In Naples, at the Fondazione Morra Greco, Fabrizio Cotognini's solo exhibition presents new works

From February 22 to March 30, 2024, the third-floor spaces of the Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples will host Fabrizio Cotognini ’s solo exhibition entitled Phtongos. The artist has created for the occasion a series of new works conceived from a study of theheraldry, symbols, and iconographies of Palazzo Caracciolo d’Avellino, home of the Foundation.

The title of the exhibition curated by Lorenzo Benedetti refers in a single word to the voice of men, the voice of monstrous beings, and the song of sirens. Phtongos and Ligure aoide are in fact the words used by Homer to describe the voice of the sirens, mythical figures very dear to the Neapolitan and Campanian imagination. The fil rouge of the exhibition is precisely the recovery, reconstruction and re-presentation of various anthropomorphic beings belonging to the iconography of the Sirens of the local area, starting with the ancient cult of the Siren Partenope, protector of the city.

Through archival research and a study of eighteenth-century ornamental symbology, its esoteric and celebratory meanings related to the aristocracy and history of the city and the noble families of Naples, Phtongos intends to be a research around the historical, artistic and architectural heritage of the city, carried out through drawings, projections and sculpture.

Through his works, Cotognini develops a direct dialogue with some of the artistic findings discovered during the restoration of Palazzo Caracciolo d’Avellino and intends to lead the visitor on a journey through human-animal, plant-animal, plant-human metamorphoses, generating a reflection on current issues such as politics, sociology and ecology. Large drawings and tiny sculptures will occupy the rooms of the Fondazione Morra Greco, to give the public the direct possibility of a visual, but also magical, dialogue with symbolic beings that often attract our curiosity, but are hardly read in their symbology and narrative.

During the opening to be held on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m., the artist and curator will lead a guided tour of the exhibition at 7 p.m. (reservations required).

Image: Fabrizio Cotognini, Wunderkammer, detail (2024; pencil and pastel on dura-lar). Courtesy of the artist and BUILDING, Milan, Italy.

In Naples, at the Fondazione Morra Greco, Fabrizio Cotognini's solo exhibition presents new works

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