Se fosse sol da far

This March, Alzueta Gallery presents Se fosse sol da far, a solo exhibition by Mirco Marchelli (Italy, 1963). The show will open at Alzueta Gallery Barcelona Sèneca on March 13th and will be open for viewing until April 26th, 2025.

Starting from a wordplay, the title evokes both the simplicity of the creative act —emphasizing the importance of doing in the artistic process— and a reference to musical language —sol, fa— embracing the multidisciplinarity character that defines Marchelli’s work. Composer, musician and visual artist, in this project, the artist proposes a video that accompanies the exhibition as if it was a visual opera. Thus, the works acquire a scenographic value in relation to music.

In Se fosse sol da far, the pieces stem from a fascination with purely everyday objects and discarded fragments —pieces of wood, plaster, ceramics, fabric…— remnants that, once transfigured and assembled by the artist, are transformed into sculpture-objects, serene and abstract landscapes that are imbued with memory. Each work in this exhibition participates in a collective narrative, shaping a “daily opera” that combines the poetic gesture with an almost archaeological exploration of the past. Marchelli takes advantage of modest and simple materials to draw on their ancient stories and suggest new associations and readings of the past.

The artist experiences both musical composition and visual art in parallel, a shared process that does not distinguish between artistic mediums. In Marchelli’s words, «My art, like my music, originates from things that already exist. Mine is a game of assembly”. The artist-composer considers the materials as themes that gain significance once unified in a new narrative, punctuated by empty spaces or moments of silence. Marchelli’s exhibition is constructed from a layering of elements and voices, just as in an opera, creating a scenography in which recycled objects become actors.

Marchelli’s aesthetic differs from the ornamentalism of Baroque opera and answers to a sensibility he would describe as salubre asciuttezza mediterranea; the simplicity, rawness, and essentiality of an aesthetic tradition rooted in ancient Mediterranean culture. Se fosse sol da far is part of the exploration for the essential, the simple, and the static, with the aim of discovering the deep and immeasurable brilliance that has connected all artistic expressions throughout time.