Annalisa Marcucci, Virna Valli – Somnium

Opening: 18 October at 5,30 p.m.
Curated by Roberto Pagnani. Somnium is a mosaic work created jointly by Annalisa Marcucci and Virna Valli.
The subject consists of two parts placed side by side, like a diptych, which can ideally be joined together as if they were a negative and a positive to be superimposed. They embrace each other in a single work inspired by the heart.
In this way, the two sections open up their multiple visions to the world, created and represented by engraved grooves, heart-shaped mosaic fragments, dark shadows and light colours, red hearts and grey-white hearts. These apparitions are like a dream in the making, a theme inspired by Chagall’s poetics.
It is also fascinating to think about the partnership between the artists, which began by chance in an academic setting and has continued actively by choice. Despite the various nuances of the ideas expressed, which are evident when reading the mosaic, it is intriguing to imagine that the two parts can ideally be closed, like a book, fitting the sections perfectly into a world of dreamlike fusion. This intertwining of the visible and the invisible makes the work conceptual, as it is a metaphor for all the possibilities of life, between emotion and reality, as if it were a dream (Note by curator Roberto Pagnani).
Mosaic is an artistic technique that uses organised surface design to create a composition made up of many small tiles: it is an example of shared space, albeit within the limits of the work itself. Extending the concept of sharing leads to the mental representation of “common”, from which springs the idea of a communal space, again referring to a work of art. The intention, while maintaining the original structure of the work, is to update the globally recognisable shape of the heart in many versions, almost as if representing the many countries and civilisations in which the shape itself is identified, personalised, idolised and recognised. The subject chosen is Marc Chagall’s “Dream” dated 1939: a painting featuring many hearts, a symbol universally recognised as the seat of love, but also of revenge, resentment, passion, envy and the nucleus of projects, ideas, plans and business. The focus is on the figure of the heart, with a clear tribute to Marc Chagall, in the hope that the massive presence of hearts may be auspicious in its common sense of universal love and sharing (Annalisa Marcucci, Virna Valli).