This spring 2020 pressed us to make an immediate assessment of our lives as defined by notions of place and of home, and to tether ourselves to one location often at the expense of another. These changed circumstances prompted unique reactions and artistic expression to endure as critical tools in synthesizing the altered world around us.
Homemade was a product of this unexpected suspension in time, a period of hardship that seemed to be calling for a constructive response. Feeling impelled to answer that call, we at Magazzino Italian Art gave voice to a group of eight Italian artists with diverse creative visions and the shared experience of immigrants living in New York City. We felt inspired to narrate the project as it evolved and to give life to each of their processes as they reacted to their changed surroundings.
The participants were selected based on their original artistic approaches, which range from the conceptual to the political and from figurative to abstract. All of these artists have been living or had lived (Andrea Mastrovito retuned to Italy during the course of the project’s timeline), in New York City for significant periods of time, having found themselves here for a variety of reasons, whether political, personal, or purely serendipitous. Some received their formal training in Italy and some in the U.S. but for all, New York has become some version of home.
The immigrant identity is deeply rooted in what it means to be a New Yorker and even a modern American, it is defined by a certain resilience and adaptability. In watching the project go on, the restorative and curative nature of each of these artistic practices became evident and the resulting artworks, demonstrative of the fervid strength these artists carried in themselves.
Community has been historically key to the immigrant experience, essential to the very survival of those it benefits. This theme became central to the Homemade project as it unfolded, and a beautiful cohesion emerged among the artists and our team through the periodic exchange of ideas, critiques, and conversation. This collective undertaking proved a significant source of healing when we needed it most.
In formulating Homemade, we were particularly interested in observing the creative outcomes of the newly imposed limitations that had altered our lives. While compromise can often prove a constructive guide for artistic practice, these eight artists drew particular strength from working within these new and imperative parameters. Each of their projects revealed a strong willingness to embrace the limitations they were faced with and a consequent awareness of the advantages of such limitations as avenues for breaking away and challenging systems in place.
Through its programming in recent years, Magazzino Italian Art has become fertile ground upon which to embrace diverse definitions of Italian identity. The culmination of Homemade in an exhibition installed at Magazzino and marking the museum’s reopening in July signaled a renewal in our mission and a broadening of our program to include more diverse and global definitions of Italian art and the identities within its web. Our experience of this unusual time traced by the coming together of Homemade, has urged us to reconsider the contemporary contexts that shape the subject matter we seek to understand; for generations, Italians have been spread throughout Europe and the U.S. and we are required to work towards redefining Italian art as it falls within this modern and fluid framework.
In this same regard, Magazzino seeks to situate itself outside of any stringent borders, working to further an understanding of Italian art as it falls along a more multidimensional storyline, bringing into question traditional definitions. Homemade can be seen as a microcosm of Italian art as it stands today and we feel reignited by this opportunity which has opened us up to more nuanced perspectives and interpretations, inspired growth, and planted a seed of optimism in a time of such deep uncertainty.