The Andrea Ingenito Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to announce the third solo exhibition (after “Le ferite dell’anima” 2018 in Milan and “Pitture velate” 2019 in Naples) of master Lello Masucci “Solo Vesuvi”, which will be held from 17th February to 31st March 2023, opening 16th February at 18:00.
The artist will be present on the occasion of the opening from 18:00 to 20:00.
The exhibition will be a focus entirely dedicated to the historical cycle on Vesuvius, a series of works begun by Masucci as early as the 1980s and which will be one of the recurring themes of his artistic repertoire. It was 1984 when the first Vesuvius (anticipating Andy Warhol’s famous ‘Vesuvius’ by a year) took its shape and with a distant connotation from the famous Vesuvius of the landscape painters. From Masucci’s Vesuvius appears a chromatic explosion that mixes with the sky and the sea, making the mountain an almost surreal figure, different from the collective consciousness, or, as defined by the famous art historian Filiberto Menna, “A disturbing oneiric figure”.
About 20 works from the series dedicated to Vesuvius, created both on canvas and on paper, will be on display at the exhibition, including the famous ones created in the 1980s.
A celebration of the myth of Vesuvius, the myth to which the city of Naples is inextricably linked.
Biography.
Lello Masucci is an artist who works with multiply Media, combining various painting techniques, including digital ones. During his artistic career which he began in 1970, he met Julian Beck and Judith Malina ( LIVING THEATRE) who were extremely important for his artistic research! His performance called ” IDENTIFY CUBE: DOCUMENT SIZE ” in 1976 is in Mario Franco’s video, about the neapolitan avant – garde from 70′ that we can find in San Martino Museum (Napoli) and various archives.
From 1980, he strongly resumed his pictorial research, especially with hand made mixed pictorial technique and large hand made works. After many exhibitions in Europe, including a collective in Milano (IL MILIONE art gallery) and the personal exhibition in Roma (Sylvia Franchi’s art gallery) with an introduction by Filiberto Menna, he had personal exhibitions in many art galleries ( Art gallery in Milano, Borgogna – Shubert, St. Paul De Vence Musee, etc.). He won ” CITY OF MARSALA AWARD ” with a great hand made work between painting and installation called ” SACCHI DI NOTTI NAPOLETANE ” ( ” Sacks of Neapolitan nights “) during the BIENNALE DEL SUD – ACCADEMIA BELLE ARTI DI NAPOLI. He was selected for the exhibition ” THE LAST 40 YEARS OF SCULPTURE IN NAPOLI ” in 1986 (Real Palace – Napoli).
Therefore, Japanese art critics and historians about Japanese art noticed him , so they decided to invite Masucci to the TOKYO EXPO for a personal exhibition on 200 square meters of exhibition space.
Already in the early Nineties, he made one of the first Internet Provider in the South of Italy ; DIM.IT..now disappeared. So he begun the pioneering research about aesthetic possibilities of communication and its implications on a possible Electronic Literature Theory. His research lead him to the theatrical results, strongly linked to concepts about analogic and digital interactivity.
In 2000 he presented an art installation called ” ON THE AIR ” based on internet links , in the prestigious Maschio Angioino Castle in Napoli. He put in scene on the net by computer ,a play that took place in contemporary between Napoli and New York.
In 2009 a personal exhibition at the PAN ( Palazzo Arti Napoli – Electa Catalog). There are a series of works that he defined as “hybrid nature” , ‘cause there are analogic and digital techniques. Among these works, we can find “POEMA NOTTURNO ROSSO ” (Red Night Poem) which is created by internet users through a software of his own development and it made a series of works on paper and a simultaneous video installation on 2 European squares (Napoli and Barcellona) during ” E-POETRY 2009 ” .
He partecipated in the collateral events of ” 53° BIENNALE DI VENEZIA ” with Caterina Davinio.
In 2014, he conceived and created ” OLE.01 “, the first Great Festival of digital art in the prestigious Royal Palace in Napoli and other prestigious locations all around Campania Region (Napoli and other cities).
In 2016 he opened in Napoli ” LELLO MASUCCI ART STUDIO – DEPOSITO DI ARTE CONTEMPORANEA ” at Palazzo Spinelli, Via tribunali 362 ( Spinelli Palace, 362 Tribunali Street). There he begun a new personal artistic life about painting hand made.
In 2018 the ” MADRE MUSEUM ” (Museo Madre) acquired his hand made opera ” SACKS OF NEAPOLITAN NIGHTS ” (“Sacchi di notti napoletane”)..an artistic installation composed of a mixed technique on canvas and objects: – A cart with 7 sacks above, representing the nights of Napoli. He made it in 1986 exhibited at the ” BIENNALE DEL SUD ” in 1988. It Mesures cm. 1.80 x cm. 5.00 –
His paintings are in museums and in important private art collections, in Italy and abroad.
From 2017 he works with Andrea Ingenito Contemporary Art Gallery.