Premio Ermanno Casoli

The 16th edition of the Ermanno Casoli Prize features an important innovation: all activities were carried out at the Angelini pharmaceutical plant in Ancona. For the occasion, Andrea Mastrovito conceived a journey between art and education entitled Vitriol, this term – acronym of the saying well-known to alchemists: Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem, that is, “visit the interior of the earth; by rectification thou shalt find the hidden stone” – inspired the artist in the creation of seven murals scattered throughout corporate spaces.

“The inspiration behind Andrea Mastrovito’s project for the Award – explained curator Marcello Smarrelli – was the alchemic process and its deep connection with the figure of the artist and his final product: the opus. A bond with a long tradition in art history. Science – medicine and pharmaceuticals in particular – has been an important source of inspiration for artists throughout time, just think of Leonardo Da Vinci or, more recently, Damien Hirst”.

Likewise, the work conceived by Mastrovito was born from the observation of the chemical processes – complex and full of passages – used to obtain active substances in powder. The same powder became an additional element of the “alchemic” process guiding all phases of the project. Mastrovito created – together with a work group of 100 employees – a series of murals carved into the walls of seven spaces selected at the Angelini plant, extracting a number of emblematic figures that came to life through the colours already existing in the various layers of the wall to reveal the stratification and passing of time: true spatial archaeology. The dust carved out of the walls was collected and exhibited as an essential part of the final work, as if it were the “soul” of the figures drawn, their “active substance” – with a strong link to Angelini’s production activities.

The over 100 Angelini employees involved in this training program that had all the characteristics of an initiatory journey were thus able to actively participate, under the guidance of the artist, in the creation of Vitriol, a work that will remain at the company permanently.

“Me, four assistants, seven walls and a hundred employees. I have often cooperated with dozens, hundreds and even thousands of people to create paintings, installations and performances. And each time I learn something new: at Angelini I saw the team concept take shape before my eyes – said Andrea Mastrovito. This is key since, after all, us artists are deeply individualistic. All I needed to do was mark out the playing field, the different areas, out of bounds and inbounds so to speak, and then throw the ball in the midfield: there Angelini employees were free to play, giving back a result nothing short of amazing considering the extreme difficulty of some walls”.

Andrea Mastrovito, Vitriol, 2016
XVI edition of Ermanno Casoli Award
curated by Marcello Smarrelli
Angelini pharmaceutical plant, Ancona