Connecting memories di Manuel Felisi

Born in Milan in 1976, Felisi has always practised an art that blends techniques and languages, traditional methods and technological innovation, finding versatility to be the key to his artistic exploration. In his work, post-modern installations alternate with paintings created using a laborious manual layering technique that begins with the application of a layer of gummy pigment across the entire surface of the support. Once prepared, the background is engraved with an old wall-decoration roller and then brought to life by fluid drips of colour alternating with applications of gauze and fabrics, often vintage, sought out by the artist from all over the world. The final stage completes the hybridisation of the process with the insertion of a digital photographic image reduced to a silhouette by intense solarisation. Central to his refined iconography are arboreal and floral forms, as well as clouds—powerful symbols of life that celebrate the force of nature in a constant reference to the importance of memory.

Founded in 1898, Galleria Russo is Italy’s oldest modern art gallery. Over its 125 years of activity, it has made a fundamental contribution to the creation in Italy of an art market that was entirely transformed from 19th-century standards and in line with the socio-economic structure that emerged in the post-war period. In the memory of art lovers, the name Galleria Russo is inextricably linked to the personal and professional relationship established between the 1940s and 1967 with Giorgio de Chirico, a leading figure on the Italian art scene of the 20th century, and to a series of major exhibitions. Since the early 2000s, Fabrizio Russo, great-grandson of the founder Pasquale Addeo, has introduced an exhibition programme that alternates major research exhibitions on the masters of the 20th century with exhibitions dedicated to discovering and promoting young contemporary artists. The gallery’s current premises – a spacious venue with windows overlooking Via Alibert, a short stretch of road situated right in the heart of the Tridente, Rome’s historic district of art galleries and artists – also houses the Duilio Cambellotti Archive.