Alberto Burri's Mosaic Works at MAR Ravenna Challenge Decorative Art Stigma

The Museo MAR in Ravenna presents an exhibition of mosaic works by Alberto Burri (1915–1995), curated by Bruno Corà and opening during the 8th Biennale del Mosaico. Burri, a former army doctor held as a 'fascista irriducibile' by Americans until 1946, abandoned medicine at 31 to paint. The show features pieces created from 1988 in collaboration with the Ferruzzi agribusiness group, then led by Raul Gardini, including cycles evoking Ravenna's iconographic tradition, the painting 'Nero e l'oro' (1993), and the public intervention 'Grande Ferro R' for the Palazzo delle Arti e dello Sport Mauro De André. The exhibition juxtaposes decorative mosaic works with Burri's typical cellotex pieces, prompting criticism from contemporary painter Mattia Moreni, who called Burri 'the Pierre Cardin of art.' The show aims to elevate mosaic from decorative craft to fine art, a move writer Elettra Stamboulis compares to Adolf Loos's 'Ornament and Crime.' Burri, who accidentally became a parliamentarian in 1959 when Palma Bucarelli exhibited his work on PCI initiative, is positioned as a compass artist for the 2023 Biennale. The exhibition runs at MAR Ravenna.