In Palermo, Alba Gonzales' sculptures in an exhibition at the Whitaker Foundation Park

From May 25 to Sept. 30, Palermo’s Whitaker Foundation Park hosts the exhibition Alba Gonzales. Mediterranean Myths.
Alba Gonzales was born in 1939 in Rome, but from her parents and grandparents she draws the most diverse origins: Sicilian, Greek, Spanish and French. An all-Mediterranean cosmopolitanism that her works well reflect, drawing inspiration from the myths and legends that have been passed down between the shores of southern Europe, under the sign of a sensual cult of the human form and body. The landing of her sculptures in Palermo, a “mestizo” city par excellence, therefore only multiplies the epic and evocative echoes of her works.

Gabriele Simongini, curator of the exhibition explains in the text in the catalog, states, “Alba Gonzales belongs to the increasingly small group of sculptors in the authentic sense of the term and in particular stands out for her aspiration to say everything, entirely and without intellectualistic filters, through the form that is for her, essentially, the form of the human body understood as a temple of the soul, in its negative and positive aspects, destined to coexist indissolubly. In the face of a society devoted to the pursuit of stultification and anesthetized by social networks, Gonzales, manifesting an intense ethical commitment, deliberately forces the tones of her chosen themes (greed, obsession with sex and power, vanity, the domination of narcissism and appearance, belligerent fury, etc.), makes them icastic, theatrical and almost hyperbolic, while bringing forward the need not to erase memory and the thousand threads that bind us to the hearth of the past, to be kept always burning.”

Professor Emmanuele F. M. Emanuele, Honorary President of the Culture and Art Foundation, which promotes the review, points out, “Anyone who stands before a work by Alba Gonzales cannot help but be seduced or surprised. The gracefulness of the forms and lines, the plasticity of the movements, the sensual but never vulgar attitudes inherent in her sculptures-the vulgarity and corruption of customs is indeed what the artist intends to negatively register and denounce-are the most evident stylistic mark of Gonzales, who incredibly succeeds in producing these results by forging the material without starting from a drawing or a preparatory project. Her art is spontaneous, immediate, flowing from her hands and soul, which are a unicum, and which in turn become one with the medium, bronze, chosen also because it is potentially eternal, as are the works of Alba Gonzales and the existential questions they interpret.”

Promoted and realized by the Culture and Art Foundation and organized by Civita Sicilia, the exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, published by Silvana Editoriale, which, in addition to images of the works photographed in the park of Villa Malfitano Whitaker, will contain texts by Prof. Avv. Emmanuele Francesco Maria Emanuele, Prof. Paolo Matthiae, Dante Maffia and Gabriele Simongini, an interview with the artist by Tiziana D’Acchille, director of theAcademy of Fine Arts in Rome, a critical anthology and a biographical note.

For the occasion, a documentary dedicated to the artist will be made by Raffaele Simongini, which will be screened at the exhibition on opening night and throughout the duration of the exhibition. The exhibition is free admission.

Image: Alba Gonzales, Chimera and the Masks (2008). Ph. Credit Ernani Orcorte

In Palermo, Alba Gonzales' sculptures in an exhibition at the Whitaker Foundation Park

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.