curated by Demetrio Paparoni

Milano, Dep Art Gallery

Opening Monday, October 23, 6 p.m.

Oct. 24, 2023-Jan. 27, 2024

Dep Art Gallery Milano is pleased to announce the exhibition Giuseppe Uncini. In collaboration with the Uncini Archive and curated by Demetrio Paparoni, the exhibition offers a comprehensive reading of Uncini’s artistic production, starting from the 1960s to his last period.

The selected works cover a period from 1961 to 2007. These make it possible to explore all of the artist’s major cycles, including ‘Cementoarmato’, ‘Mattoni’, ‘Ombre’, ‘Dimore’, ‘Spazi di ferro’, and ‘Architetture.”

In 1960, Uncini highlighted the innovative character of his work by clarifying its motivations:

‘I work with concrete and iron,” he says. “I use these materials with propriety, in the sense that I don’t disguise them, that I don’t use them to draw particular effects, on the contrary I use them as they are used on construction sites, to build houses, bridges and roads, to build all the things that man needs. At the root of this is the need to build, to organise, there is that creative principle that lies at the origin of all human progress, this is what I want to express in my objects.’

In the work of Giuseppe Uncini (1929 –2008), it is evident how his research evolved from his personal life and experience; during World War II, Uncini’s family moved from Fabriano to Cerreto d’Esi. Abandoning his studies, Uncini was strongly influenced by the manual and technical skills observed in local crafts. After the war, he moved to Rome and began his artistic apprenticeship. In the 1950s his work was influenced by the work of the Abstract materialists, but he immediately developed a tendency to give interest to materials such as earth, coal and cement. Those were the years of the post-war revival, marked by artistic initiatives especially in cities such as Rome, Milan and Turin. In this climate, as early as the late 1950s, Uncini focused on works with an innovative character that, as evidenced by the critics and the many awards he received, played an important role in the history of Italian art. This new exhibition at the Dep Art Gallery, with its 28 works, proposes a path from his beginnings to the final phase of his life, offering those unfamiliar with his work the opportunity to understand why Uncini is one of the most recognised and appreciated artists in the post-World War II generation.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, in Italian and English, including updated bio-bibliographical apparatus and the text by curator Demetrio Paparoni.