Setting up of the exhibition I am a dragon. The true story of Alessandro Mendini
Tribute by Beatrice Brandini
I had already talked about Alessandro Mendini in a 2014 post, (https://www.beatricebrandini.it/mendini-the-architect-designer-who-loves-harlequin-and-proust/?lang=en) extolling his extraordinary creativity and my crazy love for his work. The exhibition at the Triennale (until October 13, 2024) celebrates him, and I can’t help but talk about it again.
Setting up of the exhibition I am a dragon. The true story of Alessandro Mendini
The exhibition curated by Fulvio Irace, with an installation by Pierre Charpin, highlights the many facets of this great Italian artist. In fact, more than four hundred works are exhibited at the Triennale.
Setting up of the exhibition I am a dragon. The true story of Alessandro Mendini
Designer, architect, artist, publisher, Alessandro Mendini was all this and much more.
In his 2006 self-portrait, I am a dragon, the title and image of the exhibition, he depicts himself as a dragon. A playful and simple design that highlights all the artistic and human complexity of Alessandro Mendini. In fact, looking at the explanatory captions of each part of the dragon’s body, we read the hands of a craftsman, the body of an architect, the legs of a graphic designer, the feet of an artist, the tail of a poet, the chest of a manager and even a round belly of a priest.
Setting up of the exhibition I am a dragon. The true story of Alessandro Mendini
And what almost seems like an oxymoron, instead perfectly expresses the complexity of the artist Mendini. He himself defined himself as a pointillist “Being a pointillist means being interested in the small, where many small things put together form an image. And if everything small is of quality, then even the large will be of quality.” Alessandro Mendini.
Vases by Alessandro Mendini
The exhibition is divided into six sections, recounting the different profiles of Mendini, culminating with an installation paying homage to him, created by Philippe Starck. The first exhibition section, Identikit, highlights the importance of drawing for Mendini. The letter that the artist himself wrote to his family to inform them of the transition from the faculty of engineering to that of architecture (less “firm”, but certainly more creative) is eloquent. “If I manage to be worth something in my profession it will certainly not be from the technical side of the subject, but from the artistic side”.
Setting up of the exhibition I am a dragon. The true story of Alessandro Mendini
For Alessandro Mendini, drawing was necessary, almost a form of meditation or daily prayer. Different drawings, especially sketches of ideas, collected in the exhibition in thousands of sheets depicting strange creatures, monsters, ironic, surreal portraits and self-portraits, utopian buildings.
A drawing from the exhibition I am a dragon. The true story of Alessandro Mendini
The objects designed by Mendini as a designer are wonderful. He said “I tend to romanticise objects”, underlining his propensity to cover them with a thousand colored textures. His collaboration with Alessi is famous and long-lasting; in the “Carousel of Wonders”, the entire range designed by Mendini for the Italian company is displayed, where the Anna G Corkscrew is the most iconic emblem.
Drawing by Alessandro Mendini: I am a dragon. The true story of Alessandro Mendini
The Architectures are presented in a rich collection of miniature models, architectural works created by the Atelier Mendini. Where among all the project for the Groningen Museum in Holland stands out, perfectly Mendinian.
Proust armchair by Alessandro Mendini
Finally, in the Rooms there is the primordial memory of childhood, as the curator Fulvio Irace mentions, the last section of the exhibition. Between the Seventies and Nineties, Mendini designed a series of windowless “rooms”, containers of conceptual ideas, in which memories, dreams, proposals and even nightmares come together. The apotheosis of Mendini’s pointillism, in the rooms we find every kind of object designed by the artist, from the wallpaper, to the sofa, up to the wonderful example of the Proust armchair, my incredible love which sooner or later I will buy!
Hair by Beatrice Brandini
Thank you Alessandro, for making our daily life more colorful and joyful.
Good life to everyone!
Beatrice