Ignazio Mortellaro

In the frame of Radiceterna Arte e Ambiente, a project by Valentina Bruschi, Ignazio Mortellaro, Vittorio Rappa and Eveline Wüthrich, in collaboration with the University Museum System (SiMuA), Ignazio Mortellaro showcases his work for the fourth and last appointment, which takes place inside the Calidarium of the Botanical Gardens of the University of Palermo.

As stated in the title of the exhibition, taken from a verse by the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti, the artist aims to “objectify” the term “desert”, understood as landscape, place of extreme atomization, a fluid and free space, whose mutations makes it a dizzying labyrinth “which has no stairways to climb, nor walls to impede thy passage.” (as in the story, The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths, “The Aleph” by Jorge Luis Borges). Literary and geographical references that become metaphors referencing time and its many forms and dimensions. With these ideas in mind, Ignazio Mortellaro has created a new series of works designed specifically for this particular exhibition space: a series of photographic collages, bronze and brass sculptures plus a video. This last work is the result of a collaboration with the musician Lucy, brother of the artist and protagonist of the inaugural live set.

The book/catalogue, published by Hopefulmonster and produced for the occasion in the series of monographs designed for Radiceterna, contains texts by Valentina Bruschi, Beatrice Merz, Ruggero Ragonese, Giuseppina Vara and a selection of images of Ignazio Mortellaro’s works.