Contemporary Italian painting at the Palacio Libertad: a reflection of the post-pandemic

There are dramatic, festive, and also reflective scenes in each of these young works: they express and oscillate between manifestation and intrigue. This is how the exhibition Italian Painting Today: A New Scene unfolds, a definitive reflection of what Italian artists born between 1990 and the 2000s think and do. This journey through contemporary pictorial expressions from the broad and varied spectrum of this country is presented in two rooms of the Palacio Libertad (formerly CCK). It was conceived by the Milan Triennale (Triennale Milano) and the Italian Institute of Culture in Buenos Aires , and promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Embassy in Buenos Aires .
Curated by Damiano Gullì , the exhibition brought the richness and complexity of the new Italian painting scene to Buenos Aires through the works of 27 artists representing the main current trends. The proposal originated from the 2023 presentation at the Triennale Milano, which proposed a broader account of the Italian painting scene with 120 artists born between the 1960s and 2000. The one we can see in Buenos Aires is a more precise and forceful section and is organized into five sections: "Alone/Together"; "History, Narratives and Tradition"; "Metaphysics of the Everyday"; "Between the Figurative and the Abstract"; and "Form, Color, Time, Matter."
“Our goal was to tell, promote, and enhance Italian painting, but also to showcase its articulation and complexity,” Gullì explained on opening night. In the “Alone/Together” section, they mounted a series of portraits of mysterious human figures, including self-portraits: “It’s a way of reflecting on how we see ourselves, how we are represented, how we represent ourselves in different styles, in a strictly realistic manner, with vivid, vibrant colors, heavily influenced by television series, films, comics, video games, and cinema.”
Here, we see dreamlike images that also have something of a selfie, an Instagram photo, or an extraordinary video game, as is the case in Andrea Fontanari 's work. "Everything intertwines to redefine the way we portray and represent the human figure. It's the spirit of the times; these paintings emerged after the pandemic and denote the idea of contact, of friendship, of intimacy. They also represent the idea of recovering physical contact, bodies that were distanced, that had also been deprived of this idea of affection, of closeness, and therefore this is also a translation of that."
Andrea Fontanari. Untitled (People II)
Giuliana Rosso 's work advances the narrative of nature and landscape. It has the same tones, the mountains in the background, the Venetian lagoon. And the figures merge with the landscape itself. "Some figures seem almost like they came out of a Symbolist painting, very enigmatic, mysterious, with their heart, these small elements like the snail, the pearl, a landscape that is not defined, it is a sea." In this journey, a great narrative is possible, "but the observer themselves, in many cases, is invited to complete the meaning. They leave you with more questions than answers, they open up to the territory, precisely, of dreams, of the oneiric, of the surreal . Therefore, even with the free associations between objects and gestures, it is not so strictly codified, but rather very fluid. There is a positive ambiguity, in the sense that it does not give you a univocal answer, but opens up to possible readings."
" width="720" src="https://www.clarin.com/img/2025/07/24/yYcIZYEUj_720x0__1.jpg"> Tree House, by Giuliana Rosso.
These artists bring with them a historical burden from the great masters of universal art, the new generations investigate the richness of a heritage and try to contribute a different narrative, there are many references to the history of art, "the challenge is precisely to show how all this history of art is assimilated, projected towards the future and how there can be a possibility of narrating through painting in an age in which we have so many images, which pass before our eyes through screens, whether of the telephone, television or computer."
A painting seems straight out of a libretto. The artist Jem Perucchini presents two works mounted back to back on a wooden structure with the same frame. They resemble an altar, creating a single work that evokes a religious interpretation, a mystical impression. Perucchini is an Italian artist of Ethiopian origin.
Jem Perucchini's work presents two pieces mounted back to back.
In the selection titled "Metaphysics of the Everyday," we perceive that "the ordinary becomes extraordinary." Viola Leddi assembled a series of elements gathered around a letter in "Tocophobia II." The intriguing meaning, like an image expressed in the style of David Lynch , seems to announce a secret. "They are small elements, frames, of possible, open narratives: 'There's a letter, a heart, but there's something a little disturbing, the candle is out.'" Similar sensations emerge from Alessandro Fogo's work "Blue Screen of Death," which also contains enigmatic elements and where dark situations play out between the figurative and the abstract, and the boundaries blur. In all cases, and beyond the materials used, layers can be read.
The letter and other elements in Tocophobia II, the work of Viola Leddi.
Then, as the central figure of the exhibition, "L'incroccio di Vallefredda" (The Incroccio of Vallefredda) by artist Giulia Mangoni, present at the opening, emerges. Her work proposes a dialogue, an encounter between Italy and Argentina: the gaucho, the Argentine countryside, and the horses blend with the Italian prairies where Italian spaghetti westerns were filmed. The cowboy's dream and nature also speak to the strong Italian presence in Argentina. "L'incroccio..." is a painting made in her Italian studio, mounted on a wall of the former CCK gallery. The artist worked on it for two days, creating a background that accompanies and contrasts the meanings and characters depicted.
“L'incroccio di Vallefredda”, by the artist Giulia Mangoni.
Mangoni explains how he worked on the piece: “It’s an oil painting on canvas I made in Italy for an exhibition in which I translated an idea of the construction of a territory. I returned to live on Isola del Liri , in the province of Frosinone , where I was born. I’m very interested in narratives outside the urban environment, and here a bit of Italian magical realism appears. There are many landscapes that look like Nevada or South America , but they are Rocca Secca or Campo di Appennino. I imagined a young protagonist who finds himself at a decisive moment in his life, at a crossroads—that of Vallefredda—and he speaks of this plurality of open paths; each animal represents a hero, a path. It’s a character who also speaks of the territory as one in balance. It’s not very industrial, it’s not very rural, it’s not yet very touristy; he hasn’t understood which direction it will go culturally.”
And Mangoni adds: "I see an entire Argentine dream, that of travel, immigration, memory and nostalgia for the country and imagination, the idealization of the other country. This is present in all these stories of immigration and conquest and violence, and of the movement of rootedness and uprooting, right?"
Giulia Mangoni and Damiano Gullì, present on the opening night.
Thoughtful and meticulous in her work and interpretation, Mangoni concludes: "It's a celebration of a narrative. In my opinion, many of the paintings in this room have this quality of celebrating narrative, something very relevant to us. The message isn't a message, but the idea that narrative exists. Painting contains everything: literature, philosophy, theater, and yes, mathematics, because to do something like that, you need proportion. Yes. It becomes a lens through which to view the world. Painting is philosophy, and it helps you see the world; you acquire a worldview, a complete and integral vision."
Clarin