Vittorio Marella: Sotto il sole

With a site-specific exhibition project, emerging artist Vittorio Marella presents a reflection on the relationship between human beings and the environment. Four small-format paintings open the exhibition, introducing a monumental ceiling work measuring more than ten metres.

Reaffirming its commitment to supporting early-career artists and promoting new voices in contemporary art, Mart in Rovereto dedicates a solo exhibition to the young Venetian painter Vittorio Marella (Venezia, 1997).

Conceived specifically for the museum spaces, the project continues Marella’s investigation of the human–environment relationship, a theme already explored in previous large-scale cycles such as Verso il mondo nuovo, shown at Palazzo Merulana in Rome in 2024. Along this same trajectory, the exhibition brings together works from the series Under the weight of a heavy sun, begun at the Biennale Arte 2024.

The exhibition opens with four small canvases depicting tightly cropped close-ups: faces partially shielded by hands raised against the sun. These details serve as a tense prelude to the large-scale work in the following room, where the central narrative unfolds.

Eight large teleri—canvases traditionally used in Venetian painting as alternatives to frescoes—form a painted ceiling more than ten metres long. The monumental work portrays a group of young people lying under an intense, oppressive sun.

Although the scene appears ordinary, it contains elements of uncertainty. There are no contextual clues—such as water, mountains or a clear horizon—to orient the viewer, and the subjects’ clothing offers no indication of season. Everything is suspended in a charged, immediate present, where only the desert-like backdrop and the youth of the figures remain as narrative traces.