Aldo Pecoraino – Lights, Colors, and Shadows in Aldo Pecoraino’s Painting, a Sicilian Artist.
The Italian territories in the United Arab Emirates: Palermo and Sicily.
Art exhibition at the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi. June 7-10, 2024.
Exhibition Opening: June 7th, 7pm
RSVP: https://aldopecoraino.splashthat.com
Sicily meets Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. The vibrant colors of sunsets, the intense and enveloping light, and the rich tones of nature unite these two distant lands with strong cultural ties. The profound influence of Arab culture in Sicily, still present from its dialect to the various artistic works left behind over 250 years of domination on the largest Italian island in the Mediterranean, is well known. In this context, the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi presents Aldo Pecoraino, an Italian painter who expresses the intense chiaroscuro and vivid colors of Sicily where he was born and raised. “Presenting Pecoraino’s painting in the United Arab Emirates, inspired by subjects and visions of his Sicily, also means rediscovering together the common roots of the Mediterranean. A millennia-old culture that has embraced distant peoples for centuries but with a common feeling,” commented the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi, Susanna Iacona Salafia.
The exhibition features 12 paintings by artist Aldo Pecoraino, born in Palermo in 1927, he passed away in 2017. The selection includes classical subjects such as trees, distinctive elements of the artist’s painting, as well as beached boats, along with niche pieces created on various supports such as canvas, wood, and cardboard. Pecoraino’s paintings show a suggestive interaction between light and shadow, a constant theme in his art. His unmistakable technique is characterized by sharp strokes of color, spots, and vertical streaks. This approach gives his paintings a transparency of emotions, offering viewers an unfiltered look into his artistic vision. In Pecoraino’s works, there is a coherent contrast between light and shadow, skillfully exploiting the elements of the sun and the moon to create dynamic colors and shades. The exhibition is not only a retrospective of Pecoraino’s artistic journey but also offers art enthusiasts a rare opportunity to appreciate the diversity of his subjects and the unique techniques he applied during his career. The works on display come from private collections in the United Arab Emirates and from the Pecoraino family itself. A heartfelt thank you to them from the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi.
“Pecoraino’s works convey the sense of beauty and the inexplicable, prompting reflection on the meaning of life while appreciating not only the colors but also the values,” commented Giovanni Palmisano, a collector of the artist’s works and one of the promoters of the exhibition organized in Abu Dhabi, where he has resided for ten years.
Italy’s territories and regions, with their different peculiarities, are therefore also the protagonists of this cultural event of our Institute dedicated to Aldo Pecoraino’s personal vision of Sicily. The twenty regions that make up this extraordinary country, a crossroads of different peoples, with its medieval villages, municipalities, and metropolitan cities, are invaluable treasures of art and culture. Pecoraino’s Sicily is one of the many aspects of a great nation composed not only of the world-renowned art cities but also of its local territories.
During the exhibition’s vernissage on June 7th, participants will receive a book kindly provided by “Sellerio” of Palermo, a historic Sicilian publishing house to which the great writer Andrea Camilleri entrusted his last posthumous novel and which has published most of his numerous novels and stories. We will also learn more about the artist Pecoraino and his painting techniques through an excerpt from his interview that will be broadcast during the evening. Leoluca Orlando, former Mayor of Palermo, the capital of Sicily, friend of Pecoraino, will also deliver his personal greetings to those present in a video message.
At the inauguration of the exhibition on June 7th at 7 pm, in addition to the Director of our Institute, Susanna Iacona Salafia, there will also be the Ambassador of Italy to the U.A.E., Lorenzo Fanara, and the artist’s son and grandson, Mario and Aldo Pecoraino Jr., curators of the exhibition, and Giovanni Palmisano, collector of the artist’s works and promoter of the exhibition.
We look forward to seeing you all!
*A buffet will be served.
*Video recordings and photographs will be taken during the evening.
