FEATURES: Art in Milano - The Art Lounge
Words & Photography - Marco Marezza
We are in Milan, in the heart of art: BRERA.
Piero Manzoni’s ex studio, father of conceptualism, inherited from Graziano Zecchillo, son of the famous Baritone Giuseppe Zecchillo, opens its doors. In the Milanese district formed by narrow streets, the same ones that, in the midst of the bohemian atmosphere of the 60s, painters, sculptors, musicians and artists of all kinds walked through, there is still a noble air, like the ancient palaces, residences of the most illustrious Milanese lineages.
The palace that now houses this magical cultural meeting place belonged to the Panza family.
The baritone Giuseppe Zecchillo, opera singer at the Teatro alla Scala - collector and admirer of Piero Manzoni - therefore decided to take over the studio, to use it as a rehearsal room to practice his piano, and to organize meetings and parties also in the cellar below.
Studio Zecchillo was inaugurated between September and October 1963, inviting painters from Brera to organize an exhibition in memory of their mutual friend Piero Manzoni. They left as a sign of affection a series of paintings on the windows that we can still admire today, finding them where they were created. Present were Enrico Baj, Agostino Bonalumi, Ennio Morlotti, Agostino Ferrari, Ettore Sordini, Arturo Vermi, Fernando De Filippi, Mario Bardi, Costantino Guenzi, Duilio Francimei, Antonio Recalcati, Vanni Giuffrè, Lino Tiné, Pasquale D'Orlando, Angelo Verga, Gustavo Boldrini and Renato Fiorillo.
Of particular importance is the gift of Lucio Fontana, highly esteemed by Piero Manzoni, who paid homage to the memory of the artist with one of his "Cuts". In such a small space, full of objects and memories, we gradually realize that we are surrounded by inestimable value of art that is almost impossible to imagine as a whole.
As in the past, the studio that housed the social life of the Milanese cultural environment, still today we find ourselves cordially in very few selected to admire the latest guest artist of a long series, Adriano Segarelli. After the historical introduction of the studio and the presentation by the curator critic Marco Eugenio Di Giandomenico, Adriano talks to us about his journey towards the art that accompanies his life and tells us about his visions translated on mixed technique canvases.
The story is interrupted by interesting remarks, by questions and statements from curious guests who are also a little enchanted by the magic of the moment. The comments of the gallery owner Gaia Bianchi alternate with those of Giovanni Zullo, creator of the first website of renowned restaurants, thus mixing the pleasure of conviviality between the art of food and Contemporary Art.
The very kind Graziano Zecchillo, keeping faith with a promise made to his father, still keeps the doors of his studio open to artistic events reserved for students and professors of the Brera Academy of Fine Arts.
A wall called "Parete Manzoni" gave its name to a book published with the works of the artist- professors Stefano Pizzi, Giorgio Cattani, Gaetano Grillo, Cosmo Laera and their best students, who exhibited their installations in the studio conceptual research by Piero Manzoni.
This taste of love for art is truly unique, in a moment like this where everything is transforming into the communication of the ether, towards the metaverse we feel so privileged that we can smell, savor and relive the same contemplative emotions that Art has breathed in a pivotal moment in modern cultural evolution.