Morandini in black and white: the exhibition that visitors love

On entering the MAGA museum, in Gallarate, on Saturday 11 March, you would have realised immediately that something important was about to happen, due to the fact that the entrance was full of people. And on walking up to the “Sala degli Arazzi”, the situation would not have improved, as many visitors, not only from Gallarate, but also from neighbouring towns, had already taken their places to witness the inauguration of the exhibition “Il bianco Il nero” (Black White) by and with Marcello Morandini. The exhibition was also attended by the Chairwoman of the MAGA Foundation, Sandrina Bandera, the museum’s director, Emma Zanella, the Mayor of Gallarate, Andrea Cassani, and the Councillor for Culture, Isabella Peroni.

Marcello Morandini was born in Mantua, but later moved to Varese. He attended the art school in Brera, Milan, a city where he worked as an assistant designer for one company and as graphic artist in a professional studio. His artistic research was very broad, it began in 1962, and continued in 1964 with his first, three-dimensional works. It did not take long for his work to be acknowledged, and the artist collaborated on numerous occasions in the architectural field, and in the design and art sectors, with exhibitions and projects both in Italy and abroad. For the town of Varese, he created a piazza for the INA shopping centre, he designed the ground floor of Piazza Monte Grappa, and he recently had the opportunity to create a Foundation.

Morandini’s style is unusual; initially, he would produce his models using wood, and subsequently in Plexiglas. All of his works begin by getting ideas from architecture, so much so that the artist often uses black and white, in order to focus mainly on the shape.

Thanks to all of these qualities, the MAGA museum has been able to reinvent itself, devoting new spaces to permanent works, and to organise an exhibition, with Marcello Morandini (and with students alternating their school studies with helping at the museum), to be entirely visited and experienced. The exhibition will remain open until 16 June 2017.

This article is part of the project of the Social Team of Officina Contemporanea, Gallarate’s network of culture.