THE THEME OF THIS EDITION
The theme of the fourth edition of the COMEL Award is ‘lightness’, a feature that has made this metal one of the most used material worldwide in the areas of production and transport.
Aluminum and its alloys have enabled man to take epochal challenges that have marked the history of mankind, and that still characterizes contemporary society: from large intercontinental trips by air and by sea to projects that have sent man into space.
On the other hand, lightness is not just a physical property, it has many other forms, reflected in the emotional and psychic sphere of man and also present in his metaphorical and creative universe. The lightness of aluminum inspires other feelings of lightness, of being, imagination and reality.
LA GIURIA
GIORGIO AGNISOLA
Art critic and essayist,
President of the Jury
He is an Art critic and writer. He is Professor at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy. He is also associate director of the Advanced Training School in Arts and Theology. He has collaborated with the cultural pages of the national newspaper ‘Avvenire’, especially on the Art section. For many years, he has worked as a consultant of Modern and Contemporary Art in French-speaking countries in Europe. He has written several books. Among the last ones, Viaggio nell’opera, vedere e sentire l’arte, (Moretti & Vitali, 2005), La pietra e l’angelo, (Guida, 2007), L’oltranza dello sguardo, in Friedrich, Monet, Cézanne, (Il pozzo di Giacobbe, 2010), L’avvertimento dell’oltre in Morandi, Rothko e Manzù (Il pozzo di Giacobbe, 2015). He is a member of the International Association of Art Critics. He has curated international exhibitions, such as ‘Magnelli, works 1915-1970’, 2013, ‘Burri, unico e multiplo’, 2014, both held at the municipal art gallery of Gaeta.
MARCELLO CARLINO
Researcher of History of Literary Criticism
Researcher of History of Literary Criticism (Università La Sapienza, Rome), he is a leading expert on Literature of the ‘900. He has studied especially Experimentalism and Avantgarde. He has published, among others, the books: Alberto Savino: La scrittura in stato di assedio (1 979) and Landolfi e il fantastico (1998). He contributed to redefine the theory of allegory – with the group ‘Quaderni di critica’, focusing on W. Benjamin’s elaborations, on whose theoretical writings he has produced a number of essays over the years. He has devoted special attention to the relationship between Literature and Visual Arts, analyzing some significant expressions and discussing the theoretical critical implications (as in his books: Una penna per il pennello. Giorgio De Chirico scrittore, 1989; Deposizioni. Su oggetti di spazio e di tempo tra pittura e poesia, 2001; and the last one, Scritture in vista).
ANNA COCCHETTI
Art critic and independent curator
Until 2007, she taught Italian Literature and History at the Liceo Artistico, dealing with themes and projects related to educational experimentation in the field of artistic training. He directed until 2010 the L.A.S. “Giorgio de Chirico” and from 2010 to 2011 the Artistic High School “Via di Ripetta”. As an independent curator he conceived and created Exhibitions, Exhibitions and Events in collaboration with the Department of Culture and public and private institutions; he has curated numerous presentations of artists in Italy and abroad. As an art critic he has edited various columns in newspapers and magazines, on paper and web as Titolo, Paese Sera and Leculture.net.
AUGUSTO PIERONI
Contemporary Art Historian and Art Critic
Ph.D in Contemporary Art, Augusto Pieroni is Contemporary art historian and Art critic, expert in Photographic Arts. He is Professor of History and Criticism of Photography at the ‘Università della Tuscia’ (VT) and at ‘Università La Sapienza’, Rome. He teaches Visual Arts at the ‘Scuola Romana di Fotografia’ and Critical Analysis and Construction of a Portfolio at ‘Officine Fotografiche’, Rome. He holds masterclasses and workshops on the Personal Creative Project and on the Construction of a Portfolio at vocational schools and photographic associations throughout Italy. Essayist and lecturer, he led public speeches with authors such as Letizia Battaglia and Piergiorgio Bronzi, Gianni Beren-go-Gardin, Sandro Becchetti. Member of professional competitions awards, he is author of various books as a curator he participated in numerous exhibitions in Italy and abroad. As a critic and journalist, he has written for international photography & art magazines.
