The gallery, located on the ground floor, is divided on two floors and is approximately 120 square meters, a perfect space to exhibit all types of art forms. Giulia Abate, director and curator of the space, inaugurated her gallery with artworks by two roman painters, Francesco Cervelli and Mauro Di Silvestre, in an exhibition entitled “Nel fondo del tempo”.

The title of the exhibition is taken from a piece by the novelist and playwright Jean Genet, where the “bottom”, referring to the concept of time, suggests an idea of spatiality and temporality. The works of the two artists, in dialogue with each other, touch on themes of memory as elements mentally revisited. On the walls hang two large paintings especially created for the opening of the gallery, whilst the group of paintings found upstairs, installed by the artists themselves, also explore the theme of time in all its aspects.

Mauro Di Silvestre’s works are an invitation to reinterpret a language made of visual overlays, decorative patterns and images evoked by a personal memory. Mauro looks back at the past evoking forms of a “resumed” memory that translates into gestures, faces and figures. The works are all mnemonic representations that vanish and reappear behind the impalpable and heavy veil of oblivion.

Francesco Cervelli’s contemplation is a guide towards a dimension of a collective memory, with reference to the great masters of art history such as Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. Francesco revisits the artists’ studios to then rework them, with a surreal and oneiric view.  They are silent spaces, the result of a dream where everything seems possible.

All the works in the exhibition reflect on the memory lived, revived and never abandoned, with the aim to take the viewer on a journey of fanciful imagination where time seems to have made still every past moment. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated bilingual catalogue (Italian-English, Carlo Cambi Editore), with essays by Giulia Abate and Piero Pizzi Cannella, as well as the interviews held with the artists.