In the realm of fairy tales by the Milanese artist Anna Caruso, Alice, the White Rabbit, Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood have lost their own dimension.

E-lite Studio Gallery in Lecce, in collaboration with Famiglia Margini (Milan) and in partnership with Vestas Hotels & Resort, presents the solo exhibition of the Milanese artist Anna Caruso "C’ero, una volta” (I was there, once), curated by Giovanna Lacedra, Claudia Pellegrino & Grace Zanotto. The exhibition is open until October, 8th at the gallery spaces, which host the pictorial section, and at the Jane Ross hall of the Risorgimento Resort, where it is on display the graphics section.

“C’ero, una volta” includes a series of works born from the experience of the artist in Cosplay, a game of Japanese origin which is to wear costumes of characters from the manga or anime culture and which has seen Anna dressed as Alice. As she states, "the individual experiences a new concrete dimension of contemporaneity, wearing the shoes of a character which is unreal, studying movements, features and languages typically narrative, which assume a new dialectical aspect."

On display Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, the characters of Alice in Wonderland (starring of a compelling performance which took place on the opening day) that, extrapolated from their fabolous dimension, are catapulted by the skilful hand of the artist into an alienating modernity made of familiar urban perspective views and surreal environments, in which slowly takes shape a compelling narrative which carries the viewer into a magical and dreamlike universe, at once real and raw.

As Giovanna Lacedra has written in her critical text in the catalogue: "in the pages of Carroll, Perrault and the Brothers Grimm the good win, save themselves and end up living happily ever after. It is not exactly what happens in Anna's works, in which the plot of the tale is interrupted and its heroine is torn from the narrative context to be literally teleported into a dimension not belonging to her. Little Red Riding Hood, wandering lost with her basket among the advertising billboards in a big city, is nothing but a ready-made, a creature split off from her original context and placed where no one would expect to meet her".

The decontextualization of the fairy tale as we know it and the lack of its positive lessons are the tools with which Anna enables an operation of contemporary communication. The fairy tale becomes a modern icon, an investigation on Man and his "childhood", to unveil a tale in which, in the end, the viewer discovers to be the main character.

A tale in which Innocence, the one we tend to lose or forget in our becoming responsible adults, comes back to reveal unexpected evolutions of the real and suggests a new perspective of analyzing our life. Anna and her crowd of fairytale characters starts a dialogue with the public which becomes complaint and criticism not only of a personal feeling, but also of a global system, giving voice, albeit subtly and never pungently, to the man who lives nowadays.


Schedule: from 9/21 to 10/08 – free entrance
Time and opening days: mon-sat 9 am – 8 pm
Venues:
Pictorial section: E-lite Studio Gallery Corte San Blasio 1C, Lecce
Graphic section: Risorgimento Resort Via Augusto Imperatore 19, Lecce

E-lite Studio Gallery
Web: www.elitestudiogallery.com
Mail: [email protected]
Tel: + 39 0832 308126

Risorgimento Resort
Web: www.risorgimentoresort.it
Mail: [email protected]
Tel: + 39 0832 246311

Anna Caruso: www.annacaruso.it

Famiglia Margini
Web: www.famigliamargini.com
Mail: [email protected]
Tel: 02 55199449

Press Office: FLPress
Flavia Lanza [email protected] [email protected]
Ph: 3409245760