I am happy, you are envious.

I am happy, you are envious.

Is Sergio Cascavilla the Italian Murakami? This is the question posed by two visitors present at the preview of the exhibition “I am happy, you are envious”. Indeed, the exhibition could seem a parallel world to that of Murakami: Tokyo & Turin (city of residence of the artist); two extreme cities with two clearly different worlds, one at the apex of the world thanks to its multiple contaminations, the other marginal compared to the big capitals where everything happens and the stimuli are pure adrenaline.

Here, this difference strengthens the art of Cascavilla compared to that of Murakami: Cascavilla is unclassifiable, because the art of Cascavilla is unique, because unique is the character with his dazzling world.

Cascavilla could be compared to Emilio Salgari, an extraordinarily prolific author of fantasy despite never having crossed the Italian borders, he told fantastic stories of very distant and adventurous worlds.

Cascavilla tells with angular irony “Intrepide adventures” from his living room at home, imagining himself projected into a multicolor world.

The exhibition consists of 72 works, including illuminated signs, three-dimensional paintings on wood, plastics and hemispheres, televisions illuminated with stories, tables of fluorescent drawings with wood lights, etc.

The themes range from news stories to strange anecdotes, such as the story of “Wikileaks” which reveals to the world the inconvenient truth of the United States oppressing the world, or as “Shopping Dead”, an English lady found dead buried by her multiple purchases. compulsive, or “Villa del Conte Mirchiolino di Chamonix” with reference to the information servants of the Italian television, or “A great bastard” just to remind us that they are always among us; a tribute to a hero on a window sill with “Addio di Monicelli”, and then: “La bottega di Filosofia”, “Sogni d’Oro”, “Gianduyotto”, “Impossible love”, and many other adventures, stories, anecdotes, news stories, and so on.

It was a long time since Cascavilla showed up with such a rich solo show, after years in which we witnessed his installations such as the utopian “Machine that transforms objects into Gold”, or with the television show project “Delicious Art” created for MTV Italia, or with his next film-installation “Pipicar” with a surprise ending

A partial return to painting was missing, yes, Murakami could be the Japanese Cascavilla: give him the chance and he will turn the world upside down.

Martina Di Trapani

Martina Di Trapani