Fabio Mauri : EBREA

Fabio Mauri (Roma,1926 – 2009) is one of the important leading Italian artists who actively created and exhibited artwork throughout Europe in his lifetime, such as having been chosen five times for the Venice Biennale (1954, 74, 78, 93, 2003). The re-evaluation of the Mauri’s artwork has been gathering momentum triggered by the exhibition in Documenta 13 in 2012, curated by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, who had an intimate friendship with the artist, and in the Venice Biennale 2015 (director: Okwui Enwezor), where his artwork was exhibited on a large-scale in several areas starting with the entrance floor. In this exhibition, the artwork of Mauri is introduced for the first time in Japan by assembling pieces associated with the artwork “Ebrea,” meaning “Jew” or “Jewess” in Italian, from his series focusing on the persecution of the Jews, one of the most important themes throughout his career. This exhibition is supervised and co-hosted by the AVIVSON gallery (London) which has held Mauri’s exhibition five times. In addition to six original artworks created by the artist, not reproductions, two pieces of maquette for exhibition plan by Claudio Cantelmi who was a longtime assistant of the artist will be exhibited. At an exhibition in Tokyo, “Europa bombardata (Bologna)” created in 1978 and video commentary for the whole artwork in this exhibition will be exhibited. The question posed through this exhibition is not confined to war in the past or historical facts in foreign countries: discrimination, being an assailant by being indifference to others, difficulty in cooperating with others, lack of imagination towards the others – Mauri’s artwork even makes the residents of contemporary Japan ponder over the idea of respect for all the organisms in this ecosystem. This is this year’s last exhibition in our gallery. Please do not miss this opportunity which could be first and last chance in Japan to see the artwork of Fabio Mauri.