The keyword of this year’s edition is undoubtedly “Mutation“.

The metal is interpreted and presented in the total variety of expressive media. Sculpture and installation, painting and photography, video, and design object all come together, transforming aluminum into art, confirming its versatility, poetic, and artistic qualities.

The names of the 13 European Union artists selected for the COMEL Award “Vanna Migliorin” for Contemporary Art 2014 have been announced. Over a hundred artworks were received. The jury, composed of Giorgio Agnisola (art critic, essayist – Jury President), Marcello Carlino (researcher in the History of Literary Criticism and comparative studies in Visual Arts and Literature), Agnes Martin (founder and director of the St. Stephen’s Cultural Center Foundation in Rome), Augusto Pieroni (lecturer in History and Criticism of Photography), and Maria Gabriella Mazzola (manager of the aluminum sector at CO.ME.L – Technical Committee of the Prize), made the selection.

Predominantly Italian, the selected artists have embraced the challenge proposed by the call to create an artwork in aluminum (or mixed techniques with aluminum), emphasizing the expressive versatility of the material. “Mutations in Aluminum” is the title of the exhibition that will be showcased in Latina, at the Spazio COMEL in Via Neghelli from March 15 to April 13.

The common thread is the concept of ‘mutation,’ understood as metamorphosis and evolution, transition and becoming, through which the aluminum of the artwork undergoes a transformation rich in symbolic meanings. The material lends itself to the artist’s action, shaping it differently and freely, sometimes rendering it unrecognizable, offering an unexpected occupation of space and form.

The exhibition features paintings, photographs, installations, sculptures, videos, the result of rather diverse paths united by the curiosity to experiment artistically and engage with a cultural territory that goes beyond Italian borders and often beyond European borders, in a continuous exploratory search not only of the artistic medium but also of the cultural landscapes to be represented.

The names of the 13 Finalist Artists are:

Belletti Marcella [Italy, Ravenna] – Sculpture/Installation, Bonsangue Giuseppina (Giosè) [Italy, Naples] – Video Caputi Gianluca [Italy, Rome] – Painting, Cianciullo Vincenzo / Magagnini Giulia [Italy, Campobasso] – Sculpture/Installation, Corsucci Umberto [Italy, Rimini] – Design, Dardanelli Mariagrazia [Italy, Rome] – Photography/Digital Graphics, Deodato Pino [Italy, Milan] – Sculpture/Installation, Emmequadro [Italy, Crema] – Photography, Ferrari Andrea [Italy, Massa] – Sculpture/Installation, Novasere Irina [Germany, Berlin] – Sculpture/Installation, Perna Lucio [Italy, Milan] – Painting, Stasczak Michał [Poland, Wrocław] – Sculpture/Installation, Vignapiano Matteo (Mathieu Vignon) [Italy – France] – Sculpture/Installation

Congratulations to them from the Committee and the Jury. A heartfelt thanks to all the participants who, with their artworks, have contributed to the dissemination and enhancement of aluminum in art.