What happens when one of Italy’s most acclaimed contemporary artists returns to the city that shaped his artistic vision? At the MAR, Supremalia brings together memory, material and transformation in a new exhibition by Nicola Samorì, creating a dialogue with the Gypsotheca and the artistic heritage of Ravenna.
The MAR – Museo d’Arte della città di Ravenna presents a major solo exhibition dedicated to Nicola Samorì, one of the most original voices in contemporary Italian art.
Curated by Denis Isaia, Supremalia is a journey back to the roots of Samorì’s artistic language. Ravenna played a fundamental role in the formation of his vision: here, from a young age, he encountered the beauty of Byzantine mosaics, the marble surfaces of the city’s basilicas and the plaster casts preserved in the Gypsotheca of the Academy of Fine Arts. These experiences continue to resonate in his work and inspire a new exhibition project created especially for the MAR.
The exhibition brings Samorì’s works into conversation with the Canova plaster casts of the Gypsotheca and with Ravenna’s rich artistic heritage. Through painting, sculpture and the exploration of materials, the artist reflects on memory, the transformation of images and the enduring connection between tradition and contemporary art.
The exhibition unfolds through the first-floor galleries of the museum, where historical works and new creations meet in a continuous dialogue. The encounter with Canova and with the great tradition of figurative art reveals themes that are central to Samorì’s research: the strength of matter, the vulnerability of the human body and the passage of time as a process of constant change.
The exhibition also celebrates the reopening of the Gypsotheca of the Academy of Fine Arts of Ravenna, inviting visitors to rediscover one of the city’s most important collections through the perspective of one of today’s most internationally recognised contemporary artists.
A project that was born from Ravenna and returns to Ravenna, connecting the history of the city with one of the most distinctive and internationally appreciated artistic journeys of our time.