Naima Morelli

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For the “Nothing happened since yesterday – Due Artisti da Melbourne” exhibition, I organized a talk at Accademia di Belle Arti Roma – aka Rome’s Art Academy – with the two exhibiting artists.
The talk was hosted by Prof. Isabella Tirelli and was meant to fuel a discussion with the students about the path of artists after art school. I thought that the experience of Kenny Pittock and Georgina Lee could have been interesting for the students. To start as emerging artist in Melbourne is certainly easier in Rome, thanks also to a very tight community and the presence of artist-run space. I hoped that by comparing the Australian art system to the Italian one, the students could have been inspired and come with new ideas for their own art environment.
I started the talk by introducing the Australian context and my research on the Melbourne art scene. Then Kenny and Georgina went on talking about their own work.
I’m happy about the outcome of the talk. Some students asked about the conceptual process of making work, some others inquired about how an Italian artist could start exhibiting in Australia. Georgina replied very clearly to all the questions and Kenny made even the more impassible students laugh. A student called Francesco even made a drawing of Georgina and Kenny and gave to them as a gift!

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I feel like the curator’s job is a little like Charles Xavier’s at times. After all both the curator and Prof. Xavier go around the world gathering mutants with superpowers – or artists in my case. My team for the “Nothing’s has happened since Yesterday” exhibition is sure smaller than a Marvel one but by no means less powerful.
One day, surfing on the internet, I stumbled upon a blog which reviewed exhibitions in Australia. It was when I was researching about the art scene in Melbourne, so I send a mail to the website asking for an interview with one of the two authors. At table of a cafe, waiting to be interviewed, sat a petite girl with resolute manners, nervous nostrils and round glasses. She was called Georgina Lee and chatting with her I found out that she was not only an arts writer, but also an artist.
Few weeks later I visited the TCB art space with a friend, and we were greeted by a gallery sitter with curly dusty hair and a worn out jumper. “I’ll give you guys a tour”, he mumbled and he started to list the names of the artists exhibiting, gesticulating with the hands in his jumper’s front pocket. One sculpture hanged on the wall looked like something that I had seen in exhibition at the Perth Centre for Contemporary Art a short time before. “Oh… that’s my work”, he said quickly and shyly. That’s how I met Kenny Pittock.

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“Nothing’s happened since Yesterday – Due artisti da Melbourne” is going to open tomorrow at Galleria 291est in Rome and we are super-excited. These days have been pretty busy for exhibiting artists Georgina Lee and Kenny Pittock; I dragged them to gallery and vernissage all over Rome, yesterday we had a talk at the Art Academy (pics soon on this blog) and most importantly they have installed their work in the gallery. On the second day both artists showed up at Galleria 291est sporting “I love Rome” t-shirts. Kenny was so in love with his t-shirt to the point that he refused to change it even for the ultra-posh opening in Villa Medici, the French Academy. That’s the best part of being an artist after all, you can wear whatever the hell you want and no one can tell you anything!
The whole setting-up process has been filmed by Mauro Piccinini of Hour Interview, a great video series that catches snippets of artists’ working day. I’m super curious to see the result! If you are in Rome in these days, come visit us for the opening tomorrow!

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manifesto accademia

Giovedì 29 maggio ore 15
incontro pre-mostra con gli artisti Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee
incontro moderato da Isabella Tirelli e Naima Morelli

Thursday May 29 , 3 pm
pre-exhibition talk with artists Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee
talk moderated by Isabella Tirelli and Naima Morelli

Accademia di Belle Arti
Roma via ripetta 222 Aula 207

Giovedì pomeriggio all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma si terrà il talk degli artisti australiani Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee. La discussione, che coinvolgerà anche gli studenti, verterà sulle peculiarità del sistema dell’arte australiano rispetto a quello italiano e sul percorso artistico degli artisti emergenti in entrambi i paesi.
Nel corso dell’incontro gli artisti discuteranno la propria pratica artistica in vista dell’imminente mostra alla Galleria 291est, curata da me nell’ambito della rassegna Common Place. Inoltre, codiuvata dalla Prof. Isabella Tirelli, fornirò una breve introduzione del contesto australiano basandomi sulla mia ricerca condotta a Melbourne nel corso del 2013.

A talk by artists Kenny Pittock and Georgina Lee will be held at Rome’s Art Academy on Thursday afternoon. The discussion with the students will focus on the peculiarities of the Australian art system compared to the Italian one and on the emerging artists’ path in both countries. The artists will also talk about their work for their upcoming exhibition at Galleria 291est, Rome, curated by me for the Common Place series. Together with lecturer Prof. Isabella Tirelli, I will also give an introduction to the Australian context based on my research on the Melbourne art scene.

