Tracce, exhibition by Paolo De Cuarto at the Pan di Napoli

The advertising images become works of art in the “Traces” exhibition by Paolo De Cuarto at the Palazzo delle Arti in Naples

From May 22nd to June 23rd 2014, an interesting contemporary art exhibition curated by Electronic Art Café (EAC) by Achille Bonito Oliva and Umberto Scrocca will be set up at the Pan, Palazzo delle Arti in Naples .

Tracce , this is the name of the exhibition, includes 15 works created between 2010 and 2014 by the Calabrian artist Paolo De Cuarto , which delve into the Italian collective memory, through the reproduction on raw canvas of fragments of old advertisements that have made the history of advertising.

Pepsi, Coca Cola, Vespa, Eni, Bialetti , are the brands that come to mind when observing the “Pop” style works of Paolo De Cuarto , who intends to propose a return to a recent past in the history of Italian customs and society, selecting and isolating the logo or other details and showing them enlarged on the canvas.

In creating his works, De Cuarto returns to the past, reproducing "the plaster on the raw canvas, combining the stucco with sand and a small amount of glue. I then add other types of materials to this homogeneous mixture ." A technique reminiscent of the one used to communicate advertising messages in the 1920s, directly on the walls of houses and buildings.

In this way the artist puts into practice a process of decontextualizing the advertising image, transforming it into a work of art for its own sake.

Achille Bonito Oliva , curator of the Tracce exhibition , stated: "While Pop Art allowed the harsh objectivity of things to prevail, in De Cuarto's work a phenomenon of coexistence and osmosis occurs: everyday life and existentialism are combined in an incessant exchange. A European touch accompanies this integration process; the extrapolation of the object does not lead to the disappearance of the subject but rather underscores its persistence by erasing its habitual panorama and formulating a different context."

Tracce is a travelling exhibition that has already stopped in Matera, Milan and Pietra Santa and will soon stop in Gallipoli (28 June – 28 July 2014) and at Guangdong Contemporary Art, China (6 July – 6 August 2014).

Information on the exhibition traces

When: 22 from May to June 23 2014
Timetables: Monday to Saturday from 9.30 to 19.30; Sunday from 9.30 to 14.30
Entrance: Open admission
Where: Pan, Palace of the Arts of Naples