Paperback tribute guide to the work of Italian artist Salvatore Mangione (Salvo).
This book is a tribute to the artist Salvo (Salvatore Mangione, Leonforte 22 May, 1947–Turin 12 September, 2015). Drawings from the personal Salvo archive, some of which have never been published before, together with two poems written by the artist for Salvo. Seven etchings and seven poems, Volpaia Books, are published here.
This publication is a small atlas which functions as a guide through the work of Salvo as well as through the cultural geography and Mediterranean landscape that stretches from the hills of northern Italy to Sicily, from ancient Greek classicism to the oriental sunsets of the Balkans. The drawings are presented in the form of sketches and, they are like the handwritten draft of a poem—a sudden inspiration that has been jotted down on paper. If we look carefully, the drawings are composed of elements that are repeated and become, from time to time, complex solutions that transform the artist's inner universe into visions which the reader must decipher. Salvo is the third volume of the series of books by NERO printed in Risograph in small format, curated by Alessandro Cucchi.
Salvo (born Salvatore Mangione, 1947–2015) is one of the most singular voices of Italian contemporary art. Working independently, without being a part of any particular artistic movement, he created a cogent and sophisticated body of work exploring art history, language, light, and color.
Born in Leonforte (Sicily), Salvo moved to Turin with his family in 1956. Here he developed a conceptual practice, and was part of the
Arte Povera circle, as well as befriending artists such as
Mario and
Marisa Merz,
Sol LeWitt,
Robert Barry,
Joseph Kosuth, and
Alighiero Boetti with whom he shared a studio. In 1972 he participated in the groundbreaking
Documenta 5 curated by
Harald Szeemann. In 1973, he returned to painting—which he had practiced in his early formative years—a choice that was at the time considered unconventional and old-fashioned. For the following four decades, the investigation of traditional art-historical subjects and languages such as the genres of landscape and of the still life were at the core of his mature oeuvre. His use of recurrent motifs and geometric forms, the way his art puts art history—from Paul Cezanne to Giorgio di Chirico—in dialogue with the representation of the everyday (cafes, cityscapes, ports), his ceaseless research into light, shade, color, and how to embody the passing of time give birth to a mesmerizing artistic vision where realism and mysticism merge.
Salvo's solo exhibitions include institutions such as Museum Folkwang, Essen and Mannheimer Kunstverein, 1977; Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, 1983; Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, and Musée d'Art Contemporain, Nîmes, 1988; Villa delle Rose, Bologna, 1998; Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo, 2002; Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, 2007; Museo d'Arte della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, 2017; and MACRO, Rome, 2021.
