6 July 2012

An exhibition that brings together works whose common feature is the fact that they are made with neon. I must admit: on paper it didn’t seem like a great idea. Inappropriate, in its vagueness, like an exhibition devoted to painting or sculpture. Just a bit more clever in the less obvious choice of medium. I’ve had to change my mind: the exhibition Neon. La materia luminosa dell’arte, curated by David Rosenberg and Bartolomeo Pietromarchi and staged at the MACRO until 4/11, is beautiful. And not to be missed. A walk through the Enel hall (the Italian electric utility is the exhibition’s logical sponsor), enveloped in the colored gleams of the works on display, makes it clear that beauty is not a concept irrelevant to contemporary art. The primary use of this industrial material is in communication, a function that is taken up by the artists in order to transform neon into pure, incandescent poetic material.

Andrea Nacciarriti. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta

Bruce Nauman. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta

Valerio Rocco Orlando. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta

Joseph Kosuth. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta

Pierre Bismuth. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta

Bruce Nauman. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta

Alfredo Jaar. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta

Maurizio Nannucci. Photo: © Caroline Corbetta