Afro, Carla Accardi, Roberto Almagno, Franco Angeli, Tomaso Binga, Giacinto Cerone, Giuseppe Chiari, Pietro Finelli, Myriam Laplante, Mario Merz, Elisa Montessori, Marco Petrella, Piero Pizzi Cannella, Oliviero Rainaldi, Carmine Tornincasa

The idea and concept of “drawing” have dominated Italian culture for centuries, from the Renaissance onward, becoming a model for the rest of the world.

Mastery of drawing has been an obsessive pursuit for generations of artists, considered the fundamental basis of art and elevated to a Universal principle. Drawing often lies at the root of an artwork’s creation and was central to Italian Renaissance culture. Recognized by critics as the medium that most clearly reveals the inspired side of creativity, it allows intuition, impulse, and truth to emerge more easily than in completed works. Yet, especially in contemporary times, drawing has been regarded by many artists as a standalone work — a true creative expression that requires nothing further. The sheet of paper, in its many forms, enhances its material essence.

In artistic practice, drawing reveals the most intimate individuality of the artist. It operates with perceptible depth, as lines and colors find their vibrant strength on the white page. The artist’s technical mastery allows them to see beyond the line and probe beyond the material — a line that overturns reality, defines spatial boundaries, shifts shadow and light, and redefines the concept of color and its absence. It is both vision and physical intervention on paper. While painting requires the artist to maintain distance from the canvas — often stepping back to assess tension and perspective — drawing demands closeness and focus, much like writing. It requires a limited and fixed visual field to capture the whole, even in complex and detailed works. Therefore, observing drawings demands a different kind of attention from viewers compared to that required for paintings.

This exhibition “on drawing,” the first of several to come, was born from the desire to raise awareness of this creative form and its importance among a wider audience, through each artist’s unique and personal interpretation of their research. It also aims to stimulate a renewed form of collecting, which has recently lost some of its luster but remains essential to understanding artists more intimately — those closest to us in language and history.

Massimo Scaringella