Galleria d’Arte Maggiore g.a.m. presents the exhibition “Mise en scène” dedicated to Marco Palmieri in its Parisian venue. The solo show – curated by Carlotta Testori – explores the relationship between art and architecture, space and perception, container and content where the focus lies in the scenic construction obtained through photography, drawing, watercolour, but also the reproduction of models. The choice of Paris, a city long attuned to theatre and its ability to transform space into narrative, provides fertile ground for Palmieri’s research, in which existing and imaginary places are transformed into veritable stages. His works reveal a conception of space not as a neutral container, but as an active element of perceptual experience, capable of contributing to the wonder of art, a real space that also takes on a mental dimension shaped by colour and by skilful use of light. These elements recall Palmieri’s experience working alongside Ettore Sottsass, the master who profoundly influenced his training and helped him develop a conception of colour as pigment, symbol and language.
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A multifaceted personality, both artist and architect, in this Parisian exhibition curated by Carlotta Testori, Marco Palmieri focuses on the theme of staging, "mise en scène". Geometries, architectures, lights, shadows and figures are orchestrated according to a precise visual direction, leaving room for the coup de théâtre: an unexpected element, a light or a shadow capable of suddenly altering the perception of space and revealing its artificial, constructed nature.
Palmieri employs the refined technique of watercolour, but just when we are led to believe that this is his sole form of experimentation, another theatrical gesture takes us by surprise. Alongside his pure watercolours, Palmieri also creates three-dimensional environments, veritable sets made of painted watercolour paper, which are subsequently photographed, transforming real space into an image and introducing a new level of representation.
The exhibition path unfolds like a “magic box”, its starting point being a series of images and architectural forms belonging to collective memory, whose history and identity the artist acknowledges before reinterpreting them with the skill of an accomplished stage director. Highlights include tributes to Palazzo Te – the subject of a recent body of work and of an exhibition hosted within the Mantuan palace itself, an extraordinary example of a suburban Mannerist Renaissance villa conceived and built by Giulio Romano – and to the metaphysical squares of Giorgio de Chirico, populated by towers and imaginary architectures. The geometric elements that Palmieri likes to incorporate into his works move from one wall of the gallery to another, expanding into the space and forming constellations that combine in ever-changing variations. At the far end of the room, a luminous image appears like a portal to a further space: an undefined, immaterial dimension open to infinity.
Moving further into the exhibition, the gaze becomes closer and more contemplative with forms and architectural structures created by Palmieri’s imagination, as though looking through a
magnifying glass that invites us to observe some specific relationships, in order to directs the visitor's attention towards the action unfolding in each place. The figures that appear on the stages within these architectural settings, regardless of their renown, acquire an archetypal value: they evoke universal possibilities of human experience, transcending time and specific cultural contexts.
Through his ongoing exploration of the transition between reality and representation, Marco Palmieri thus constructs spaces for interpretation that invite viewers to participate and engage with what they see and what they imagine, moving between presence and distance.
Biography:
Marco Palmieri was born in Naples in 1969. Trained as an architect, after professional
experiences in Paris and Dublin, he returned to Italy, settling in Milan, where he became one of Ettore Sottsass’s last collaborators. Throughout his creative career, he has maintained an interdisciplinary approach spanning art, architecture, photography and museum installations.
In 2008, he inaugurated his first exhibition of watercolours at Galleria Antonia Jannone in Milan. Several solo exhibitions followed, including presentations in Paris at Galerie du Jour d’agnès b.; in Naples at Castel dell’Ovo; at Art Basel Miami in the Collectors Lounge of Sanlorenzo Yacht; in Paris with Œvre d’Honneur at the Italian Cultural Institute; and in Mantua in the Camera delle Cariatidi at Palazzo Te.
He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions at public museums and private galleries, including exhibitions at the GNAMC - Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome, the Triennale Milano, PAN – Palazzo delle Arti in Naples, Villa Belgiojoso in Merate (LC), Galleria Studio La Città in Verona, Assab One and Paola Sosio Contemporary Art in Milan.
For many years, he has been involved in the design of various museum installations for institutions including the Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin, Museion in Bolzano, the MASI in Lugano and the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
Texts introducing his exhibitions have been written by Ettore Sottsass, André Magnin, Antonio Calbi, Elena Pontiggia, Giacinto Di Pietrantonio, Denis Curti, Marco Vallora, Angela Madesani, thus reaching an increasingly broad audience of critics and collectors who follow his practice closely.