(photo by Andrea Vierucci)
Friday March 8th at 6 pm, Casa del Cinema in Rome will inaugurate the exhibition titled “RAP e BELZEBÙ”, curated by Chiara Rapaccini, nom d’art RAP, painter, sculptor, designer, illustrator and writer, Mario Monicelli’s partner for thirty-five years. The installations, open to the public free of charge through April 2nd, are in fact dedicated to the great Roman director. On display will be twelve painted sheets, based on photographs from Monicelli’s private archive: pictures taken by the director, as well as images of some of our great film actors and snapshots of his private life. RAP uses many different techniques – paintbrush, acrylic, drypoint, embroidery, comic art and freeform writing – working first on the photos and later on the large sheets.
“My sheets are light as ghosts, they flutter like laundry drying in the sun, they are dedicated to my lifelong partner, Mario Monicelli – explains Chiara Rapaccini – Searching through the closets, I selected the photos I liked best: portraits of Mario, of his friends – Mastroianni, Virna Lisi, Totò, Magnani – and moments of our lives. I worked on old prints with a paintbrush, acrylic and drypoint to remove the backgrounds, to highlight a shadow, a wrinkle, a fold. I added my characters and some freeform words. Lightweight thoughts, in random order. Then I made prints on large pure cotton drapes, as fresh as the sheets of time gone by. And still unsatisfied, I touched up the sheets with paint. Yet I was still unable to let go of those faces, of those life and film memories that have filled my life. So I decided to hem the edges of the sheets, like we used to, with wool and silk, using a mattress-maker’s long needle. These are my beloved ghosts who smile at us from a distant, but lively and vibrant world. Ghosts that never die, like our cinema”.
INFO
The exhibition will be open, with free admission, until the 2nd of April with the following opening hours: Monday to Saturday 4pm-8pm, Sunday 10am-8pm. Closing: 18th-19th March. Sunday, March 31st 12 noon-8 p.m.