From June 18th they will go on display in Lamezia Terme over 40 works of art of great masters of the twentieth century confiscated from the mafias. The exhibition, entitled Civic Visions – Art returned. From the works confiscated from the mafias to the common goodwill be open to the public until July 28th at the Lametino Archaeological Museum.
The seized works
The exhibition, curated by professor Lorenzo Canovapromoted by Trame Foundation and fromMetaMorfosi Associationwith the patronage of Ministry of Interior and the support of CDP Foundationit will come inaugurated on June 18th at 6pm on the occasion of the thirteenth edition of the Festival of books on the Trame mafias.
The works were seized from Gioacchino Campolomafia boss “king of video poker”, e Gennaro Mokbelfinancier close to the Banda della Magliana, in 2010, and have never been exhibited until now.
The artists on display include some of the great names of the twentieth century such as Giorgio De Chirico, Antonio Ligabue, Paul Kostabi, Michele Cascella, Michele Cassinari, Cesare Berlingeri, Massimo Catalani, Luca Dall’Olio, Marco Lodola, Max Marra, Paolo Porelli, Pietro Annigoni, Franz Borghese and Bruno Caruso. Testimony to the fact that the mafia bosses had a real “weak” for artso much so that they couldn’t resist the temptation to add pieces to their private collection.
In the exhibition itinerary there are not only authentic works. In fact, there are too fake paintings like the one “who wants to counterfeit a painting by Giorgio Morandi. A paradoxical document that makes us understand how even criminals can, in all likelihood, be victims of a scam”, explained Professor Canova.
An exhibition of high civil value and commitment to legality
“This project was not born as a traditional exhibition, but as a sign based on symbolic power of the visual artsone space of legality and civic sharing born from two groups of works of art confiscated from the mafias: that of Gioacchino Campolo and that of Gennaro Mobkbel”, says Canova.
For Nuccio Iovene, president of the Trame ETS Foundation, the main purpose of the exhibition is to keep attention high on the mafia and its ability to infiltrate any sectoreven those that apparently seem very distant like the art market.
Pietro Folena, president of the MetaMorfosi Association, also underlines the importance of the exhibition. “With this exhibition, MetaMorfosi achieves the most significant objective of a long journey: to combine the production of classic and contemporary exhibitions with a civic vocation, identifying in the exhibitions and the dissemination ofart and from the culture an extraordinary one leverage against illegality, crime, mafias and every form of abuse and arrogance”.
Civic Visions – Art returned. From the works confiscated from the mafias to the common good it can be visited from 18 June to 28 July at the Monumental Complex of San Domenico at the Lametino Archaeological Museum.
