Mimmo Rotella's Early Decollages at Gladstone Gallery, 2017

Gladstone Gallery's Upper East Side townhouse in New York presented 18 early works by Mimmo Rotella from 1953 to 1961. The exhibition, titled 'Mimmo Rotella: Selected Early Works,' ran from March 4 to June 17, 2017 at 130 East 64th Street. Rotella abandoned abstract painting in the 1950s to create décollages and retro d'affiches using ripped advertising posters from Roman streets. His process involved assembling these materials in the studio, sometimes revealing traces of plaster and attached substances. Works like 'décollage Scotch Brand' (1958-59) directly show source materials, including details from San Pellegrino Rabarbaro liqueur bottles. Other pieces, such as 'Senza titolo' (1953) and 'Al reverso' (1959), appear abstract, while 'TAL' (1957) retains a government tax stamp. Rotella, inspired by Marcel Duchamp, believed the city itself functioned as a museum of contemporary and historical art. His innovative use of banal advertising materials preceded American Pop Art, though he was later marginalized when Robert Rauschenberg won the 1964 Venice Golden Lion. Rotella died in Milan in 2006, never fully recapturing the inspiration of his early career. The exhibition highlighted the transformation of everyday commodities into precious artworks through de-skilling processes.