Galleria Anna Marra is pleased to announce Our Myths, an exhibition celebrating the duo Perino & Vele, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the artistic collaboration between Emiliano Perino and Luca Vele.
Since then the two artists have become internationally known for their originality in the use of paper-mâché, which they obtain by soaking the newsprint of Italy’s newspapers. With this they create sculptures that treat subjects related to important political and social issues.

This exhibition presents Perino & Vele’s most recent works, with a series of works focusing on the theme of myth, as a set of symbolic images that influence our daily lives and condition our social behaviour, food preferences, aesthetic choices, professional lives and our leisure activities in our free time.

These symbolic images come to us elaborated and molded by their sources; legends, fables, cultural icons, brands, digital creators and technological objects, each playing its essential role in our collective building of images and contributing to how our society defines and models its perception of moral values, cultural meanings and shared concepts.
With the exponential growth of new technologies, the flow of symbolic images and mythologies is constantly increasing. We are living in an era in which objects like toys, videogames, comics and other goods are intertwined with narration and entertainment, creating a cultural and commercial panorama in which the stories are at the center of the consumer’s experience. These products are not simply material objects, but part of a wider cultural context that contributes in creating contemporary culture through their stories and the meanings they transmit. Marketing strategies themselves have shifted from an economy of product to one based on experience. In a marketplace which is increasingly saturated, in which products are more and more similar to each other and in which market entry is easy, and in which consumers are becoming more sophisticated, companies have become “suppliers” of emotions to nudge us to purchase based on emotive factors. In the 21st century, ‘experience’ is a new type of offering that has been added to commodity (fungible material), goods (tangible manufactured products) and services (intangible activities).
In this vast panorama of symbols, there are figures that carry out a fundamental role in the process of how we reinterpret historical events, furnishing us with new prospectives and influencing our understanding of that which has taken place. These then contribute to the projection of ideas and values over time, leaving lasting impressions on the way people understand and build their future.
 

The thumbs up “like”, of social media, synthesises the aggregating capacity of symbols. It allows individuals to share recognition with each other and feel part of something bigger, even if they come from different places, cultures and social statuses. A football icon like Maradona has crossed two epochs: that of the cathode tube and that of the Internet. His image has become a symbol of greatness in both the world of football and in a wider cultural world. The iconic Italian actor Totò’s subtle social criticism explored the complexity of humanity as his characters portrayed the spirit of Neapolitan culture. Little plush bears, represented by the classic Teddy, have become symbols of comfort, affection and childhood. Their presence, singularly in our mass culture is often linked to affectionate behaviour, reassuring toys for children and decorative objects. The Fiat 500 has been transformed into an icon representing ‘Made in Italy’ and Italy’s economic boom of the 1960s. A representation of the ‘boot’ symbolises the myth of the ‘Bel Paese’, which over time has exerted an irresistible attraction on writers, artists, aristocrats and men and women of culture as they are drawn to admire Italy’s natural wonders and artistic heritage. Perino & Vele’s representation of this last is upside down, clearly meant as homage to the Arte Povera artistic movement, deeply rooted in the Italian cultural tradition.

Perino & Vele have represented all these icons, a testimony that our myths continue to fascinate today’s generation of artists, who use them as points of reference and sources of inspiration.​

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ITA

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