Italy, at least over the last decade, seems to have been brewing up tremendous creative energy, gaining momentum in recent years thanks in part to increased attention and interest in contemporary art by private institutions. Numerous foundations for the arts have sprung up in this time and the first National Museum of Contemporary Art, a project carried out by renowned architect, Zaha Hadid, opened its doors in Rome in 2010. Rome’s MACRO museum designed in 2010 by Odile Decq also recently completed renovations.

Despite the lack of funds in past years due to budget cuts, the spectacle that is the current Italian administration, and the embarrassing presentation at the most recent Biennale of Venice, Italian art is experiencing a period of great vitality, confirmed by the presence of numerous Italian artists in individual and collective exhibitions worldwide. At one time, few Italian artists besides Maurizio Cattelan or Vanessa Beecroft were known abroad, but things seem to have changed, as more Italian artists garner the esteem of international critics and curators.

The artists I selected for this travelling exhibition are of the same generation; all three were born in Rome and each honed their artistic talents in the capital. They represent the current artistic trends in our country, producing works that reflect what I believe to be at the root of contemporary thought in times of globalization. Pietro Ruffo, Andrea Aquilanti and Mauro Di Silvestre are not only worthy emissaries of compelling contemporary art in Italy, but also aligned with a general approach that seems to characterize contemporary Italian art. Their work exemplifies the freedom to use different mediums in artistic creation, the hybrid of styles, and the interdependence with technology prevalent in contemporary Italian art, all the while swaying from tradition to innovation. Being a part of tradition (particularly the Roman one that bore many fruits in art history throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s) is often expressed in contemporary Italian art. The artists are constantly stimulated and inspired by the spirit fueling the second avant garde movement.

Though the work of the artists selected is forward looking, the pieces contain elements of tradition that I believe were necessary for the progression of the ideals they express—only with knowledge of the past can one lay solid foundation for artistic innovation. The artists’ work communicates directly, dealing with current events such as political-religious revolutions; memories of the past; space; the environment and the perception of reality.

Andrea Aquilanti is an artist who has always made the interplay between video-installation, photography, drawing and painting the center of his work. He does not tire of thinking of the infinite possibilities and combinations offered by technology and the ingenuity of his works never ceases to amaze. Aquilanti’s art is tied to the ambiguity and instability of visual perception. His works can be defined as contemporary hybrid, as they are pictures as well as paintings, video installations and polychromatic sculptures at the same time. Viewers remain enraptured before his pieces like prey. Observers’ glances become more acute, in search of the magic, the illusion that doesn’t allow us to fully comprehend the piece. It remains clear though, that if Aquilanti is playing a game, it is a very serious one. In his intention to alter our perceptions and theoretical constructs there isn’t a glimmer of facetiousness. He hopes, rather, to improve the ways in which we observe reality—because after all, what seems real often is not.

For the 5C5C exhibit, Aquilanti has created three pieces: one video and two mixed-media canvases, all expressing his artistic vision. In the two canvases—one featuring the interior of a kitchen and the other depicting the exterior of a neighborhood market—the artist concentrates on the appropriation of the space. This is a typical characteristic of his work, which always begins with a location, offering it a different and unexpected vision through manipulation of the overlapping various layers created from repeated prints of the subject, augmented with hand drawn elements added and finished with acrylic color.

Aquilanti creates a live vision in his painting of a kitchen, offering different perspectives of the room and mixing print and paint techniques, simulating the effect of a film.  In his video, Aquilanti has chosen the dome of a Roman church as its subject. Drawn on a piece of paper, and thanks to the overlapping of projected images, the landscape that was once immobile becomes animated with the passing of doves and clouds, giving the entire piece a sense of time and movement.

Pietro Ruffo, the so-called torch-bearer of Italian memory, inherited the ideals of famed Roman artist Mario Ceroli, who received the attention of international critics in the 1960s for his pop silhouettes hewn from raw wood. Ruffo constructs his works in a meticulous way, cutting, bending and folding the paper from which he sculpts insects, butterflies and beetles as cutouts on geographic maps. His works are intrinsically symbolic, speaking to us about our way of life, our relationship with nature, the ideals of the contemporary world and the socio-political-cultural changes in times of globalization.

For the 5C5C project Ruffo has made a series of works that deal with the theme of freedom regarding the current unrest in North Africa and the Middle East. On antique maps of Palestine, North Africa, and Libya, Ruffo has painted the words “Allah is the only God and Mohammed is his prophet” in Arabic. Dragonflies— symbols of freedom— float amid the text. Through these pieces, the artist attempts to interrogate whether the spirit of freedom fueling revolutions in these regions is separate from religious influences and in accordance with Italian definitions of freedom, or rather, a struggle for personal liberties without the hindrance of a dictatorial regime. It is evident that in these latest works Ruffo intends to present a problem to the spectator without providing a solution. His work can therefore be seen as providing continuous incentive for us to open our eyes and be more aware of the world we live in.

Mauro Di Silvestre is a born painter. At a moment in time when painting has not been well regarded (at least not in Italy), Di Silvestre has found a way to give it new meaning in the last few years, creating works that act as reflections of their viewers. His work deals with the intricacies of memory, which may be both individual and collective at the same time. His physical encounters with memories allow evanescent figures to surface, then slowly disappear into dense patterns, becoming an integral part of them. Within an instant, the gestures, poses, and gazes take the spectator back in time as prior moments are brought back to light. Although connected to his personal experiences (inspired by photographic instances in his life), Di Silvestre’s pieces have universal appeal. For example, in his piece featuring a red lifeboat on shore, the boat itself and the photographic scene of the beach are so ubiquitous, that it seems as if the scene could have taken place in many countries around the world. In this way Di Silvestre transforms each composition into an emotional process, a small and dreamlike movement through the sands of time.

For the 5C5C project, Di Silvestre has created three works pertaining to childhood memories of summer—particularly of the seaside, which is the essence of the season in Italy and the Mediterranean. Each piece presents appearing and vanishing subjects as if attempting to recall the past, but only obtaining a blurred image.