The dialogue with European art of the twentieth century. The creativity and entrepreneurship of a great Italian Maison. The event that the MA*GA of Gallarate (VA) is dedicating, from 19 April to 8 November 2015, to Ottavio and Rosita Missoni revolves around these themes, precisely in the city they chose in 1953 as the location for their home and their first artisan workshop.
In the year of EXPO, the successes and international recognitions of the Missonis, in textile production and in fashion, become spokesmen among the most accredited of Made in Italy, representing the value of a territory and bearing witness to the ability to generate languages and comparisons with the major masters of modern and contemporary art.
The exhibition itinerary, characterized by installations that themselves become environmental works, is articulated according to different narrative registers that outline the main characteristics of the genius of the Missonis, made up of colour, material and shape. At the same time it emerges how much their creativity is hand in glove with art, representing an almost unique case in the international fashion scene.
The MISSONI, ART, COLORE exhibition, curated by Luciano Caramel and Emma Zanella, is a project realized by the City of Gallarate, the MA*GA Museum and the Missoni Archive, with the contribution and patronage of the Lombardy Region - Department of Cultures, Identity and Autonomies, Province of Varese, Chamber of Commerce of Varese, and with the participation of Gallerie d'Italia – Piazza Scala (Milan). The exhibition is also part of the Grand Tour EXPO project.
The exhibition opens with Casa di moda, a video installation by Ali Kazma that reinterprets the work of the "Misoni house". Entering their world, the Turkish artist focuses on the approach of the Missonis with the entire company production cycle, highlighting a happy marriage between craftsmanship and research into the most advanced design.
We then move on to analyze the cultural roots that influenced the design, color, sign and shape choices of the Missonis, intrinsic characteristics of their stylistic code. The attention here turns to the abstract and aniconic European research of the first half of the twentieth century with works by Giacomo Balla, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Fortunato Depero, Osvaldo Licini, Mauro Reggiani, Nicolay Diulgheroff, Lucio Fontana, Otto Freundlich, Jean Hèlion, Auguste Herbin, Johannes Itten, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Alberto Magnelli, Piet Mondrian, Enrico Prampolini, Gino Severini, Sophie Tauber Arp, Manlio Rho, Mario Radice, Atanasio Soldati, Luigi Veronesi, Bruno Munari.
Color, matter and shape are also the fulcrum around which the constant research of the Missonis revolves. Proof of this is a large installation of clothes, designed and set up specifically for the exhibition and for MA*GA by Missoni themselves, entirely dedicated to the charm and glamor of the garments that have made the history of the Maison.
The final section instead explores the relationship between the creative thinking of Ottavio Missoni and Italian contemporary art: studies on colour, paintings and tapestries dialogue with works by Mario Ballocco, Gianni Bertini, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Roberto Crippa, Nino Di Salvatore, Piero Dorazio, Achille Perilli, Tancredi, Emilio Vedova, Luigi Veronesi, Carla Accardi, Giovanni Anceschi, Alberto Biasi, Davide Boriani, Dadamaino, Giulio Turcato and Grazia Varisco.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog published by Rizzoli, edited by Luciano Caramel and Emma Zanella. As a corollary of the event, a vast program of collateral activities and educational proposals.
