Naples Shines in Paris with Contemporary Art: 'The Gold of Naples'

Once again Naples takes the spotlight in Paris, but this time, following the classical masterpieces of Capodimonte displayed at the Louvre, the focus is on contemporary art with an exhibition of paintings by Danilo Ambrosino titled 'The Gold of Naples'. Hosted in the Mazarine Variations gallery, which was opened in 2000 by the Neapolitan Marussa Gravagnuolo along with Christine Lahoud, the show curated by Alessandra Pacelli kicks off on March 14th (running until May 18th) and presents about twenty works of medium and large size that the artist has created on the theme of Mediterranean flora using enamels on gold leaf backgrounds. Palms, cacti, bamboos, agaves, philodendrons: the lushness of the Mediterranean is crystallized here in paintings that gold transforms into icons. Ambrosino's work is the narrative of an enchanted garden, a call to the Great Italian Beauty where the Neapolitan pictorial tradition of Still Life meets Pop creativity. And the figurative precision that recalls the herbals of the past now becomes the spokesperson for environmental urgencies, of a joyful ecologism that recognizes the plant as the prima donna.