MACRO FALL 2010

MACRO via Reggio Emilia

October 26 2010- February 6 2011

www.en.macro.roma.museum

By Shanía Mason

LABORATORIO SCHIFANO

Amongst the plethora of exhibits displayed at the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma (MACRO), on display is an exhibit entitled, “Laboratorio Schifano”. The show is curated by Luca Massimo Barbero, Francesca Pola, and Archivio Mario Schifano. It is in collaboration with Festival Internzationale del Film di Roma, and Fondazione Cinema per Roma. “Laboratoria Schifano” displays the works of Archivio Mario Schifano, and has been available for viewing since October 26, 2010, and will be accessible until the 6^th of February 2011.

Upon first entering the room which cases the works affiliated with the “Laboratorio Schifano” exhibit the human pupil is a little overwhelmed by the heavy presence of images. The room could be summarized as a wall-sized magazine. This idea of a large scale magazine further contributes to the exhibit’s “Laboratory” theme.

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For most people, the thought of a laboratory may stimulate the mental image of a science lab with several test tubes and chemical solutions. Relevantly, Schifano’s laboratory consists of a collection of the artist’s artistic variation of “test tubes”, which in this case would refer to the idea of Schifano’s experimentation with different artistic mediums such as photographic prints, black-and-white photocopies, and magazine and newspaper cut outs. Moreover, the artist’s visual laboratory also relates to that of one’s immediate mental image of a science lab in the way that although a scientific laboratory encapsulates various potions, beakers, and tube sizes every element in the lab is correlated in the way it assists science in some way or the other. Relatively, despite the reality that the images in Schifano’s laboratory are finger prints, unique in their own way, they are all connected to the general idea of creativity.

The “Laboratorio Schifano” exhibition visually guides its audience on a voyage through the core of the creative planet which is nestled within the greater universe of contemporary art. The well-preserved collection includes polaroids, painted color photocopies and photographs, and sheets of notes. With the visual aids of: human figures, television screens, dinosaurs, airplanes, landscapes, heads and brains, environmental catastrophes, and other symbols, the artist not only constructs a sort of imaginary “laboratory” but also a “laboratory” that is physical. The exhibition’s visitors become entangled in Schifano’s creative web of ideas. In other words, it is almost as if we as viewers become transfixed into a sort of “transparent labyrinth”. It is in this labyrinth that we are witness the artist’s use of a plethora of visual materials as a means of interpreting his personal creative process.

Despite the seemingly unpredictable flow of Schifano’s web, one thing that is certain is the artist’s successful ability to have created a bridge between the iconographies. An additional aspect of the exhibition that is worthy of recognition is Schifano’s use of repeated variation. This notion of repetitious various connects to the idea of a laboratory specifically because it is in labs where the scientist creates experiments which can consists of conducting the same experiment repeatedly in hopes of a specific outcome. In Schifano’s laboratory based on creativity, the artist uses repetition that not only reflects —similar to Andy Warhol’s, Campbell Soup—the presence of mass communication in our modern society, but also the idea of experimenting with repetition to convey a particular message.

Overall, what appears to be a visual overload for the reception of the pupils, with a closer observation “Laboratorio Schifano” becomes a treat for the human eye. This wide range of visual creativity is a significant visual record and representation of our modern-day society.