Iberia Medici exhibited at Galleria Gagliardi in 2001.
In the Sicilian artistic panorama Iberia Medici and her work have been like a karst subterranean river which has touched diverse territories, emerging if not to test, at least to feel the spirit of time; times as the result of contamination, whose identity is understood and interpreted in the light of their transformation. Her work is the manifestation of a pluralistic spirit. Many indications reveal a subjectivity that on the one hand is in search of its own roots but on the other takes note of the formation of a pluralistic identity which has already taken place. This subjectivity can be found in Iberia Medici, her expressive techniques as well as in the object of inquiry: in the rediscovery of a place and time in harmony that are able to absorb a reality claimed to be unsystematic, nomadic, contaminated. We seem to be confronted with the statement of an anthropological impossibility which on the one hand centers on the theme of "disorientation", on the other on the essence of those "other" cultures that have in the last three decades contributed to the formation of the "mosaic spirit" in the Western culture; a broken mirror which transforms identity in an intercultural dialog. Openness of mind is therefore only possible if we optimistically abandon our own identity in its totality - a kind of identity which, in any case, is hardly desirable, considering the disastrous results it lead to at the beginning of the 20th century - in order to open ourselves to the wealth of contributions which the flow of experience and the growth of competence give rise to in the course of one's perambulations which lack solid foundations. A reminder that an opportunity is not always really an opportunity might here seem to smack of affectation. The challenge is to be curious and attentive to new ways of orientation in a cultural world that is no longer monolithically defined but rather is "pieced together"; a world that embraces, one that is populated with contributions creatively designed to enable a new level of dialog and research about new orders of sensibility, of experience, of culture and therefore of memory and history. This is a paradigm established by the most recent work of French sociology lead by E. Morin: the journey that is neither simple nor painless, that makes order, disorder and organization fluctuate. But I remember also M. Serres when he, in writing "The Cloak of the Harlequin" speaks of the "included third", in contrast to the "excluded third" of occidental logic. Or think once again of Morin when he traces the new image of the European existence, even outside of Europe, and then finally proposes a reform of the way of thinking and of acting in a communicative fashion. So get started and enjoy the challenge! Vincenzo Tomasello
Art promoter, art journalist, she has collaborated with the most authoritative Italian art magazines. In 1962, after completing her art studies, she began exhibiting as a painter, holding solo and group exhibitions and symposia in various European cities. She then developed a passion for textiles, which led her to create works of the highest quality. As a teacher of textile art, carpets and tapestries, she has taught at state art institutes. She has directed the Fiumara d'Arte Museum (ME) and the Village Museum Laboratory of Contemporary Art in Milo (CT). His works can be found in museums, art galleries, public and private collections in Europe and the United States (Pennsylvania, California, Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland and others). Since 1967, his work has increasingly become a search for expressive materials, which combine to create emotions and content in a renewed language. For some years now, he has founded and directed Studio Aracne, a textile art workshop specialising in different branches of weaving, where tapestries and carpets of original, unique and contemporary design are created.
"Iberia Medici's tapestries arouse the attentive observer's amazement and admiration for their compositional variety, chromatic richness, the skilful play of the weave, the preciousness of the choice and use of materials, the refinement of the finish. Rather, the forms as an initial movement are a stimulus that leads to active reflection, to poetic work aimed at recovering the experience of one's own life through the manipulation of the material supported by an expert and ancient technique but also continuously renewed by experimental interventions also produced by expressive needs. As if they possessed a soul, they have the property of illuminating environments with their own light and can be admired almost with devotion".
Iggy Castaldo
LA VIA DEI CANTI
San Gimignano
From 10/10/2001 to 04/11/2001
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