ARCANGELO

The MA*GA has been set up to support and promote Italian artists in their research and help them to make an impact at an international level, with exhibitions, special projects, meetings, and the production of new works.
The exhibition devoted to Arcangelo, divided between two venues thanks to the SEA and MA*GA for the Arts project, has the precise aim of presenting to the public the work of one of the most important exponents of Italian art in recent decades, who has chosen to utilize the most traditional materials and techniques, such as painting on canvas and sculpture in ceramics, bronze..., seeing in this choice an expression of his freedom from classifications and schools of thought.
With his work Arcangelo is demonstrating the vitality and power of painting, of a creative act that imbues his pictures with an engaged and involved humanity, drawing on ancient and contemporary skills at one and the same time, as well as on emotions, memories, customs and rituals that are not always familiar or identifiable.
Art is his expression, his identity and his most direct means of communication. We can say that he does not try to hide behind his works. On the contrary, his works are an extension of his potent emotional charge. In the days leading up to the exhibition he has given the public an extraordinary opportunity to watch him at work, in that most delicate and intimate moment for an artist of the passage from the blank and raw canvas to the finished work and of the creative development of his idea.
My thanks go to all those who have contributed to the exhibition: the institutions that have given us their support, the Municipality of Gallarate, the Ministry of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the Region of Lombardy, the Province of Varese, and all the private sponsors who have supported our programming with great enthusiasm.
I am particularly grateful to SEA as the principal partner in the staging of Arcangelo’s exhibition and the publication of this important catalogue by Skira. I would also like to express my gratitude to the artist and his assistants for having devoted their time and enthusiasm to this strategic exhibition project, as well, of course, for having given their permission for the display of the works.