The Dyseducation of the Real
It was an honour to finally meet gallerist Michela Rizzo in her space in Giudecca, Venice.
Michela Rizzo is powerful voice in the art world, who amongst some notable artists represents Matthew Attard one of the most promising Maltese artists who I in fact met for the first time in Venice around ten years ago when he was interning for the Peggy Guggenheim foundation.
The current show at the gallery is by Bergamo-born, Brooklyn-based artist Andrea Mastrovito, an extraordinarily talented illustrator who uses his pencil in a way that makes it even more powerful than the pen. Curation is by Alberto Fiz.
The medium of drawing is transformed into powerful masterpieces of cathedral worthy ‘stained glass’ works, coin tracing collages of immense depth and meet monumental literary treasures in trompe l’oeil collaborations which shake one’s truth foundations.
Perhaps fertilised by the extended time allocated to the finalising of the works due to the pandemic, Mastrovito seems to manage to powerfully recount the history of humanity in every room. Layers upon layers of complex yet simple narratives, alluding to the things we tell our children, the story of Pinocchio, of St Francis of Assisi, the rise and fall of British influence from the First World War to brexit… grab you. And strike you! And include imagery and mind baffling collective human behavior as recent as the attack on the White House and the butterfly effect of the spread of the novel corona virus as seen by the kiss between two masks taking the shape of butterfly wings over a drawing of a map of the international adventures of Marco Polo. And how in a flash the possibility of international travel and our globalised world was but annihilated.
Intriguing is an understatement when describing this body of work. The namesake of the exhibition is an installation with what looks like an empty classroom with graffitied desks with subjects and interpretations that cause your neuronal connections to perform serious acrobatics. And this in direct contrast to the bland, creativity-stifling and analytical-thought censoring, uninspiring teaching methods and assessment driven ‘education’ which is so typical of today’s schools. The concern of Mastrovito with dyseducation and the blurring of what is real is etched, sketched, shaded, traced, written, drawn and interziato into every little hard space he could find.
Andrea Mastrovito
La Diseducazione Al Reale
(The dyseducation of the Real)
Galleria Michela Rizzo, Venice
Running until the 26th May 2021
