Mario Ceroli. The Strength to Dream Once Again

The exhibition, curated by Cesare Biasini Selvaggi, presents 10 new and site-specific works created in the past year by the artist, designed to dialogue with the underground space designed by James Stirling in the 1980s, a monumental “grey cube” that welcomes visitors with a dramatic entrance.

Mario Ceroli, among the most innovative artists of his generation, returns to amaze with works that blend poetry, social criticism and material experimentation. His creations, inspired as much by tradition as by the avant-garde, emerge in a unique tension between the Baroque imagery of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the spatial visions of Lucio Fontana. Ceroli invites us to dream again, interweaving rationality and imaginative beauty.

According to curator Cesare Biasini Selvaggi, “La forza di sognare ancora” is the common thread of an artistic journey that began in the 1950s. Ceroli’s works, says the curator, represent the hope for change and the aspiration for a new civic consciousness, shaping a beauty that resonates with the “infinite wondrous forms of nature” described by Charles Darwin.

The works on display

The exhibition offers an unprecedented journey through 10 sculpture-installations conceived as a single environment, but autonomous and interactive. Among the works on display are:

• “La mia vita” (2024): an arrhythmic sequence of 28 wooden elements, evoking the flow of time and memory.
• “Mare Nostrum” (2024) e “La barca di Caronte” (2023): works that weave mythological references and ecological themes into a dialogue between Mediterranean classicism and contemporaneity.
• “Venezia” (2024): a massive installation of 62 pine logs, a tribute to the lagoon city and its extraordinary craftsmanship engineering.
• “Non roviniamo la Terra” (2024): an invitation to reflect on the fragility of the planet, with materials that evoke the transformations of nature.

These works, conceived as acts of a personal “Theater of Exhibitions,” propose open systems of interaction, stimulating a direct and unpredictable dialogue with the audience.

Art as a bridge between nature and culture

Mario Ceroli continues to explore the relationship between humanity and nature, privileging wood as a symbolic material and fusing different artistic languages. From Land Art to Body Art, his research focuses on respect for biodiversity, overcoming anthropocentrism and valuing the intelligence that permeates the natural world.

Publication and insights

Accompanying the exhibition, a publication published by Metilene Edizioni offers a complete overview of the works on display, accompanied by essays by Angelo Crespi, Cristina Mazzantini, Cesare Biasini Selvaggi and Mario Ceroli himself. The catalog is sponsored by Banca Ifis.

A shared project

The exhibition opens an important collaboration between Grande Brera and the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. After Milan, the exhibition will land in the capital in April 2025, enriched by a selection of works tracing the artist’s career. This project has been realized thanks to the support of Ifis art, an initiative of Banca Ifis for the enhancement of contemporary art.