Living in the present without certainty about what tomorrow will bring. Living and feeling that social disillusionment offers expectations that reality itself doesn’t quite match. This is the theme of the ongoing exhibition in Bari, Storiellette, which opened on December 28, 2025, and runs until February 22, 2026, at VOGA Art Project, a project dedicated to the research, production, and promotion of contemporary art in Puglia. In their two-person exhibition, the last one included in last year’s program, Gianni D’Urso and Giuseppe De Mattia propose visions and aesthetics specific to this century, using different languages and media that convey an ironic and disenchanted perspective. Their goal is to present short stories, like the Sturiellet by Andrea Pazienza, a celebrated and innovative Italian cartoonist, illustrator, and painter of the 1970s, and to frame them in fragile everyday experiences where we often wonder how to get back on track and recover the process of existence. If in the past the two reflected on the difficulties of “being an artist,” today that dialogue transforms into a compelling exchange on the how and why of being artists in the contemporary world.
On the left: Gianni D’Urso, “Banana Skate”, 92 x 22 x 8 cm, 2025, OSB wood, impregnating agent, spray paint, wheels, ph. Christian Mantuano, courtesy VOGA Art Project; on the right: Gianni D’Urso, “Kraft”, 198 x 74 cm, 2025, OSB panel, polaroid, spray paint, LED lighting, ph. Christian Manturano, courtesy VOGA Art Project
Precisely that same What is to be done? by Gianni D’Urso, similar in meaning to Mario Merz’s turquoise neon sign, is present in Banana Skate, an installation composed of raw wood, spray paint, and wheels. It undoubtedly echoes a youthful world that remains resilient, still oriented toward new truths, leading us to understand the meaning of a current situation where clarity of perspective is still difficult to find, at least not for artists actively involved in contemporary art. Courage shapes the installation. As with Stella, Stellina, a work in which the artist explores the economic devaluation and social precariousness of our time. A drooping star, needing to stop and lean against the wall, almost tired, reveals a secret: at its centre is a one-euro coin. The perceived star is that of the euro, and therefore of the European Union. On the back of the coin, the gesture of “what do you want?” A vague and disheartening gesture, perhaps performed without ever receiving a probable response, which fuels uncertainty and instability. But in D’Urso’s works, particularly the series “I ragazzi stanno bene”, the themes suggest a sense of resilience. A choice or an exclusive condition, that of his characters, living a marginal life that risks being forgotten by all.
Gianni D’Urso, “Stella, Stellina”, 100 x 100 cm approx., 2025, OSB wood, impregnating agent, engraving on coin, ph. Christian Mantuano, courtesy VOGA Art Project
In dialogue with Gianni D’Urso’s tenacity, the exhibition space features acrylics from Giuseppe De Mattia’s latest pictorial cycle, Cronache Vere. The paintings, the result of the artist’s recurring interventions on the backs of old frames, hark back to those traditional country paintings that depict scenes of everyday life catapulted into an almost fairy-tale, almost cartoonish imagery. With a seemingly simple and spontaneous naïve style, one notices how the bright colours and sharply delineated figures give shape to deeply disturbing characters and scenarios. Symbols of revolution are reduced to shovels and beach rakes in Cronache vere, Revival of “hammer and sickle” on a Salento beach; even rats, snakes, and birds traverse a world marked by accidents and explosions in Cronache vere, Gli anni del crack e degli atti vandalici alle vetture del popolo (The Years of Crack and Vandalism to People’s Cars), a title that already encapsulates the meaning and interpretation needed to understand the work. Even when transported into an almost playful dimension, the references bring to light facts and stories from recent Italian news and their inherent contradictions. A necessary sarcasm that nonetheless leads to reflection.
Giuseppe De Mattia, “Cronache vere, Gli anni del crack e degli atti vandalici alle vetture del popolo”, 100 x 80 cm, 2025, acrylic on wood, ph. Christian Mantuano, courtesy VOGA Art Project
This pictorial universe is contrasted by the formal presence of the NIKE lightbox installation, from the Bracchette e Semenzelle series, which, by analogy of meaning, shares a reference to the famous brand with the nearby drawing Just do do do by D’Urso. The box, coloured by an iridescent orange, reminiscent of a shoebox, reveals itself instead as a device designed to guard precious secrets, poised between theft and originality, almost like a spyhole. Are these the secrets jealously hidden by capitalism? Is it an ironic response to a clearly profit-driven globalization that, however, generates inequality, job insecurity, and a loss of identity?
Giuseppe De Mattia, “Nike”, 102 x 66 x 6 cm, 2023, mixed media, electric lighting system, ph. Christian Mantuano, courtesy VOGA Art Project
In their practices, artists Gianni D’Urso and Giuseppe De Mattia highlight the social controversies that generate obstacles, the fragilities and contradictions of the human condition within the historical, social, and artistic context. Paradox also invades and regulates the artistic system in which they are involved, highlighting gaps and irregular mechanisms in art today. The exhibition also aims to shed light on the exhibition and commercial methods typical of the mass market, offering the public a sarcastic and disillusioned response to the meanings of the works. The fluid exhibition path reveals the resilience found in failure, the game that conceals precariousness, the irony that represses deception and frustration. It offers an ironic and disenchanted look at the present. Thus, the STORIELLETTE exhibition takes the form of a constellation of short, sometimes inconclusive, stories that traverse social disillusionment, broken daily lives, and unmet expectations. Everything remains in the balance. So, what is to be done?
Info:
Gianni D’Urso | Giuseppe De Mattia. STORIELLETTE
curated by VOGA Art Project
28\12\2025 – 22\02\2026
VOGA Art Project
Via Francesco Curzio dei Mille 58, Bari (BA)
www.vogaartproject.com
Art historian, performer, and art lover. Always passionate about contemporary art, he dreams of becoming a professor in the future, while still pursuing his artistic passion. He believes in the therapeutic value of art, which can save the world!
NO COMMENT