From April 1 to May 17, 2026, the Mattatoio di Roma will host, inside Pavilion 9b, the exhibition Alfredo Zelli. Beata moltitudo, curated by Carlo Alberto Bucci, promoted by the Assessorato alla Cultura di Roma Capitale, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and Fondazione Mattatoio di Roma - Città delle Arti, and produced by Palaexpo in collaboration with Latitudo.
In 1986 Alfredo Zelli (Rome, 1957) presented his first solo show in Rome at the gallery of Ugo Ferranti, with whom he established a lasting association; in the same year he also exhibited in Paris at Yvon Lambert’s and in New York at Annina Nosei’s. Forty years after his debut, Beata moltitudo is configured as an anthological exhibition, conceived as a solo show that puts into dialogue the entire path of his research through more than forty works.
The artist uses painting as a means of expression and shapes materials with the eye of a sculptor; from the beginning, however, he identifies habitable and welcoming space as the generating principle of the work. As Augusto Pieroni observed in the catalog of the 1995 solo exhibition at the Museo Laboratorio della Sapienza in 1995, “Zelli’s work lives precisely on the borderline between art and architecture, where the structure gives - properly - place to the work.” Space and thought, place and meaning thus coexist in his creative process.
At the entrance to the Pavilion, the visitor encounters the large installation Untitled (1999), which recalls an architectural niche at the center of which emerges an oval shape of Pierfrancesque memory. Opposite, the work Between Day, Night, Sky and Earth (2025-2026), acrylic on Pet, represents the most recent developments in his research: here the figure, often human and inspired by Mannerist volumes, tends to dissolve along a perspective built by transparent planes that follow one another in depth.
The exhibition continues by juxtaposing works from different eras: the textural surfaces and warm tones of the installation Untitled (1987) and the clipeus Madre oro (2007) confront the transparencies and vivid colors of more recent works, such as Figura e spazio (2023) and Ipotesi metaverso. In Everything is Rising, a three-dimensional structure presented at the Hyunnart Studio in 2023, sheets of painted Pet are arranged radially around a central axis, evoking a moving body traversed by light. The transparent surfaces, characterized by chromatic veiling, are organized in sequences that recall distant futurist suggestions.
The exhibition invites the public to reconstruct, through the gaze, the figures and identities in the works. Taking up the famous Latin motto of the Franciscan and Cistercian hermitic sphere, Beata moltitudo alludes to humanity in its development throughout the history of art and spirituality.
Also from April 1 to May 17, 2026, the Rome Mattatoio also presents the exhibition Vincenzo Scolamiero. With Some Part of the Earth, curated by Maria Vittoria Pinotti, promoted by the Department of Culture of Roma Capitale, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and Fondazione Mattatoio di Roma - Città delle Arti, under the patronage of the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome and AICA (International Association of Art Critics), and realized in collaboration with Twiceout.
The exhibition project traces fifteen years of pictorial research by Vincenzo Scolamiero (Sant’Andrea di Conza, 1956), professor of Painting at the Department of Visual Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, the city where he lives and works. This wide span of time makes it possible to observe the evolution of his artistic language, starting from the first solo show held in 1987 at the historic Al Ferro di Cavallo gallery in Rome, offering a comprehensive and articulated view of his production. On display are more than 30 works including canvases, panels, works on paper and artist’s books.
The exhibition investigates the different areas that have always nurtured the artist’s research, which is deeply marked by poetry, music and a constant attention to the smallest details of everyday life. Painting thus becomes a space for deep reflection, an expression of inner mobility and a philosophical approach to existence.
The title With Some Part of the Earth, taken from a line by poet Louise Glück, suggests a totalizing relationship with the world, which emerges in the works through subtle traces, indicative of a reflection on transience and the transitory nature of existence. Along the exhibition route, a painting built on dynamic space, where emptiness takes on a structural role, is outlined.
The first works in the exhibition itinerary present essential compositions, based on a few elements and characterized by a minimal suspension of space; in the following rooms, on the other hand, a progressive opening toward greater tonal and structural complexity is observed, linked to the artist’s growing dialogue with music and poetry. This relationship is also made explicit in the titles of the works, which recall figures such as Piero Bigongiari, Harrison Birtwistle, Louise Glück and Luigi Nono.
The installation reflects the continuous technical experimentation thatcharacterizes Scolamiero’s research. The use of pigments, oils, inks and acrylics, along with different tools for etching and tracing the support, allows for modulating the fluidity of the sign, glazes and light passages. Multiple outcomes ensue: the artist’s entire body participates in the creative process, giving rise to slowly constructed broad backgrounds attuned to movement and breath, alternating with the emergence of hybrid forms that oscillate between abstraction and figuration.
The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalog published by De Luca Editori d’Arte, with critical contributions by Francesca Bottari and Maria Vittoria Pinotti.
Alfredo Zelli was born in Rome in 1957. He made his debut in 1986 at Ugo Ferranti’s gallery, with which he collaborated assiduously in solo and group exhibitions and international shows.
In 1988 he participated in Rimini in the exhibition Ordine e disordine curated by Renato Barilli and, in Milan, in Geometrie dionisiache in Italia oggi l’arte giovane, curated by Lea Vergine. Of 1995 is the solo exhibition at MLAC - Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea of Sapienza University of Rome and of 1998 the participation in Lavori in corso 5 at Macro in Rome. In 2014 he took part in Premio Vasto and Premio Michetti. In 2023 at the Roman exhibition Ipotesi Metaverso.
Vincenzo Scolamiero (Sant’Andrea di Conza, Avellino, 1956)is a professor of painting at the Department of Visual Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, the city where he lives and works. His works have become part of important public and private collections. He has exhibited in galleries and important national and international museum spaces. Institutional participations include, the Quadriennale di Roma (1996) and the Venice Biennale (2011), he is also a winner of the LXV Edition of the Michetti Prize (2014).
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| At the Rome Mattatoio, the solo exhibitions of Alfredo Zelli and Vincenzo Scolamiero |
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