From 21 April to 26 May 2013 the Museo MAGMA, the civic museum of contemporary art, design and environment in the Palacongressi of Roccamonfina, in the province of Caserta, hosted the second edition of Young Showcase, “the biennial of young people and new art”. Paolo Feroce, the museum’s artistic director, was in overall charge, under the patronage of the Campania Region, the Province of Caserta and the municipalities of Roccamonfina and Sessa Aurunca.
On show were twenty Italian and foreign artists, with a section devoted to the creativity of Terra di Lavoro, the solo exhibition “Journey through time, man and the unconscious” by Alessandro Rocchi and a memorial exhibition for Professor Pasquale Mancini. Among the twenty was Davide, with three works: The Circus, the clown painted on canvas in 2011 that had been in Köping in January; Morena, the 2012 portrait of his sister; and Genesi Solare, a painting on silk.
Morena is painted in oil on canvas wearing a silk scarf from the Fluidity collection, the one presented at Lecce Fashion Weekend 8 in 2012. Genesi Solare is born from the same silk.
On Sunday 21 April Davide arrived in Roccamonfina from Martina Franca with his brother Giuseppe, his sister Morena and Antonio. The opening was at 6.30 pm.
Paolo Feroce, curator and artistic director of the museum, and Emiliano D’Angelo, art critic and curator, stopped in front of Morena.
When art meets life
“There are moments during an exhibition that stay in the memory not only for what happens in front of a work, but for the spontaneous emotions it manages to create.”
“A visitor had lingered for a long time in front of a portrait of mine. She was looking at the colours, the details and the expressiveness of the figure, sharing her impressions with me. The conversation went on with interest, while the painting kept drawing her gaze.”
“Then, all of a sudden, she noticed something: the model in the portrait was right there, a few steps away from us.”
“Morena had been standing behind us the whole time.”
“The surprise turned into spontaneous laughter, giving that moment an unexpected lightness.”
“It is one of those episodes that reveal a special dimension of art: when the portrait stops being merely a representation and becomes a bridge between the image and the real person, between what we see on the canvas and what we meet in life.”
“Because, at times, a work does not simply let itself be looked at. It manages to create an encounter, a conversation and even a memory to take away with you.”
One of the organisers of the biennial also posed with Davide.
That same day Il Mattino devoted an article by Ildebrando Caputi to the biennial, with Davide’s name among the exhibiting artists.
“Returning from this afternoon (opening at 6.30 pm) to the congress hall of Roccamonfina is the second edition of the contemporary art group exhibition ‘Young Showcase 2013’, the biennial of young people and new art.”
“The aim of the initiative is to explore new trends in contemporary art. Painting, photography, digital graphics, sculpture, installations, performance, land art, recycled design and video are, in fact, the core disciplines of the interdisciplinary research that the Magma staff has been carrying out for years.”
After the biennial The Circus entered the collections of the Museo MAGMA. The catalogue “Le Arti del Bel Paese” records it like this:
“It has recently entered the collections of the Museo MAGMA in Roccamonfina, where other works by the young artist can also be admired.”
