Surrounded by views of the seabed and large windows opening onto the tropical gardens of Isola Bella, the boat-installation by Concetta De Pasquale is the focal point of the exhibition “The heart’s route” (from July 21st to November 4th), a tribute to Lady Florence Trevelyan – a philanthropist and botanist who lived between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – who, removed from the English court, found her destiny in Taormina, tying her forever to that of the town.
The exhibition “La rotta del cuore” is dedicated to Lady Trevelyan’s journey, a forced exile towards that corner of Sicily that became her Eden. Concetta De Pasqualeedited by Andrea Guastella. A project of the Archaeological Park Naxos Taormina directed by Gabriella Tigano that for the spaces of Villa Bosurgi – a splendid architecture with pavilions “sewn” and hidden in the rock – involved the artist with a strong sensitivity towards nature and the sea. The exhibition opens on Sunday 21 July at 6.30 pm.
Fifteen works are on display, along with four nautical charts that complete the installation site specific in the Billiards Room of Villa Bosurgi. “Obviously these are not simple tracks – writes the curator Andrea Guastella in her critical essay – but of visions that summarize in a dreamlike way the stages of travel or, as happens in the large paintings on the walls, of signs impressed by the artist on the paper with his own body. These latest works, dedicated to the Universe of the Sea, were created by Concetta during a stay in Indonesia and exhibited in shows organized, in Bali and Bandung, by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Jakarta. They represent the abyss as it can be seen by those who do not limit themselves to sailing on it but, allowing themselves to be carried by the placid currents, cross it from the inside”.
The artist herself explains her fascination with the story and character of Lady Trevelyan: “I was struck by her experience – she says Concetta De Pasquale – I worked on the theme of an imaginary navigation that told in a symbolic and dreamlike way the love story that transformed the Santo Stefano rock into a unique place of beauty. The project “La rotta del cuore” in fact retraces the sea voyage of Florence Trevelyan from England through the Atlantic coasts of Europe to the Strait of Gibraltar to reach, after landing in North Africa, Sicily where she disembarks in Taormina”.
The director of the Naxos Taormina Park, the archaeologist, traces the profile of the English noblewoman Gabriella Tigano, who immediately shared the idea of the exhibition with the artist. “There was more than one fascination – comments director Tigano –. In fact, alongside the narration of a small island where stories of land and stories of the sea have been intertwined for millennia, Concetta De Pasquale thought of a tribute to Florence, the English noblewoman who, having lived in exile in Taormina from 1884 to 1907, thanks to her innate passion for gardens, contributed to defining the naturalistic landscape that has reached us today: a little Mediterranean, a little exotic due to the essences of tropical origin that she had planted there next to the replanting of native bushes. In fact, Lady Florence, pursuing her “broken heart“had the merit of gradually creating an ideal habitat for numerous living species, a perfect ecosystem that still today makes Isola Bella a fascinating green oasis… in the middle of the sea”.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with essays by art historians. Andrea Guastella And Marco Marinacci. During the inauguration, a musical performance evocative of the journey is scheduled, curated by Giuseppe Severini, luthier and sound researcher who will perform “Ayo visto lu mappamundi”, a 15th century piece by an anonymous author for voice and battente guitar, conch horns and bone flutes. While the singer-songwriter Cristina Bringheli will perform Celtic songs.
Concetta De Pasquale, biographical notes
Born in Salò (BS) in 1959, she graduated in Modern Literature, specializing in Art History at the University of Urbino. She later graduated in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, in Milan, where she attended the studios of the sculptors Fausto Melotti and Nanni Valentini, her teachers in the minimal and rigorous use of matter. After her first experiences with different materials, her attention focused on paper, which became the preferred support for an essential and intimate organic painting that investigates the body in its double valence, physical and spiritual. Today she lives and works in her studio on the sea, in Sicily, often taking sailing trips as a “Painter on board” to create very personal travel notebooks. For the city of Messina in 2010 she designed and created a monumental sculpture for the square of the Teatro Vittorio Emanuele, a tribute to her teacher Fausto Melotti. Since 1979 he has exhibited in public spaces and private galleries in Italy and abroad: Stockholm, Lisbon, Paris, Nice, Principality of Monaco, London, Madrid, Strasbourg, Budapest, Brussels, Berlin, Lugano, Dubai, Bali and Bandung in Indonesia, holding solo and group exhibitions in prestigious museums and institutional spaces. He has participated in several artist residencies (Italy, Indonesia, Kenya) and international exhibitions such as the International Biennial of Contemporary Art (Florence, 2003); The Adventures of Form (Seravezza, 2012); 54th Venice Biennale; Artists of Sicily and Expo Milan (2015); BIAS (2018-2020, Palermo, Sicily, Venice, Egypt, Israel). He recently participated in the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia with the project PostUmano Reliquie in viaggio as part of the San Marino Pavilion. In 2023, invited by the Italian Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Jakarta, she exhibited at the Museum Pasifika in Bali and at the Sulasar Sunaryo Art Space in Bandung with the solo exhibition “The Breathing Sea” while for the hundred years of the Naval History Museum of Venice she was at the Blue Gallery in Venice. Her works are present in museums and in important public and private collections in Italy and abroad.