English | Naima Morelli

Palazzo Riso, The Contemporary Art Museum of Palermo

28-01-2013

In October I went to Sicily for the first time and I didn’t miss the opportunity to visit the stunning Palermo.
I had two wonderful guides to show me around, Maria Rita Mastropaolo, writer for the web magazine Prisky (link), and Ciro Cangialosi, an incredible comic books artist (link).
We visited Palazzo Riso, an ancient building turned into Contemporary Art Museum, which displayed works by the most important contemporary Sicilian artist, like Carla Accardi, Pietro Consagra, Salvo, Antonio Sanfilippo, Emilio Isgro’ and also younger Sicilian artists such as Croce Taravella, Alessandro Bazan and Laboratorio Saccardi.

There was a Boltanski’s exhibition going on that was quite impressive. It was related to memory and in some way to a profound sensation of human tragedy, like most of his work. The clothes hanging from the wall and surrounded by lights seemed to be presences that were no more into the body, but they were flowing around what was left of the body itself.

Post-it Nirvana

By: Naima Morelli

21-01-2013

English, Italy, Reportage, Uncategorized

sediapostit

The calm after the storm.
After escaping the Post-it Pandemonium, I moved to Parioli, Rome.
Before that I lived in Piazza Mancini, surrounded by post its that scream to be turned into book chapters all day long, and sometimes even in the night. In my new writing location I finally managed to organize all the information so i could archive the post its. I put a band to each stack divided by subject.
Of course, I’m still writing other post-its but now that the structure is done I’m doing just small bunches of them on few sheets and I’m adding the information time by time.
My book about Contemporary Art in Indonesia is shaping up.

Published! Erika Hoffmann Interview on Artribune

By: Naima Morelli

19-01-2013

English, Germany, Interview, Italiano, Published, Visit

The italian web magazine Artribune just published the interview I had in Berlin with the collector Erika Hoffmann in her home/museum.

Lucas Leo Catalano took some pictures that give you an idea of how it was there. Amazing, in one word. Supercool.

Here you are the link to the interview

Preview: Angelo Formica Solo Exhibition in Milan

By: Naima Morelli

17-01-2013

English, Italy, News

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In the chaos of an art fair is usually quite difficult to find some art work that attracts you straightaway. So was at the Roma Road to Contemporary Art Fair at MACRO Testaccio.
Actually, there was an exception.

Coming from Sorrento, a picturesque town near Naples, I was quite influenced by all the traditions, all the sort of stuff coming from people. The “Popolo”.
I never stop questioning about it. What is the Popolo? Does the Popolo really exist nowadays? What are the features of the Popolo?
From Jorge Amado to Pasolini, I enjoy the subject, that eventually became the topic of my thesis at the Academy of Fine Arts.

There’s one thing that a particularly like about the Popolo. It is how they mix the religion and the sacred with everyday life and how they show it through the objects.
Angelo Formica, the exception in the art fair I was talking about, takes this concept to the extreme with his artworks.

Published! Katerina Valdivia Bruch Interview on Art a Part of Cult(ure)

By: Naima Morelli

15-01-2013

English, Germany, Indonesia, Interview, Italiano, Italy, Published, Reportage

The italian web magazine Art a Part of Cult(ure) just published the interview I had in Berlin with the curator Katerina Valdivia Bruch. The interview is part of my reportage about Indonesian Contemporary Art.

Here you are the link to the interview

Post-it Pandemonium, a very short story

By: Naima Morelli

12-01-2013

English, Indonesia, Italy, Reportage, Research

postit

What’s up with your book?
Well, I just overcome the worst step of them all: ranking all the post-its I’ve made.
In the beginning writing all the information about Indonesian contemporary art on the post it notes sounded good.
I was reading essays, catalogues, articles and stuff about the topic and I would be able to write down the information I’ve just learned and all the references directly on the post its.Then I stuck them on the wall and that was that.
Sweet. And practical too.
After a while it became a mess, sort of yellow geographic map on the white sea of my wall. To find a single information was hell.
Yeah, it was the Post-it Pandemonium.

Dark Venice by Oky Rey Montha

By: Naima Morelli

09-01-2013

English, Indonesia, Italy, Reportage

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I came to know about the young Indonesian artist Oky Rey Montha from his solo show at Primo Marella Gallery in Milan and I’ll end up interviewing him for my book on contemporary art in Indonesia.

He seems to be the kinky and eccentric kink of artist that loves to get lost in his imagination.
With a dark, tim burtonian look and emo hair and makeup he’s directly out from one of his paintings.
His work reminds me of the pop-surrealism trend and is inspired by comics. Asian market sought this kind of paintings; at the same time Oky himself seems not to care too much about the market.
I look at him as a symbol of his generation that isn’t bother anymore with tradition and Wayang Puppets, but it’s more into pop and fantasy realms.
At the same time he knows how to take advantages of the web and he’s launching is own clothes collection called “Piratez” on facebook and on the blogosphere. He’s also an indie musician and loves to make drum performances during the exhibition openings.

