Mario Logli, keeper of beauty: Pesaro dedicates an exhibition to Urbino painter

Palazzo Mosca-Musei Civici di Pesaro hosts until April 7 the monographic exhibition of Mario Logli (Urbino, 1933 - Pesaro, 2020), a leading artist of the second half of the 20th century and the early years of the new century. Mario Logli. Keeper of Beauty is the title of the exhibition curated by Anna Maria Ambrosini Massari and Mattia Giancarli, which is part of the official Pesaro 2024 schedule and is promoted by the Municipality of Pesaro with the contribution of the Marche Region, in partnership with theUniversity of Urbino Carlo Bo, ISIA Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche di Urbino and theRaphael Academy. It is organized by the Fondazione Pescheria - Visual Arts Center.

“See to it that this city does not change you”: these were the words that Pier Paolo Pasolini addressed to the young Mario Logli who, having just moved to Milan, was working on the cover of Ragazzi di vita. The Garzanti publishing house had just hired him to illustrate a series of classics and, in the hustle and bustle of the metropolis, this could be the danger for a young man in search of his future: to lose himself by forgetting his places of origin and the identity of their tradition. Not for Logli, however, who always kept this identity close to himself, reproposing it in hundreds of canvases destined to shape that geography of the soul within which one finds one’s roots and individuality.

Nearly four years after his death, Pesaro - the city Logli chose to live in and to which he was deeply attached - also pays homage to the artist with an exhibition that tackles his production in a new way, investigated for the first time in the light of unpublished documents and works that will allow for a new reading of his poetics and for a deeper understanding of his relationship with the Adriatic capital and with the sea, an element that returns frequently in his landscapes. Thanks to this material and to the paintings on display, which come from the Logli family collection and from the important deposit destined by the painter to the University of Urbino, for the first time it is possible to reconnect not only with the modern models studied by Logli - René Magritte, Giorgio De Chirico and Osvaldo Licini, among others - but also with his lifelong friends who, like him, long chronicled the territory and the contradictions of their time: Paolo Volponi, Carlo Bo and Mario Giacomelli.

Through his painting, Logli has been able to cherish the traditions and customs of his homeland and, at the same time, interpret with personality and energy the most complex challenges of his contemporaneity, up to issues - such as ecology and the protection of cultural heritage - that he addressed ahead of his time. Divided into three sections, the exhibition intends to recount the themes to which Mario Logli devoted himself throughout his life and which, through his subjects so magnetic and dreamily evocative, made him the custodian of centuries-old history and, at the same time, a visionary interpreter of stringently topical issues: this is the comment of curators Anna Maria Ambrosini Massari and Mattia Giancarli.

In the section Memory, Play and Childhood, the memory of childhood spent playing and experimenting resurfaces. The subjects of the canvases are, precisely, Logli’s toys, arranged in bulk on floors and shelves as in the solemn still lifes inlaid in Federico da Montefeltro’s studio in Urbino. Countering the Urbino views are the seascapes of Pesaro and Senigallia, where the artist used to spend his vacations.

In the section In Defense of the Environment, the ecological theme appears, which became fundamental for Logli as early as the 1970s-as soon as he arrived in Milan-when Invaders first appeared in his production: inorganic and robotic entities, allegories of pollution and despicable creatures that represent the thoughtless practice of those who, disrespectful of the beauty of nature, litter it with slag and waste.

In Keeping Beauty, the most characteristic of Logli’s productions: the Flying Islands, suspended cities like spaceships or kites that rise into the sky to detach themselves from a cold earth that seems to no longer understand them. In these landscapes, which originated from surrealist suggestions but soon became Logli’s signature all over the world, the message of the protection of artistic heritage is told in its most modern sense, including material and immaterial consistencies. The attempt to depict these geographies of the soul brings Logli closer to another master of our time, Mario Giacomelli. The second part of the section recounts for the first time the solid relationship of friendship and esteem between the two artists, united in the common goal: to cherish beauty.

Notes on the artist

He trained at theInstitute of Fine Arts in Urbino, specializing in graphic techniques and engraving with Carlo Ceci, a master of excellence to whom he always remained bound by deep esteem and affection, even after moving to Lombardy in the second half of the 1950s to work first for Garzanti and then De Agostini. His long experience in the field of editorial illustration was soon joined by that as set and costume designer for the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, in collaboration with Ezio Frigerio. Begun in 1970 and immediately crowned by renowned achievements, such as the mentions for two consecutive years in the Bolaffi catalog (1973-1974), Logli’s artistic career culminates with important awards and prestigious participations. It is necessary to mention at least the " Lombardia" award, the “Arte Fantastica” award received in Stuttgart, the “Mostra di Grafica Internazionale” award recognized to him in Barcelona, the prestigious “Sigillo d’Ateneo” awarded to him by the University of Urbino, the honorary citizenship granted to him by the City of Urbino, and the presence in international exhibitions such asEuropean Art in Japan, held in the Laforet Museum in Tokyo, and the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale. He has also had numerous solo exhibitions, the last of which was held in 2017 simultaneously at the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche in Urbino, the Rocca Roveresca in Senigallia, and the Rocca di Gradara, and was a huge success with the public.

For all information, you can call +39 0721 387541 or email info@pesaromusei.it.

Pictured: Mario Logli, Journey to the Sea. Oil and acrylic on canvas, 68x97 cm. Logli Collection.

Mario Logli, keeper of beauty: Pesaro dedicates an exhibition to Urbino painter

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