The colours, irony and communicative power of contemporary Neo Pop arrive on Lake Maggiore with the works of the protagonists of the Italian scene
Mark your diary: from 25 July to 25 October contemporary art moves to Cannobio. In the splendid setting of Palazzo Parasi, overlooking Lake Maggiore, it takes place Neo Pop New Glam. A strong-impact exhibition curated by Giorgio Chinea Canale and made possible by the patronage of Francesco Noto who, through the FGN Foundation, continues to bet on culture and territories.
The exhibition and its role in the lake ecosystem
In recent years, Palazzo Parasi has established itself as one of the most dynamic exhibition centers on Lake Maggiore, thanks to a program that has brought artists and projects of national importance to Cannobio. Under the direction of Marco Albertellathe museum has built an exhibition itinerary that is attentive to contemporary languagesalternating historical exhibitions and proposals dedicated to the most current research. Neo Pop New Glam therefore fits into this curatorial line, picking up the baton of the important exhibitions that have animated the spaces of Palazzo Parasi in recent years, including Gianni Cella’s solo show currently underway until 19 July.
Marco Albertella, cultural director of the City of Cannobiounderlined the cultural importance of such an exhibition: «The Palazzo Parasi exhibition season continues with a high-level exhibition: the theme of refined popular and irony will be interpreted by important contemporary Italian artists. The references to the world of cinema, television and cartoons will be mixed with academic, learned and refined references. We will therefore be faced with a continuous dissimulation, a poetics linked to an exercise of intelligence and mental elasticity useful for facing and playing down the vicissitudes of life”.
The peculiar characteristics of Neo Pop
Through the works of nine artists of the Italian mother scene (Marco Lodola, Gianni Cella, Giuseppe Veneziano, Francesco De Molfetta, Giovanni Motta, Fulvia Mendini, Pao, Laurina Paperina And The Bounty Killart), the exhibition was born from a reflection on the concept of glamor in its most authentic sense: charm, enchantment, capacity for attraction. An idea that finds one of its most effective expressions in Neo Pop, thanks to an immediate, brilliant and profoundly contemporary language, capable of communicating with the public through iconic images, bright colors and shared references to the visual culture of our time.
«Glamour is magic, wonder, seduction of the image», explains the curator Giorgio Chinea Canale. «Neo Pop perfectly represents this dimension because it manages to capture the gaze and transform elements of everyday life and popular culture into contemporary icons, capable of exciting and making people reflect».
«With the birth of the Fgn Foundation I wish to support projects capable of bringing the public closer to contemporary art through accessible and engaging languages. Neo Pop New Glam perfectly represents this vision: an exhibition that combines communicative ability and reflection on the present, valorising artists who have been able to interpret the imagery of our time in an original way. We are particularly happy to help bring this experience to an extraordinary place like Palazzo Parasi in Cannobio”, he continues Francesco Noto of Fgn Foundation.
The protagonists of the exhibition
The exhibition brings together nine artists who share the ability to reinterpret the legacy of Pop Art through personal and recognizable languages. Their works dialogue with cinema, comics, music, fashion, advertising and contemporary communication, creating visual short circuits that combine lightness and depth.
Marco Lodola And Gianni Cella represent two historical figures who have been able to develop an original vision of pop culture: the first through the famous luminous sculptures that have made his research iconic, the second with ironic and intelligent works that observe contemporary reality with a critical eye.
Next to them, Giuseppe Veneziano he builds a universe made of quotes and references that bring into dialogue history of art and popular culture; Fulvia Mendini develops an elegant and fairy-tale poetics that weaves together design, nature and memory; Giovanni Motta tells the dimension of wonder and amazement through the character of JonnyBoy.
The exhibition itinerary continues with Laurina Paperinaprotagonist of an irreverent and irreverent imagery suspended between comics and videogames; Francesco De Molfettawith his wise search for new icons revealing the vices and virtues of the contemporary world; Paointerpreter of an urban sensitivity that combines street art and space transformation; and the duo The Bounty Killartwhich rereads the classical tradition in a contemporary key with irony and visionary spirit.
Between bright colors and contemporary icons, Neo Pop New Glam celebrates the art’s ability to generate wonder. The works on display transform familiar references and images of popular culture into experiences capable of capturing the gaze and stimulating reflection, reminding us how lightness and depth can coexist. A journey that invites the public to be won over by the enchantment of Neo Pop and its inexhaustible creative energy.
