Author(s): Germano Celant

Art

The first volume of the Catalogue Raisonne of the works of Mimmo Rotella (Catanzaro, 1918 - Milan, 2006) is part of a more extensive systematic cataloguing project of the artist's body of work by Germano Celant. The publication is being developed in partnership with the Mimmo Rotella Institute - established by Inna and Aghnessa Rotella in 2012 and directed by Antonella Soldaini - and the Mimmo Rotella Foundation, headed by Rocco Gugliemo. A scientific analysis and assessment is being conducted on the works executed during 1944-1961 - that is, from the artist's experimental research phase (first through figurative painting, then through geometric abstraction) to his development of the decollage and retro d'affiche techniques. Unfolding in chronological order, the Catalogue highlights the various stages of development of the artist's language, enabling a broader interpretation of the works executed in the period. Rotella started making use of wall posters in Rome in the early 1950s, and this became his hallmark.
Thus the artist developed two parallel techniques: with the recto he created decollages, which were originally closer to the informal style of Alberto Burri and Lucio Fontana's research at that time; with the verso of the posters, covered in wall matter and marked by mold, scratches, and traces of lime and plaster, he created his retro d'affiches.