Wilfredo Prieto’s ‘Chiudere un occhio’ at Fondazione Morra Greco, Naples

Cuban artist Wilfredo Prieto (Sancti Spíritus, 1978) presents the solo exhibition 'Chiudere un occhio' at Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples, conceived specifically for the venue. The show transforms the space into a ludic investigation, using everyday and industrial objects—a polystyrene ball, a paperclip, a thong, a chess pawn, a soccer goal, a shoelace, a balloon, a papaya seed—to question the relationship between art and creation. Prieto draws on the Latin root of 'invention' (inventiònem) as discovery rather than ideation. The exhibition plays with private/public and interior/exterior boundaries, influenced by Naples’ political, social, and cultural conditions. Prieto rejects representation as a tool for understanding, aiming instead to 'speak to reality from reality' through a Brechtian 'verfremdung' (alienation). He likens the artist’s gesture to a surgeon’s precise incision. Works such as 'Vista lunga, vista corta' (two car headlights), 'Il leone non si guarda indietro all’abbaiar del cane' (crates), and 'Figura geometrica' (a thong) recontextualize found objects. Prieto’s selection criteria are driven solely by the needs of the idea, and he embraces autonomous narratives as communicative tools. The exhibition was curated by Francesca Blandino, who interviewed the artist for Artribune.