50th Guttuso Museum: ‘Tales of the artist: students at the museum’.

2nd meeting aimed at students of the Guttuso Art School in Bagheria met

Arrigo Musti.

Thursday 11 April 2024

The second round of ‘Artist’s Tales’ also featured two classes from the Renato Guttuso Art School. The students met the painter Arrigo Musti. The initiative is part of the calendar of initiatives to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Guttuso Museum.
‘Tales of the artist: students at the museum’ is the educational project that sees Bagheri high schools meet one of five artists: Filly Cusenza, Francesco Domilici, Michele Ducato, Arrigo Musti and Paolo Pintacuda who have made themselves available to the museum and the municipality to introduce the young students to the works in the museum, how they carry out their artistic profession and how they try to enthuse the students about art and the works in the Guttuso museum. The artists and artisans involved range in the fields of painting, photography, cart drawing, scriptwriting and fibre.
After the greetings of the municipal administration with the words of councillor Provvidenza Tripoli and the introduction with the history of the 50th anniversary and the introduction of the artist by the journalist Marina Mancini, it was the turn of Arrigo Musti, Italian painter and director, class of ’69. Self-taught, he has developed an original painting style called ‘Impop’ which, through the representation of the human face and body, aims to highlight dramatic aspects of contemporary life such as gender violence and social inequalities, giving voice to the excluded and marginalised.
Present at the 54th International Art Exhibition in Venice in 2011, his paintings were exhibited in solo shows at Palazzo Montecitorio in Rome in 2012; at the Villa Torlonia Museums, in Rome, in 2014; at the Guttuso Museum, in Bagheria, in 2019 and group shows held in France, Holland, England and the United States. In 2019, he made his debut as a director with the short film ‘A fantastic mistake’.
Since 2023, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of his works has been on display at the United Nations, Glass Palace in NYC. Secretary-General Guterres issued a statement about this artistic contribution. Although he has a background in the humanities, in 2023 he qualified to teach painting at the State Academy of Bari.
His works on display at the Guttuso Museum are: Dirty Rain No. 1 on the piano Nobile, Venus in blue and white, Venus in yellow and red and Venus in white and blue on the second floor of Villa Cattolica, home of the Guttuso Museum.
The students admired Musti’s works and then listened to the artist explain the process that led him to the creation of Dirty rain no.1 and Venus: subjects, studies, techniques and materials used.
<<I thank the students, teachers and headmasters who participate in the ‘Artist’s Tales’>> – says Councillor Provvidenza Tripoli – <<Meeting the masters of art is an important opportunity for the children: it means learning directly from the artists about their concept of art and understanding more closely their sensitivity towards what represents a unique form of expressing their emotions>>.
Musti:<<Art is about small details, regional culture must never be abandoned, the artist must make his language understandable to everyone, in this case you are sure you are making art>>.
The students enjoyed seeing the works first and hearing afterwards how they were made.
Professor Vincenzo Minutella also took part in the lesson, accompanying the students who held a small debate on the art world of the period, mentioning Jeff Koons, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Duchamp.
Musti then commented on the video presentation of his work exhibited at the United Nations, emphasising the significance of the law of conservation of life, an energy that the United Nations should use to eliminate genocides.
<<It was a stimulating meeting,” emphasised Arrigo Musti, “it is nice to talk about art, linking it to memories, symbols, images and archetypes that are typical of our territory and that derive from giant artists such as Renato Guttuso, creators of that realism that today needs to be declined in a contemporary key and that we hope to find in budding artists>>.

Musti will also hold the third appointment of the ‘Artist’s Tales’: Monday 15 at 11 a.m., again directly at the museum, and will meet the students of the D’Alessandro scientific high school in Bagheria.