Massimiliano Alioto's Ghosts at Museo Christian Andersen in Rome

On November 24, 2017, the Museo Christian Andersen in Rome opens "Ghosts?", a solo exhibition by Italian artist Massimiliano Alioto (born 1972 in Brindisi), curated by Gabriele Simongini. The show, produced in collaboration with M77 Gallery, engages with the spiritual presence of Norwegian sculptor and painter Hendrik Christian Andersen (1872–1940), who was born exactly one century before Alioto. The exhibition features 33 paintings, 8 drawings, and an installation from Alioto's "Ghost Town" series, created specifically for Villa Helene, Andersen's former home and studio. Alioto's works evoke Andersen's utopian "World City" project, planned for the area now occupied by Rome's Fiumicino Airport. The artist visited the site and painted the surrounding countryside, using primary colors to suggest a space-time portal linking Andersen's sculptures (displayed on the museum's ground floor) with the contemporary landscape. The installation "Utopia" surrounds Andersen's sculptures with colored strips, conceptually teleporting them into Alioto's canvases. Portraits of Andersen's family members, including his adoptive sister Lucia Lice, are rendered with abstract color drips, recalling Francis Bacon's figures and 19th-century spirit photography. The exhibition runs through February 4, 2018.