MILAN — Rubelli’s fabrics have been turned into works of art in a new exhibition at Palazzo Reale in Milan.
Until Sept. 13, fabrics from the historic Venetian textile house will be on display as canvases painted by artist Paolo Troilo in the new site-specific exhibition curated by art historian Marco Meneguzzo.
Staged in the “Appartamento dei Principi” in the city’s Royal Palace near the Duomo cathedral, “The Breach. Il muro rompe il silenzio [The wall breaks the silence]” unfolds as a symbolic journey through history.
“The fabrics from our collection serve as the backdrop for the artist’s work, thus becoming co-protagonists of the artwork itself,” said Rubelli chief executive officer Nicolò Favaretto Rubelli. “This juxtaposition is heightened by the fact that the works overlap with the wall coverings of Milan’s noble Palazzo Reale, which were reproduced by Rubelli to match the originals. The rooms that have seen history pass through are now telling stories that touch each and every one of us.”
The artist portrayed bodies on fabric, tracing their contours with finger painting, the distinctive signature of his practice. Troilo’s connection to the human body dates back to childhood, when he observed his cardiologist father at work and collaborated on anatomical drawings for medical congresses.
“Fabric, however, is a different kind of partner: every yarn, warp, or weft tests you and imposes its own rules. It is a dialogue of love and passion where we ‘stain each other’; the fabric tells you how it likes to be touched, and you must respect its nature to let the miracle of the artwork be born,” said Troilo.
Through his works the artist wanted to show the wounds of the present time, depicting the body as a place where individual and collective tensions, traumas, and fragilities are deposited. This is reflected by “Il corpo di Giove [The Body of Jupiter],” dedicated to Napoleon, a monumental piece almost 15 feet tall, created on Martora velvet embroidered with stars. The emperor appears naked with his head bowed. The textile surface extends to the floor, where there’s a marble engraving that reads, “Without others, you are nobody.”
Another key piece is the “Margherita e i suoi gioielli [Margherita and her jewels],” dedicated to Margherita of Savoy. The queen, portrayed at the center on a printed chenille inspired by the watercolors of French artist Monet, has a hand with six fingers, which symbolizes artificial intelligence “bugs” in image generation. The artist wanted to address the growing difficulty of distinguishing between reality, manipulation, and representation.