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IRONY AND METAPHYSICS IN THE VISUAL WORKS BY 
ALBERTO PAOLO BEVILACQUA

December 8, 2002 to March 16, 2003
Opening hours: Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays: 10-12 am / 3.00 - 6.00 pm
All the other days of the week: only by appointment
Tickets: Euro 2.60   cut- rate tickets:  Euro 1.60

Inauguration on Saturday - December 7, 2002 at 4.30 p.m.

Press release

The body of works donated by Giuseppe Vittorio Parisi and his wife Wanda Valle are a valid contribution to the definition of modern art and Italian contemporary art created between 1930 and 1980; they can be compared with the most advanced European artistic movements of the 20th century.
The 49 works chosen among those created by Alberto Paolo Bevilacqua from 1947 to 1976 perfectly fit the scope of the Parisi-Valle museum, in which they will be displayed till March 2003.

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Bevilacqua was born in 1896 in Palermo and died in Rome in 1979; he startsteaching right after taking his degree, and becomes a member of the cultural and artistic circle that characterized Sicily in the early 20’s of the last century.
That was the beginning of Futurism in the Italian island. Bevilacqua - along with Pippo Rizzo and Vittorio Corona - absorbs and elaborates the basics and the fundamental principles of Futurism, partly thanks to his friendship with Giacomo Balla, who was extremely important for the most progressive aspects of his artistic path.
He moved to Milan, then to Turin, and finally to Rome where he taught at the Istituto Superiore D’Arte.
His cooperation with Ettore Colla - founder of Fondazione Origine, which included artists such as Colla himself, Sadun, Capogrossi, Donadelli, Burri, Parisi and more - was very positive for the visual growth of Bevilacqua. The Fondazione had as a goal the use of elementary shapes, few but intense colors, simplicity and humbleness as a solution to the contrast between figurative art and abstractionism.
An accurate analysis of the works displayed in this exhibition allows us to track down the influence of the important artistic movements that developed in the first half of the 20th century: from metaphysics to futurism, from cubism to surrealism, to the innovations of Fondazione Origine.
Eclecticism in terms of styles as well as subjects: in his works we can see a range of characters that spans from circus artists to the jet set society, all of them are represented at times as if they were part of a fairy tale, and at times with the irony of life in its infinite expressions.
But there’s more: we also find a passionate participation in the tragedies of human beings, from the tragedy of war (“Il mostro della guerra,” 1968) to that of drugs (“Droga,” 1971). The theme of aberration is also expressed thru the metaphor of the animal kingdom, as in “Un mostro corre l’Europa” (“A monster runs across Europe,” 1960).
Animals, though, are also the subjects of quieter and more descriptive depictions that show the technical skills of this artist.

The exhibition, directed by Daniela Martarelli, will open on December 8, 2002 and will be open till March 16, 2003.

For further information and press kits: Civico Museo Parisi-Valle - phone 0332 561 202  fax 0332 562 507 e-mail:  info@museoparisivalle.it

Civico Museo Parisi-Valle is a modern art museum in Maccagno (VA) and opened in 1998. This building made of reinforced concrete crosses the Giona River like a bridge where the river flows into Lake Maggiore, and was designed by Roman architect Maurizio Sacripanti (1916-1996), engineer Giuseppe Noris (1924-1989), architect Riccardo Colella, and by Giuseppe Vittorio Parisi, expert in visual culture and founder of the museum. This building was awarded the IN/ARCHI prize 1991/92 as a building designed for a cultural purpose.