In the heart of Naples, where the layers of history are as dense as the city’s urban fabric, a new exhibition is attempting to collapse the distance between the classical world and the digital age. The Gallerie d’Italia in Naples is currently hosting Vortici. Alexi Worth in Dialogue with Ceramics, a curated encounter that places the work of New York-based artist Alexi Worth alongside ancient Attic and Magna Graecia ceramics.
Running from April 3 to July 5, 2026, the exhibition serves as an unprecedented comparison between archaeological finds from the Intesa Sanpaolo Collection and nine contemporary paintings. Curated by Silvia Gaspardo Moro and Richard Neer, a professor of art history at the University of Chicago, the project explores the continuity of human experience through the specific, recurring gestures of social ritual.
At the center of this dialogue is the theme of the symposium—the ancient Greek practice of drinking and intellectual conversation. By pairing these ancient vessels with Worth’s modern interpretations of common objects, the exhibition examines how the act of drinking and the objects associated with it remain anchors of human interaction across millennia.
The Caputi Collection and the Ritual of the Symposium
The archaeological component of the exhibition draws from the Caputi Collection, a significant 19th-century assembly of antiquities that now forms part of the Intesa Sanpaolo assets. Specifically, the exhibition features three craters and a hydria—vessels designed for mixing and transporting water and wine—which were essential tools of the Greek symposium.
These ceramics, hailing from both Athens (Attic) and the Greek colonies in Southern Italy (Magna Graecia), do more than showcase ancient craftsmanship. They document the social architecture of the ancient world, capturing the precise gestures of pouring, holding, and sharing. Richard Neer’s selection of these pieces provides a historical baseline for the exhibition, framing the symposium not just as a party, but as a structured ritual of diplomacy and philosophy.
Alexi Worth: Figuration in a Digital Age
Responding to these ancient forms, Alexi Worth presents nine paintings that mark his first exhibition in Italy. Born in New York in 1968, Worth’s work is a meditation on what it means to create images that are “made by the mind and hands” in an era of hyper-saturated digital consumption.
Worth’s visual language is characterized by a deliberate simplicity. He takes everyday objects—wine glasses, hands, leaves, and doors—and renders them from slightly altered or enigmatic viewpoints. This approach strips the objects of their mundane utility, restoring a sense of contemplative abstraction to figurative art. In Vortici, this manifests as a sober yet intense exploration of form, where the negative space is as communicative as the subject itself.
In works such as Tipping, the tension between the physical mesh of the canvas and the precise rendering of the object mirrors the exhibition’s broader goal: finding the physical, tactile truth within a world of ephemeral images.
The Bridge Between Past and Present
The core of the exhibition lies in the “dialogue” mentioned in its title. By placing Worth’s paintings in the same visual field as the Greek vases, the curators highlight a shared obsession with the human gesture. The way a hand grips a glass in a 2020 painting echoes the stylized depictions of drinkers on a 5th-century BCE crater.
This juxtaposition suggests that while the medium of communication has shifted from clay to mesh and oil, the fundamental human forms and experiences remain constant. The “vortices” (vortici) implied by the title refer to these swirling currents of influence and recurrence, where the contemporary sensibility reflects back upon the ancient, and vice versa.
Artist Profile and Credentials
Alexi Worth occupies a unique position in the art world as both a practitioner and a critic. His academic and professional standing is reflected in several key achievements:
- Recognition: Recipient of awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Tiffany Foundation, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.
- Representation: His work is represented by the DC Moore Gallery in New York.
- Critical Work: A noted critic who has contributed to The New Yorker, Artforum, T magazine, Art in America, and ARTnews.
- Scholarship: He has authored catalog texts for influential artists including Jasper Johns, Carroll Dunham, Jackie Saccoccio, and Jim Nutt.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Location | Gallerie d’Italia, Naples |
| Dates | April 3 – July 5, 2026 |
| Key Works | 9 paintings by Alexi Worth; 4 pieces from the Caputi Collection |
| Central Theme | The Symposium and gestures of drinking |
By bridging the gap between the Intesa Sanpaolo Collection’s archaeological treasures and Worth’s modern minimalism, Vortici asks the viewer to slow down. In a world of rapid-fire digital imagery, the exhibition proposes a return to a slower, more contemplative mode of seeing—one that recognizes the ancient roots of our most common daily actions.
The exhibition will remain open to the public through July 5, 2026. Visitors are encouraged to check the official Gallerie d’Italia schedule for potential curator-led tours or related symposium events.
Do you believe contemporary art can breathe new life into archaeological finds, or does it distract from their historical value? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