MARIA GABRIELLA MAZZOLA
Aluminium sector manager
Maria Gabriella is at the helm of the CO.ME.L company with her brother Adriano and her sister Luisa. She boasts a technical-business preparation, together with organizational and coordination skills. This is why she can bring the company new guidelines, such as the attention towards communication, innovation and marketing. She has always supported many different projects: art exhibitions, publications, visual art shows, short film festivals, animal safeguard and protection. Her idea: “All the goals that we achieved resulted from a firm and constant commitment as well as, from a strong determination. These are two essential skills for those who want to obtain a great success”.
THE 13 FINALISTS
THE WINNERS
MINUTES OF THE JURY
COMEL VANNA MIGLIORIN AWARD 2015
On March 28th, 2015, at 10:00 a.m., at the Spazio Comel art gallery of Latina, situated in via Neghelli 68, the jury met for the final evaluations of the fourth edition of the Comel Award Vanna Migliorin – Contemporary Art. The following members were present: Giorgio Agnisola, Marcello Carlino, Anna Cochetti, Augusto Pieroni, Maria Gabriella Mazzola. The president Giorgio Agnisola chaired the meeting.
Firstly, the president invoked the instructions contained in the notice and relevant to today’s edition of the award, also in relation to the chosen theme, and says that one of the thirteen finalists, namely O.T. (Triptych / Waves), by Berit Myreboee, cannot compete because the work received for the exhibition is different from the one selected by the jury for the final phase of the award.
Then the jurors individually performed a careful survey of the finalist works, all exhibited in the gallery, each selecting five of them, on which to start a collegial discussion. During the debate, each juror motivated his/her preferences and calmly examined the proposals of the colleagues. After extensive discussion the winning work was unanimously chosen.
It is “Danza Rossa” by Silva Cavalli Felci, for which the jury gave the following reason:
“Measure, rhythm and elegance are the hallmarks of her work. The artist, who has a rich and meaningful curriculum, wanted to get back into the game and returned to experiment with her language.
The purity of the cuts on the material and the softness of the lines, obtained with a fine modeling of the aluminum colored in red, remind the slight movements of a dance and seem to draw musical symbols and the profiles of a score whose harmonics are offered to the view to vibrate in lightness. The work thus reveals a further dimension, which looks like a sound sculpture: the regularly shaped edges of the aluminum can almost be touched as strings and lend a strong feeling of a reaction with the environment, in an ecstatic and sacred atmosphere.”
Therefore the jury considered worthwhile to assign further special mentions to two other works of particular note. These were:
L’atleta e l’uccellino” by Giampietro Degli Innocenti, for the following reasons:
“There is the presence of a little man, all mass and volume, in a heavy and shapeless aggregate which is inscribed in a circle and, unlike Leonardo’s famous figures, rests crushed on its base. Despite the fact that it is such to suggest a circular motion, even a circus performance. It seems it can begin a process of dematerialization. And the flight might be generated as a result, a flight that mimics the flight of the birds, inhabitants of air, pursuing freedom. The game, serious and ironic at the same time, is between weight and lightness, between the reality that oppresses and its overcoming, its sublimation: an Italo Calvino style game that avails itself of the impulses and suggestions of aluminum.”
“I Need Protection” by Alessandra Baldoni, with the following motivations:
“The sequence of book-chests, small book-albums that are held in safe aluminum frames, has the structure and pace of an installation and asks for a direct relationship with the viewer. It asks to be browsed, and demands for emotional involvement. The relationship between images and writing is the basis of the work and is the theme played in the sense of lightness: the lightness of tiptoe exploration of feelings, a discreet revealing of memories, reflections on the values of life, narrative fragments of far experiences expressed and sublimated in the art language.”
The Audience Award goes to Andrea Meneghetti for the work “La Primavera Di Afrodite”.
At the conclusion of the work, the jury strongly congratulated the organization on the seriousness of the award, created by a family project, and become a high cultural expression of the city and the territory. In addition, the jury congratulated on the good quality of the works, that even represent many foreign nations, and wished a greater future success.
Latina, 28th March 2015
PHOTO GALLERY
The setting of the exibition
Opening, March 21th, 2015 with the participation of the “Sand Artist” Stefania Bruno
Award ceremony og the Jury Award, April 11th, 2015
Award ceremony of the Audience Award, April 18th, 2015 with the extraordinary participation of the dancer Alessia del Noce
