First edition: 4 October 2017 A new update to this now historic post: we show you the work of Mimmo Paladino which is part of the Terrae Motus collection, promoted by the great Neapolitan gallery owner Lucio Amelio in the aftermath of the 1980 earthquake in Campania and Basilicata. The most important contemporary artists from all over the world joined the initiative; the collection is exhibited in the rooms of the Royal Apartments of the Royal Palace of Caserta
*************************************************************************************************************************************** An update to this post from 2017: we show you the permanent installation of Paladino's Sand Horse inside the archaeological area of Paestum (for more details see the website
Below is the original text of the 2017 post: Today we are doing something different than usual: an itinerary in Campania in search of the creations of an artist, Mimmo Paladino, originally from Paduli (BN), who has achieved international fame with his works and installations. Among the latter, it is enough to remember the Montagna di Sale, built for the first time in 1990 in Gibellina, in Sicily, and subsequently in Naples, in Piazza del Plebiscito; we attach a photo of the work taken in Gibellina a few days ago:
We certainly do not want to improvise art critics, we are not up to it; we only know that meeting a work by Paladino always generates emotion in us combined with the anxiety that his figures transmit to us, and this is what we would like to share with the visitors of COMMA 2. Of course we do not claim to have exhausted all the works of the master present in Campania, and therefore we gladly accept your reports and corrections. All the locations that we will illustrate have already been discussed previously; the posts are listed at the end of this article. In them you will find practical information on the facilities and their accessibility. Let's start this round from Benevento (1). In this city there is the Hortus Conclusus, an installation created by the artist in the garden of the ancient convent of San Domenico. Here are some pictures of the works on display:
We are now moving to Naples. In the Campania capital there are works by Paladino exhibited in various sites and often in such a position as to capture the attention and strike the imagination of the visitor, even the most inattentive. An example: this sculpture installed in a panoramic position on the terraces of Castel Sant'Elmo (2) (the island in the background is Capri):
Also in Castel Sant'Elmo, in the parade ground, there is the museum dedicated to art in the Naples of the twentieth century; in this museum we find the following picture:
We go "down Naples", as they say in our parts, and go to the courtyard of the Maschio Angioino (3): as soon as we enter we are faced with something that seems familiar to us:
A few hundred meters from the Maschio Angioino and we arrive at the Royal Palace (3), in whose gardens we find one of the recurring elements in Paladino's sculpture:
We now move to the historic center, and precisely to the Pio Monte della Misericordia (4). Here we find a painting that Paladino, like many other contemporary artists, donated in 2013 to Pio Monte for the Sette Opere di Misericordia project; the work illustrates the precept "to give accommodation to pilgrims", recalled by the staff of the human figure and by the dove that symbolizes the Holy Spirit:
From the Pio Monte you arrive after a few hundred meters to that cornerstone of Neapolitan culture (and not only) which is the MADRE Museum (5). Here we find a room dedicated to the work of our artist, as well as one of his horses installed on the roof of the building:
The last Neapolitan stop is at the Royal Palace of Capodimonte (6). In the very interesting section of contemporary art of the museum, among the various Andy Warhol and Alberto Burri we also find this work by the master of Paduli:
We close this Campania excursus on the art of Mimmo Paladino with a visit to Ravello (7). Here in 2013 an extraordinary exhibition was set up in which the master's works were exhibited between Villa Rufolo and the square of the Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium. We show you the photo of the only work that we know remained in Villa Rufolo after the closing of the exhibition and then, to top it off, a shot showing the auditorium square with the statues of the so-called "witnesses" to convey the feeling to find ourselves inside a dream.
Here ends the tour of Campania in the footsteps of Mimmo Paladino: but if you go around Italy you will meet the master at all latitudes, in Brescia as in Florence, in Gibellina or in Lampedusa, where the famous Gate of Europe is installed. Have a good search! LIST OF REFERENCE POSTS: (1) Benevento: the Lombards in the South (19 July 2017) (2) Naples: the views and the castles of Vomero (21 July 2017) (3) Naples: home of the sovereigns (16 August 2017) (4) Naples: a day in the historic center (16 July 2017) (5) Naples: two jewels of museums (10 August 2017) (6) Capodimonte: the Royal Palace with the adjoining park (28 August 2017) (7) Ravello: a jewel to be conquered (19 August 2017)
