On Saturday, June 21, as the spring equinox passed over Italy, Italian artist David Parenti launched his solo show, MARILYN 100: Primavera Eterna (or ‘eternal spring’) at the Cerio Museum on the island of Capri.
“‘Eternal Spring’ alludes to the immutable nature of the Marilyn Monroe myth: a beauty and an image that knows no decline and will continue to regenerate in the gaze of each new generation.
The exhibition, which will also welcome the public on the occasion of the centenary of the actress’s birth, on June 1st, offers an emotional journey that invites us to go beyond the surface of the diva to get closer to the more intimate and human dimension of Norma Jeane.
David Parenti, known for his pictorial cycles dedicated to the great protagonists of the seventh art – from Pier Paolo Pasolini to Federico Fellini, from Marcello Mastroianni to Vittorio De Sica, up to Hollywood icons James Dean and Marlon Brando, brings to Capri around 20 works that combine an almost Flemish meticulousness with a baroque vision on hand-worked mulberry paper with inserts of flowers and leaves.
Born in Genoa, but living in Reggio Emilia by adoption, with a Neapolitan father, the artist has developed a technique focused primarily on the use of pencil and graphite, often complemented by mixed media on paper, cardboard, and wood. Over the years, he has expanded his work to include medium and large-format silkscreen prints on laminated canvas, on which he adds pictorial-graphic touches.
‘I don’t just paint Marilyn,’ says Parenti. ‘I try to capture the mystery that made her gaze a universal place of the soul. Bringing this exhibition to Capri means placing an icon of light in a place that has made light its symbol.’ The face thus becomes a field of investigation: isolated details, intense chiaroscuro, and layered strokes generate a luminous and dramatic plasticity.
In the rooms of the Cerio Museum, the figure of Marilyn Monroe reemerges as a living presence: Parenti does not simply portray a face, but stages the soul of a woman who was, and will remain, a magnificent obsession.”
And finally, Parenti has used classic images of Marilyn by photographers Andre De Dienes, Cecil Beaton and Sam Shaw as inspiration for his portraits.
The Marilyn Report 