Bertozzi & Casoni Retrospective Spans Three Imola Museums

The duo Bertozzi & Casoni, known for hyperrealistic ceramic works blending Baroque excess and trash aesthetics, are the subject of a major retrospective titled 'Tranche de vie' across three venues in Imola: Palazzo Tozzoni, Museo di San Domenico, and Rocca Sforzesca. Curated by Diego Galizzi, the exhibition traces the existential and artistic journey of the Romagna-based artists, immersing viewers in themes of decay, mortality, and black humor. At Palazzo Tozzoni, their ceramics—mimicking everyday objects like a Carrefour shopping bag with vegetables and snails—are seamlessly integrated into 18th-century interiors. A notable work, 'Riflessioni sulla morte' (2008), references Jannis Kounellis's 1967 installation with a live parrot, featuring a steel skeleton, a scythe, and a colorful parrot atop a tray of food scraps. The exhibition also pays homage to Stefano Dal Monte Casoni, who died recently; his unrealized piece 'La morte dell'eros'—a faun hanged from a chandelier—was completed by Giampaolo Bertozzi. The show draws parallels to Daniel Spoerri's tableaux pièges, with a ceramic recreation of a post-gala table. A related exhibition 'Funambolismi' at MLB Gallery in Ferrara further explores the poetics of waste.