Sergio Risaliti on Mimmo Paladino's Studio Practice

Sergio Risaliti, artistic director of Museo Novecento in Florence, recounts a recent exchange with artist Mimmo Paladino, who sent two photographs of his studio taken a day apart. The first image showed a fresh painting on an easel; the second revealed that the initial work had been replaced by a new one, with the earlier canvas moved to the background. Risaliti describes the first painting as a monochrome with heads, a figure, and butterflies, executed on unprepared American canvas that absorbs color like watercolor, reminiscent of Color Field painters Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Helen Frankenthaler. The subsequent work is a cobalt blue night sky with traces of a hand and a small light, evoking Henri Rousseau's "The Sleeping Gypsy." A yellow painting then appears in the foreground, suggesting a sunrise. Risaliti reflects on Paladino's 1977 painting "Così, s'intitolava un quadro," which marked his return to expressive painting after years of black-and-white conceptual work. He interprets Paladino's studio as an "eremo e fortezza" (hermitage and fortress), where the artist works in silence, creating a world governed by painting's own laws, alternative to paradise and society. The article was published on Artribune in March 2020, during COVID-19 lockdowns, framing Paladino's solitary practice as a model of poetic resilience.