Aldo Mondino
from 23 March 2025 to 30 April 2025
Torino
Aldo Mondino
GALLERIA UMBERTO BENAPPI – SANSICARIO ALTO (Turin) | 23 March 2025 – 30 April 2025
Opening: Saturday 22 March 2025 – 5.30 pm
Opening: Saturday 22 March 2025 – 5.30 pm
The Galleria Umberto Benappi, with the creative support of Riccardo Pietrantonio, presents the exhibition Aldo Mondino at its “
montagna” venue.
montagna” venue.
This monographic exhibition aims to offer an overview of the work of the Piedmontese artist,
, 20 years after his death, with a selection of works from various periods: from the balloons and grid patterns of the 1960s to the Iznik series (c. 2000), a series of paintings on glass created using the enamel technique typical of the great tradition of Turkish ceramics (ancient Nicaea); from the works of the 1980s on linoleum to the chocolates and sugar cubes of the 1990s, used as tiles to create vibrant mosaics. As can be seen in American Flag (undated) and Food Ball (1990), chocolates encased in golden and multicoloured wrappers and sugar cubes become the tiles that make up a wide variety of ‘mosaics’ of imaginative and cultured decorativeness.Mondino learnt the mosaic technique in Paris, where he moved in 1959 and attended the studio of William Heyter, the École du Louvre and the mosaic course at the Academy of Fine Arts with Severini and Licata.In 1960, upon his return to Italy, he put to use and developed the surrealist inspiration he had absorbed in the French capital, through wordplay, nonsense and puns. He began exhibiting at the Galleria L'Immagine in Turin (1961) and the Galleria Alfa in Venice (1962). In particular, his meeting with Gian Enzo Sperone, director of the Turin gallery, proved pivotal for his artistic career, marking the start of a lifelong partnership.
From the 1980s onwards, Mondino developed his extraordinary ‘Orientalist’ adventure, inspired in particular by the pages of Eugène Delacroix’s Souvenirs d’un voyage au Maroc, from which he drew much of his vision of the Arab East (stretching from Morocco to Palestine and Turkey). His paintings feature group compositions, glimpses of settings and individual portraits, among which the “Dervishes” stand out—mystical whirling dancers (Dervishes, 1999)—painted on linoleum, a wholly unconventional painting surface that nevertheless confirms his penchant for experimentation. At the 1993 Venice Biennale, a memorable solo exhibition space was set up featuring a series of colourful ‘Carpets’ hung on the wall, a chandelier made up of countless dangling Bic pens, and the large canvases of the Dervishes, who had also made a live appearance with a spectacular performance during the opening. (F. Poli, 2023) Also on linoleum, the retrospective concludes with the work Christie’s (1991), whose inscription (and title) conceals a veiled critique of the art system, highlighting the creative and ironic flair of one of the most non-conformist artists of his generation.
, 20 years after his death, with a selection of works from various periods: from the balloons and grid patterns of the 1960s to the Iznik series (c. 2000), a series of paintings on glass created using the enamel technique typical of the great tradition of Turkish ceramics (ancient Nicaea); from the works of the 1980s on linoleum to the chocolates and sugar cubes of the 1990s, used as tiles to create vibrant mosaics. As can be seen in American Flag (undated) and Food Ball (1990), chocolates encased in golden and multicoloured wrappers and sugar cubes become the tiles that make up a wide variety of ‘mosaics’ of imaginative and cultured decorativeness.Mondino learnt the mosaic technique in Paris, where he moved in 1959 and attended the studio of William Heyter, the École du Louvre and the mosaic course at the Academy of Fine Arts with Severini and Licata.In 1960, upon his return to Italy, he put to use and developed the surrealist inspiration he had absorbed in the French capital, through wordplay, nonsense and puns. He began exhibiting at the Galleria L'Immagine in Turin (1961) and the Galleria Alfa in Venice (1962). In particular, his meeting with Gian Enzo Sperone, director of the Turin gallery, proved pivotal for his artistic career, marking the start of a lifelong partnership.
From the 1980s onwards, Mondino developed his extraordinary ‘Orientalist’ adventure, inspired in particular by the pages of Eugène Delacroix’s Souvenirs d’un voyage au Maroc, from which he drew much of his vision of the Arab East (stretching from Morocco to Palestine and Turkey). His paintings feature group compositions, glimpses of settings and individual portraits, among which the “Dervishes” stand out—mystical whirling dancers (Dervishes, 1999)—painted on linoleum, a wholly unconventional painting surface that nevertheless confirms his penchant for experimentation. At the 1993 Venice Biennale, a memorable solo exhibition space was set up featuring a series of colourful ‘Carpets’ hung on the wall, a chandelier made up of countless dangling Bic pens, and the large canvases of the Dervishes, who had also made a live appearance with a spectacular performance during the opening. (F. Poli, 2023) Also on linoleum, the retrospective concludes with the work Christie’s (1991), whose inscription (and title) conceals a veiled critique of the art system, highlighting the creative and ironic flair of one of the most non-conformist artists of his generation.
Aldo Mondino
Christie's, 1991
olio su linoleum
80 × 60 cm
Legger, 1978
(s.t.)
80 × 100 cm
American Flag, (s.d.)
cioccolatini su tavola
42 × 63 cm
Lobby star, 1989
bronzo
108 × 16 × 25 cm
Dervisci (composizione), 1999
olio su linoleum
installazione di 21 elementi (40 × 40 cm ciascuno)
FOOD BALL, 1990
zollette di zucchero su tavola
50 × 50 × 5 cm
Opere correlate
Nessuna opera correlata trovata