L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 8 T he Bridge Art Exchange Building in Santa Monica opened a little over a month ago on December 12th in collaboration w ith the Bice Bugatti Club Italy , the s olo exhibit of F ranco M arrocco, professor and director of the prestigious Academy of Fine A rts of Brera in M ilan. The earliest paintings by Marrocco actually belong to the late '70s and since then, the author has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions not only in Italy but also worldwide. For M arrocco, this is a pleas ant return to Los Angeles after the s ucces s of the previous exhibition, "Work on Paper", held in 2014 at the IIC and the BBA X that now is als o dedicating a solo exhibit to make the public aware of his past and of his ow n exis tential experiences . The exhibition entitled "The RedStudio", which recalls the famous w ork of H enry M atis s e in 1911, the atelier Rouge now at MoMA in New York, expresses the intent to exhibit w orks on large canvases with the purpose of representing to the visitors the mos t accurate image of the artist's creative process. Director Marrocco, what are your feelings and what significance do your works have here in Los Angeles after the success of 2014? Whenever an artist exhibits his works, it is put to the test not only by the public but also by the w ork its elf, as a difficult examination and also one that is necessary for all those who want to do research in art. In any case, I feel that an author needs to do other s how s , as a s ort of continuity in order to deepen those aspects mentioned above. The 2014 s how , "Work on Paper", where there were only works on paper, did not express all my art. I believe that the opportunity to also see other works with different materials can be useful for the observer to unders tand my w ork in its entirety. Then there are the emotional and the sentimental as pects that accompany the author whenever he exhibits his work, which always produce a surprise to the work itself. It is the opportunity of split from the creator to the observer of the work itself, examining it with a fres h and analytical look, finding new ideas for the future pictorial research. Dr. Caichiolo, how was the idea of the exhibition, the Red S tu d io an d Oth er Work s , conceived and on what aspect in particular should the viewer focus? The exhibition was created from the idea of giving a retrospective that encompasses various phases of the artistic journey of the author and it was called "The Red S tudio", precisely because it is the fruit of his pers onal res earch, an intimate path that generally every artist tends to keep as such. Its intention is to be the repres entation of time that Marrocco spent in his study over the years in search of his own artistic identity. During this cours e of grow th, M arrocco experiments w ith different techniques, as well as with the application of color, thus expressing the emotions that he w ent through at different moments of his life from childhood to adulthood. M arrocco has an incredible technique which is extremely precise and his meticulousness gives the viewer a sense of order and discipline. The viewer can see on canvas the journey of a man and of his art, his emotions and his entire life through his paintings. Th e title of th e exh ib it recalls the famous work by Hen ri Matis s e Th e R ed S tu d io. Wh ich traits of Marrocco's painting can be considered evocative of the works of the French artist? This image belongs mainly to the co-creator of the exhibition, Giovanni Iovane, who took into cons ideration the w orks of Marrocco including those on paper, recognizing similarities w ith M atis s e s o much as to name the exhibit The Red Studio exhibition. I personally think that the works of Marrocco are genuinely related to personal themes, for example many of the paintings recall playing time in his mother's home, and are, therefore, pure emotions expressed through color that allow the artist to be seen as a real pers on recognizing his entire past through his artistic growth just as an exhibition should do. How w ere th e w ork s of Marrocco received b y th e Italo-American community? It w as very interes ting because unlike others, the Italian community, for which in the last five years we have held about tw o exhibitions a year, has s how n great interes t and appreciation so mush as to make them complete sell outs; the Italian community is one that also supports young and less known artists arriving in Los Angeles. Do you still consider art a bridge between the US and Italy? I think it s till is and that altogether, between Italy and the United States, remains a reciprocal exchange between history and tradition on one hand, and innovation on the other. The Italian artis tic language is different from that of the US, and even though art is a univers al language this difference still exists since it is repres entative of different cultures . S ometimes Italian art in its connection w ith his tory pos es a limit to the experimentation of new languages . N evertheles s , I believe that this bond to the Italian artistic tradition and to its techniques of generations is also positive because it helps us to keep s olid the identity of a country so rich in history. Professor Franco Marrocco presents The Red Studio and Other Works at the Bridge Art Exchange of L.A. Marisa Calchiolo, curator of the solo exhibit of Professor Franco Morocco LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY BENEDETTA CICCONI Translation by Angela Di Nardo

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