Mimmo ROTELLA (1918-2006) - Lot 114

Mimmo ROTELLA (1918-2006) Miro in black Color lithograph, signed in pencil lower right and numbered 89/100 lower left. H_ 80 cm W_ 60 cm Mimmo Rotella (1918-2006) was an Italian artist and visual artist, a major figure of Pop Art and New Realism in Italy. Born in Catanzaro in 1918, Rotella studied literature and philosophy in Rome before devoting himself entirely to art. He began his career as a painter, but became famous for his décollages (taking down urban advertising posters), a technique he developed from 1953 onwards, inspired by mass culture and urban media. Rotella is associated with the Nouveau Réalisme movement, alongside Yves Klein, Arman and Martial Raysse, exploring the relationship between art, consumption and urban life. His works integrate torn posters, collage, assemblage and paint, creating a fragmentary, dynamic aesthetic that reflects media society and popular iconography. Over the course of his career, Mimmo Rotella has received several major awards and taken part in numerous international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His works can be found in major public and private collections in Europe and the United States, consolidating his status as a major figure in Italian contemporary art of the XXᵉ century. Rotella died in Milan in 2006, leaving a legacy in which popular culture, materials and urban space became central elements of artistic language, anticipating many contemporary currents linked to collage, assemblage and street art.