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After visiting Dario Carratta’s pen-drawings exhibition at Galleria 291est in Rome, I was totally curious to see his paintings. On the way to his studio in Conca D’Oro, a north-east suburb of Rome, I was wondering where his twisted world of dingy nightclubs, pulped faces and blue hair in the wind came from. I won’t say I was expecting to find corpses and carnivorous plants in Dario’s studio, but I was actually pretty surprised to hear that the artists was so sensitive to bad vibes he wouldn’t even see the news. He explained me that art for him was an outlet to negative emotions that would otherwise overwhelm him. That’s why he needed to paint every day and he couldn’t picture himself not doing it.
The paintings in flesh looked much more violent and rougher than what I could observe from the photos, but for this very reason even more exciting and fascinating.

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globalcomment1

The web magazine Global Comment has just published my article “Is contemporary art effective in spreading awareness of climate change?”. It is my first collaboration with this magazine.

Here the link to the article

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dariocarratta

The Italian magazine Art a Part of Cult(ure) has just published my review of Dario Carratta’s exhibition “Attività Alpha” alla Galleria 291 est, Roma

Here the link to the review

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routine1
I have always been obsessed with plans for the day and routines. At the same time I know that I can’t stick to a particular routine for more than one month. That’s mainly because I had a double-base this year, Rome and Sorrento, so I need to continuously review my routine plan.
In Rome it’s harder to have a routine, since there are things to do all the time and life is quite hectic and unpredictable.
On the other hand, when I’m in Sorrento, I get back to my antisocial behaviour, and it’s much easier to stick to a routine and be productive. I have been away from Rome for almost a month now, so I had all the time I needed to establish a routine that really works for me and makes me happy. Here how it went so far:

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australiaunlimited

The web-magazine Australia Unlimited has  just published my article about Italian non-profit art spaces looking at Melbourne’s contemporary art scene as a unique model for innovation and dynamism. The article is part of my reportage about emerging artists in Melbourne.

Here the link to the article

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Manifesto

Il 31 maggio inagurerà alla Galleria 291 est a Roma la mostra dei due artisti australiani Kenny Pittock e Georgina Lee, con mia curatela. La mostra è parte della mia ricerca sugli artisti emergenti a Melbourne. Beccatevi il comunicato e una galleria di immagini:

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anagloriasalvia

The Italian magazine Art a Part of Cult(ure) has just published my review of Ana Gloria Salvia’s exhibition “Archi_Cuba” at PAN, Naples

Here the link to the review

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ITA:

Il giovane artista Robberto è recentemente tornato da Los Angeles dove ha esposto nella galleria Madhood Temporary (qui il mio comunicato stampa).
Una settimana fa ci siamo incontrati su sua richiesta al Verano, uno dei cimiteri più belli di Roma – almeno credo, non sono un’esperta in materia – e abbiamo chiacchierato riguardo l’esperienza dell’artista a LA, le opere realizzate lì, il mondo dell’arte americano a confronto con quello italiano e così via.
Sono stata a lungo combattuta sul pubblicare o meno sul mio blog l’audiointervista nella sua interezza. Sebbene mi trovi d’accordo sul disappunto e la disillusione di Robberto riguardo al mondo dell’arte italiano, mi piacerebbe essere comunque portatrice di una visione ottimista.
Nell’intervista però si trovano anche dei momenti di grande afflato e bellezza dove Robberto parla con passione della propria arte e di come, nonostante le difficoltà, non possa rinunciarci. Siccome gli artisti non vanno censurati, sopratutto quelli che si esprimono rispetto ad una condizione condivisa, ecco Robberto in tutta la sua incazzatura.

EN:

Italian emerging artist Robberto is back from Los Angeles where he recently had an exhibition called “Fake Skin” at Madhood Temporary (here my press release).
A week ago he asked me to meet at the Verano, Rome’s biggest and the most beautiful cemetery I suppose – I’m not an expert of cemeteries so I can’t make comparisons- and we had  a conversation about his experience in LA, the US art world vs the Italian one, his art and so forth.
Until the last minute I didn’t know if I wanted to post the entire audio record on my blog or not. Robberto turned out to have a very disillusioned and bitter opinion of the Italian art world and, even if I share his concerns, I would rather have an optimistic attitude.
Then I thought about the parts of the interview where he talks about the joy and the inevitability of art making, and I thought that could be very inspiring.
I don’t really feel I should censure artists, so I decided to post the interview, unfortunately available only in Italian. 

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