Rediscovered Assemblage Artist Salvatore Meo Gets Rome Show

Salvatore Meo (1914–2004), an American-born assemblage artist who spent most of his career in Rome, is being rediscovered through a dual exhibition at Spazio Mensa in Rome, opening September 24. The show, titled 'Environments', pairs Meo's rare sculptures with works by emerging artist Andrea Polichetti (b. 1989), selected from the Fondazione Salvatore Meo collection. Meo was a pioneer of found-object art, assembling discarded materials like furniture drawers, broken toys, and rusty iron for nearly five decades. In 1961, he was invited to the Museum of Modern Art in New York for the landmark group show 'The Art of Assemblage'. Despite positive reviews in the New York Times and Art News for his 1961 retrospective at Charles Egan Gallery, his American career stalled. In Italy, he found support from collectors Francesco Aldobrandini and Graziella Lonardi, critics Emilio Villa and Achille Bonito Oliva, and curator Bruno Corà. Villa appointed Meo U.S. editor for the magazine Arti Visive. Meo's work was rejected by the Venice Biennale jury in 1956 as 'non-artistic', yet he exhibited there two years later. His studio near the Trevi Fountain now houses his vast archive, managed by the foundation. The current exhibition marks the first time his work has been shown in Rome in 35 years.