Pop Art is a way of loving things, said that eclectic genius of Andy Warhol. And his extraordinary creativity has not only changed the art world but has also had a tremendous influence on pop music. The meeting between these two different artistic expressions took place in 1966, when Warhol saw the experimental rock band the Velvet Underground; what they expressed through their music was according to Warhol, very similar to what he himself expressed in his art.
Among the iconic pop works that will be exhibited at the Restelliartco Gallery in via Vittoria Colonna 9 in Rome, from May 28 to July 31, stands out the cover with the banana designed in 1967 by Andy Warhol for the debut album by Velvet Underground & Nico, arguably the most famous album cover ever, as well as Warhol’s greatest contribution to music history. Again he took an ordinary object from the grocery store, just as he had done with Campbell’s soup, and stamped it with his signature in pop art style.
Within the exhibition itinerary structured on two floors, we continue with other works by Warhol himself such as the “Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes” of 1979, the “Kellogg’s Rise Krispies” of 1988, then the famous screen prints of Campbell’s Soup “Vegetarian Vegetable” and ” Hot Dog Bean “from Sunday B. Morning – After Warhol, 2015, the” Skulls “rare work of 1976, the 80s” One Hundred Lire “banknote, the 1976” 2 Jefferson Dollars “banknote and the” Marilyn / This is not by me ”of the Sunday B. Morning edition of 1970.
Among the historical Masters of the Gallery, Banksy, and his “Pulp Fiction” of 2004, in which John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson are portrayed as the very bad Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield while brandishing two bananas as guns, Tom Wesselmann with the 1981 serigraph “Cynthia in the Bedroom”, the suite of four serigraphs by Obey Giant / Shepard Fairey, “In Goodfather We Trust” from 2006, inspired by the famous film saga “The Godfather” by Francis Ford Coppola and the design of Gufram with “Another White”, a coat hanger, a true pop icon, which, freeing itself from functionalism, becomes a decorative and furnishing element. The “Cactus” is present in the permanent collections of important museums such as the MUDE in Lisbon, the ADAM in Brussels, the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, the Smithsonian Design Museum in New York.
The “Batman” of DC Comics, a 206 cm life-size latex statue, also stands guard over the premises of the Gallery. A real must have with a pop soul. We then continue with the contemporary artists of the Gallery, starting with Marcello Maugeri who will exhibit “Summer Splash”, 2021 unique work on silk and “A World Apart”, 2021, unique work on paper.
Always among the leading artists of Restelliartco, Fabio Ferrone Viola will exhibit “Kennedy is Alive” in 2021, collage with bullets and mixed media, a tribute to the most loved American President ever, interpreter of a smiling, positive nation that knew how to be loved by world. In the exhibition of “Pop Sounds Good”, the artist will also exhibit his “Fuel of Marilyn”, 2020, a petrol can with the image of the diva painted on it, whose fate has been so inextricably linked to the President.
And to recall the theme of music, declined in a pop key, the “Gold Mickey” of 2021, a Mickey Mouse, entirely made thanks to the recycling of old cassette tapes. A theme very dear to Fabio Ferrone Viola is that of recycling: cans, bottle caps, everyday materials, are recovered and treated with color to come back to life in another form. An art in favor of the environment moved by suffering for waste that wants to draw attention to the theme of ecological disaster.
But Fabio Ferrone Viola’s Pop Art will also be the protagonist of an important ‘charity’ initiative, within which the Restelliartco Gallery will be a partner of Events Group for the “Back to the Music” project, a series of streaming concerts as a response to ‘deafening silence within which the music has been relegated, and of which part of the proceeds will be donated to the SOS MUSICISTI Association.