MIMMO ROTELLA | Tra cinema e pubblicità

Galleria Il Centro, Napoli
Ivi acquistato dall'attuale proprietario negli anni Settanta

This work appears to be in generally good overall condition. The wearing marks, the fold traces, the yellowing and the humidity marks are inherent to the artist's choice of media and materials. The small tear to the center of the work is already visible in the artist's certificate released in the Seventies. No traces of retouching appear to be visible under UV light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"Il fatto stesso di voler fare l'arte che a me piaceva: libera, euforica, piena di ironia, né volgare né popolare, di liberare la cultura di quegli anni rivoluzionandone gli impianti e le strutture, mirando a un linguaggio inedito..."
Mimmo Rotella, in "Colloquio con Rotella", di Giuseppe Appella, Roma 1984  I primi combine paintings di Robert Rauschenberg coincidono, idealmente, con l’invenzione di Mimmo Rotella dei manifesti “lacerati”. In questo dialogo fra i due artisti, così lontani fisicamente ma vicini nella ricerca artistica, la reintroduzione degli oggetti quotidiani sulla tela si arricchisce di significati nuovi, elevando semplici materiali comuni allo status di messaggeri di portata artistico-culturale. Come afferma Sam Hunter: “Quanto ci offrono è l’aspetto globale del reale, catturato nella sua integrità oggettiva, senza trascrizioni di sorta. In nessun momento si tratta di ri-creazione, ma al contrario di trasmutazione espressiva” (Mimmo Rotella: un punto di vista americano, Milano 1986). In questa continua e reciproca dialettica tra America ed Europa, gli oggetti comuni non sono semplicemente assemblati, oppure posti in risalto in quanto singoli o fini a se stessi, come era per i ready made di Duchamp, ma rivisitati e riqualificati, combinati e lacerati. Ponendoci di fronte ai lavori dei due artisti, una stessa nota distintiva sembra riecheggiare e risuonare oltre lo spazio e il tempo: la poetica di due uomini la cui arte si lega indissolubilmente alla vita, senza tralasciare ciò che sembra esserci di più semplice. Continua Hunter, in merito a Rotella: “Non l’immediatezza, la banalità, la fresca anonimità della realtà urbana attirano Rotella, ma la stranezza prima non vista latente in ogni oggetto comune, vecchio o nuovo che sia”.

The first of Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘combine paintings’ coincide conceptually with Mimmo Rotella’s ripped ‘décollage’ posters. In the dialogue between these two artists, physically far apart but artistically close, the reintroduction of everyday objects on the canvas is enriched with new connotations. Simple quotidian materials are elevated to the status of spokesperson of cultural and artistic meaning. As Sam Hunter confirms: “What they offer us is an entire aspect of the real, captured in its objective integrity, without transcription of any sort. Never, at any moment, is it a question of recreation, but on the contrary of an expressive transmutation” (Mimmo Rotella: an American perspective, Princeton 1986). In this continual and reciprocal dialectic between America and Europe, everyday objects are no longer mainly collected, or given individual importance, as it was for Duchamp’s ‘ready mades’, but revisited and redefined, ‘combined’ and ripped. Faced with the works of these two artists, this same distinguishing characteristic echoes beyond the present space and time.  Art imitated life for both men since they cherished the simpler things in their present as in their production. Writing on Rotella Hunter states: “It is not the directness, the banality, or the refreshing anonymity of urban reality that appealed to Rotella, but the hitherto unrecognized strangeness latent in every common object, old or new”.



L'opera è accompagnata da fotografia firmata da Mimmo Rotella