L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016 L'Italo-Americano A n a r t i s t i c , m u l t i - f a c e d project, able to build and i m p r o v e e x c h a n g e s a m o n g I t a l i a n c o n t e m p o r a r y visual artists and their Bay Area counterparts, curated by Marina P u g l i e s e , h a s k i c k e d o f f i n February at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco. Part of the so-called "Mapping the city" Project, Fragile is a joint e x h i b i t i o n c r e a t e d b y t w o a r t i s t s , I t a l i a n M a r t a D e l l ' A n g e l o a n d C h i n o - American Summer Lee. Marta Dell'Angelo's Exhibition "Fragile" opens the Mapping-The-City Project in San Francisco SERENA PERFETTO SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY The exhibition unites differ- ent kind of experiences from p e r f o r m a n c e t o i n s t a l l a t i o n , f o c u s i n g o n t h e t o p i c o f t h e body and the accumulation. The exhibition also repre- sents a way to adopt the image of Michelangelo's Pietà and take it to another, different, modern level. As explained by artist and writer Laura Boles in her exhibi- t i o n p r e s e n t a t i o n , w h i l e Michelangelo's sculpture dis- p l a y s V i r g i n M a r y c r a d l i n g J e s u s ' d e a d b o d y , M a r t a Dell'Angelo and Summer Lee have been able "to translate this form into other mediums where their bodies enact a similar com- position". In particular for the Italian artist, our human being-ness is represented by the body's puls- ing and positioning within the space around: indeed, her instal- lation isolates the body from the normal settings thanks to the choice of the materials and pre- vious artworks she has used. We talked to Marta during the open- ing reception on February 18 at the Italian Cultural Institute, where the two artists were also part of a performance "Pietas" at t h e a d j a c e n t O p e r a P l a z a Cinema. Marta, how did this collab- oration start? The project has been led by curator Marina Pugliese, who contacted me in order to discuss a p o s s i b l e c o l l a b o r a t i o n . Mapping The City is an across- t h e - b o a r d p r o j e c t w h i c h involves the Italian Cultural I n s t i t u t e a n d t h e C h i n e s e Cultural Center. I was really i n t e r e s t e d i n t h i s k i n d o f Chinese-American-Italian col- l a b o r a t i o n a n d a c c e p t e d Marina's invitation. T h i s c o l l a b o r a t i o n a l s o includes a joint exhibition with an American artist. Did you know Summer Lee before? I d i d n o t k n o w h e r f r o m before, however I had the oppor- tunity to choose her as "partner" and I did: her work is very close to mine, especially in its visual aspects. We had to build a sort of virtual relationship before I came to the United States: we started talking on Skype almost every day in order to make this artistic relation work. Summer has Chinese origins and their influence is very important in this project, because it involves two communities that have been close in many cities around the United States. Y o u r e x h i b i t i o n i s v e r y unique for the materials you chose and the final result. I have used standardized A4 sized papers, it's a cultural for- mat because it's the size that collects bills, letters, receipts, photocopies, copies, etc. So in one hand it is a kind of foothold, in the other hand it is responsi- b l e f o r c r u s h i n g t h e i m a g e . T h e r e f o r e , t h e s e p a p e r s a r e n a i l e d t o t h e w a l l b u t a t t h e same time they can flutter and act: the gravity let them wave, creating a sort of movement in order to remind the main topic of the whole project and shows the fragility of our lives. C a n y o u t e l l u s h o w y o u work with paper? The figures that build the f i n a l i m a g e c o m e f r o m m y painting or drawings or pho- tographs. They are different in quality of visual language and d p i r e s o l u t i o n . I p u t t h e m together trying to give a whole meaning however, according to the position of the viewer, the perspective changes. When the viewer decides where to stand, his/her point of view towards the artwork changes too. What or who inspired you? I wanted to build a sort of wallpaper which could be kind of "movable" in order to con- trast the idea behind the wallpa- per itself, which usually repre- sents something stable and not easy to move. The colours though are just black and white… I d i d n o t w a n t t o u s e a n y other colours than black and white. You can see very few colourful parts. I had some red, blue and yellow that are the pri- mary colours. This is because I wanted to recall the idea of a photocopy machine that, when s t o p s w o r k i n g , s t a r t s g i v i n g colours that we do not expect. And these are usually the three colours we see here. You and Summer were also part of a performance called Pietas. Can you explain the idea behind it? In one of the small rooms of the adjacent Opera Plaza theatre, w e h a d t h i s o n g o i n g p e r f o r - mance during which you see a piece of white cloth suspended i n t h e m i d d l e o f a d a r k e n e d room. The Pietas is something Summer proposed as she had worked on it before: together we realized the performance and the video we played for that night w h i c h t u r n e d t o b e a u n i q u e experience for all the visitors of the exhibition. Marta Dell'Angelo Installation at the Italian Cultural Institute Marta Dell'Angelo Installation at the Italian Cultural Institute

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