Writing in Via Giulia cafes

By: Naima Morelli

05-01-2013

English, Indonesia, Italy, Reportage, Research

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Hot white tea and a slice of cake.
Inspired by this Simonedebeauvoirian-Sartrarian-Camussarian extra
romanticized attitude of writing in the cafes instead of quietly staying
home and working hard, my old fellow Lucas and I started hanging out in the
in the cafes on Via Giulia, Rome every so often.

I was reading a couple of books to widen my perspective on Indonesian
Contemporary Art. For an insight into the East/West dichotomy, the curator of Indonesia’s exhibition at MACRO, Dominique Lora, recommended Flavio Caroli’s “Arte d’Oriente Arte d’Occidente”.

Two Years with Art a Part of cult(ure)

By: Naima Morelli

29-12-2012

English, Italy, News, Published

artapart

It’s been two years since my collaboration with Art a Part of cult(ure) began. My first article was about the japanese artist Masachi Echigo, you can read it here.

I’ve met Art a Part director Barbara Martusciello in a gallery in Piazza di Spagna, she was doing an interesting series of lectures about contemporary art.
At that time I already wrote for the magazine Arskey and the webmagazine Teknemedia, but I wasn’t very happy with them because they give me sort of limitations of style and criticize the artists was totally forbidden.

Angki Purbandono’s scanner

By: Naima Morelli

28-12-2012

English, Indonesia, Interview, Reportage, Visit

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Angki Purbandono in one of the artists from Indonesia that take the photography further and stimulate the discussion around it.
He was one of the founder of MES56 and a very appreciate international artist.

Before meeting him I thought his photography was all about aestetic
values. I found out that is not completely true.
Actually, to make people look at something from everyday life in a
different way is already a conceptual act.

Defamiliarisation of common objects, weird associations of items,
giantisation of small findings. Through Angki’s swiftian attitude one can
discover that the Beauty and the Strange are not so far from what we
experience in our daily life.

I’ve seen Angki’s scanner. It’s a normal scanner, not pretentious at all.
I asked Angki when and why he started using a scanner instead of a
camera:

If we realize that we are victims we can fight, that’s the idea.

By: Naima Morelli

26-12-2012

English, Indonesia, Interview, Reportage

Most of Agung Kurniawan’s artworks are based on memory. In his famous charcoal work “Very Very Happy Victims” , part of Singapore Art Museum’s collection, he uses a raw irony to depict the situation under Suharto regime, from ’67 to ’98.

He explained me the genesis of this work during my visit to Kedai Kebun Forum:

“I made Very Very Happy Victims in 1995. I was still a young an angry artist. It was a portrait of myself and the society at that time because at that time Indonesia economy was one of the best in Asia. At the same time we lived in a kind of fascist regime. Everything was controlled by the government. Indonesia was the copycat of Orwell’s book 1984.
I asked my friends if they feel ok and they reply “Yes, I feel happy, I can eat at McDonalds, school is not expensive, I can have very cheap prize” . So I portrait my generation that felt very happy even though was oppressed by the government. This is the reason why I called it “Very Very happy Victims”. We were happy because we didn’t realize we were victims. If we realize it we can fight, that’s the idea. ”

More about Agung activities on: kedaikebun.com

Breakfast in Yogyakarta

By: Naima Morelli

25-12-2012

English, Indonesia, Italy, Reportage, Research

Looking at the sheets of my Indonesian reportage stained with Java tea I really start missing Yogyakarta.

In these days I’m in my hometown Sorrento surrounded by mandarini’s smell, writing the first draft of my book about Contemporary Art in Indonesia.
I’m trying to recollect the memories of these days in Yogya, from the amazing studio of Heri Dono to the taste of the Pisang Goreng, the fried banana with melted javanese sugar and chocolate.

We don’t have original Java tea here in Sorrento; I’ve to content myself with the Lipton version.
Whatever, tea is tea. As Proust teaches: “As long as you have a madeleine, a pancake or a fried banana to be dipped in tea, you could recollect memories”, or something like it.
I feel like adding to Proust’s statement that all the contemporary art starts from a substantial breakfast. Definitively I’m on the good track.
Actually, can I have extra chocolate on my Pisang Goreng?

Naima Morelli

Palazzo Riso, The Contemporary Art Museum of Palermo

Post-it Nirvana

Published! Erika Hoffmann Interview on Artribune

Preview: Angelo Formica Solo Exhibition in Milan

Published! Katerina Valdivia Bruch Interview on Art a Part of Cult(ure)

Post-it Pandemonium, a very short story

Dark Venice by Oky Rey Montha

Writing in Via Giulia cafes

Two Years with Art a Part of cult(ure)

Angki Purbandono’s scanner

Breakfast in Yogyakarta

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