Pompeii hosts contemporary art once again. After the Mitoraj and Picasso displays, which sealed Pompeii’s image as an historic city where different languages and time periods can meet, Pompeii is once again the setting and the promoter of contemporary art, this time with particular attention to the Campania area and its artists.
With this aim, from 23rd June 2017 to 23rd May 2018 the site will host the display ‘CASCIELLO POMPEII’, featuring the works of the artist Angelo Casciello. There are twelve sculptures, several created especially for this display. These works can be seen near The Temple of Aeolus, Flower, and Solo on the terrace of the Antiquarium, near Villa Imperiale which hosts Apollo, Totem and The Visions of Bacchus, and will also be exhibited along Viale delle Ginestre where you will see the painted steel triptych The Three Graces with The Cyclops, The Sound, and The Sleeping Man. In 1998 the latter was on show during the large display held at the Royal Palace of Naples. Casciello's sculptures represent a silent dialogue with the past, a means for the artist to convey his bond with his native area, its heritage, and its value in the contemporary age.
The display is an route between heritage and the contemporary age. In Pompeii heritage is not just the tale of a tragedy, but also one of life becoming eternal through form from the capitals, sculptures, cornices and walls of the buildings. Today, these architectural elements are compared with Casciello's works with their extraordinary sculptural-architectural force and their relation to their surroundings.
You will see volumetric works of plain or painted iron, solid metal structures alternating with dense, monolithic totem-like masses reminiscent of an archaic era. The rough hardness of the iron is combined with the slender branching of round metal rods, extended to catch metaphorical dew drops.
The aim of the display is to encourage reflection on the rediscovered city and on the passing time that has turned it into an eternal image, as well as reflection on the role of contemporary languages of art.
‘CASCIELLO POMPEI’ curated by Massimo Bignardi (Professor of Contemporary Art Heritage at Siena University), is promoted by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, the Atelier Casciello, the Regional Fund for Contemporary Art, Baronissi with the support of the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’, the Department of Historical Sciences and Cultural Heritage of the University of Siena, the Brera-Milan Academy of Fine Arts, and the Contemporary Art Museum MADRE in Naples.
A press event will take place at the Porta Marina access at 11.30am.
