Ex Voto - Per Arte Ricevuta

EX VOTO / Per Arte Ricevuta: 200 artists invited to produce a small work in predetermined dimensions (within 13 × 18 cm), of any shape, material and genre, which best represents their talent, for an exhibition that is previewed on 3 October at the GrandArt fair in Milan.

The event is part of the Mondadori Store Start-Art for All project, curated by Angelo Crespi, and is promoted by the Maimeri Foundation which will publish the catalog with Mondo Libri Mondadori, with the support of Chantecler Capri, and in support of the Marino Marini Museum of Florence.

Chantecler Capri has decided to award 3 works with a bell, the symbol of the maison and a typical lucky charm. During the event, some Ex voto will be exhibited in Chantecler’s boutiques in Milan, Capri, Tokyo.
The 200 ex voto, selected with the support of Alessandra Redaelli, will then be put on display from 7 to 16 December at the Marino Marini Museum in Florence and presented in a charity evening whose proceeds will go to the Kinder Art project of the education section of the Marino Marini museum which is preparing to host an art space entirely dedicated to children.

“The form of the ex voto, which in history has been the representation of a religious or magical bond with the divine – writes Angelo Crespi – allows the contemporary artist to demonstrate dedication to his own muse or demon, in fact to his own talent, ultimately, to manifest one’s vocation which is expressed in doing; and hence the revised formula EX VOTO / per arte received “.

Among the artists, from all countries, painters, sculptors, photographers, who participated: Roberto Ferri, Alice Zanin, Peter Demetz, Jukee Kwon, Roberto Floreani, Telal Al Zeid, Nicole Kornberg Jacobovici, Air Daryal, Antonio Sannino, Umberto Ciceri , Giorgia Oldano, Simone Gerace, Ignazio Mazzeo, Ciro Palumbo, Livio Scarpella, Marco Cornini, Sylvia Stack, Rudy van der Velde, Tom Porta, Salvatore Alessi, Stella Ranza, Kristin Mayers, Florencia Martinez, Beat Kuert, Nadia Fanelli, Maurizio Gabbana , Mauro Reggio, Giorgio Ortona, Nico Mingozzi, Giorgio Conta, Elisa Anfuso, Vittorio D’Ambros, Monica Silva, Arrigo Musti …

The ex voto is the representation of a bond with the divine, reified in an object that is psychically constituted by the votive bond, that is, by the idea inherent in the formula “for gratia received” with which healing is requested or the divinity is thanked for having received it.

It is not yet a work of art, yet the persistence of the ex voto form since the dawn of civilization in the Paleolithic, and then in the various pagan religions or finally in Christianity, make this object, usually small, almost magical, of absolute value not only for what and how it depicts it, that is, for its aesthetic dimension, but above all because it manifests someone’s prayer, the vow, the desire to be healed or transformed, or converted.

The form and the ways in which the ex voto is realized therefore seem archetypes that reside in the depths of the human mentality, as the philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman explains, and in this lies its power and the ability to manifest the bond, as if it were a symbol that connects two realms.

Passing from “cult” to “culture”, two terms linked by the same root, that is, passing from miracula to mirabilia, that is, from things that express veneration to those that arouse admiration, the form of the ex voto allows the contemporary artist to demonstrate dedication to the divinity or to one’s demon, to the muse or one’s talent, ultimately to manifest one’s vocation which is expressed in a doing; and hence the revised formula “by art received”.

Catalog of the Maimeri Foundation and Mondadori Store

Organization: Francesca Martire

Critical text by: Angelo Crespi and Alessandra Redaelli

Mondadori Store Catalog

ISBN 8022264871785