SACRA SACRORUM | JOSEPH PACE | THE SACRED OF THE SACRED THINGS
PANTHEON | ROME
NOVEMBER 23th - DECEMBER 10th 2018
-
The Chapter of the Canonicals of the ancient Roman Basilica of S. Maria ad Martyres, better known as PANTHEON, compiling with the desire of His Holyness Pope Francis in the Apostolic Exhortation "Evangeli Gaudium", intend to resume the dialogue between art and faith that brought the Basilica of the Pantheon to host the most famous artists of the age, among them Raphael, becoming the center of the Roman artistic life, culminating in the periodic exhibition of the most prestigious works of famous painters.
In this context, the Basilica of Pantheon has therefore instituted annually, as a pastoral activity of excellence the "International Contemporary Sacred Art Exhibition".
With the purpose of creating an artistic itinerary which be at the same time catechesis and Christian mystagogy, it has been thought to continue the initiatives already taken in the past few years for this International Art Exhibition dedicating it for 2018 to dr. Joseph Pace, eminent and well known Italian artist.
The illustrious artist happily has accepted this initiative. His soudly rooted faith and his rafined artistic horizon did the rest. He met the responsible parties for the Chapter. The project sharing turned enthusiasm for all, and thus the "Sacra sacrorum" exhibition was born, which is presented a true itinerary of the soul at the oldest Basilica in the world, a pedagogy of art rooted in Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Raphael and in the contemporary language of the great sculptors of the 20th and 21th centuries as well.
The coherence and the originality of Joseph Pace artistic journey has been well described in 2014 by Mariastella Margozzi of the GNAM National Gallery of Modern Art of Rome and director of the GNAM Boncompagni Museum of decorative arts National Gallery of Modern Art, on the occasion of the “L’Eva Futura” artist’s solo exhibition: "Pace, is one of the the leading exponents of “filtranisme”, the philosophical and artistic neo existentialist current that he founded in Paris in the mid 80s. His work gives an artistic and intellectual pathway with which the artist reinterprets many of our psychic realities. With a refined and aesthetic language, his sculptures are made with thousands of pieces of costume jewelry, mostly vintage, which the artist recovers from the residues of industrial production in every part of the world, thus creating a sort of research in the "industrial archeology" field applied to the decoration of the body of our times. Through different techniques, Pace put together different creatives and users generations. Pace’s work has been the subject of several exhibitions in museums and other institutions, in Paris, Marseille, Munich, Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, São Paulo, Brasilia, Jaguariuna, Rome, Alessandria, Alba, Milan, Padua and Venice.”
As the Pope Francis states in the book "My idea of art”, …” Art, is not only a credible witness to the beauty of creation, but also an instrument of evangelisation: which is exactly what Michelangelo did in the Sixtine Chapel, a masterpiece of evangelisation” And again, …”This society has become accustomed to discard of things and objects as well as use and discard people when they are no longer needed, throwing away their illusions and their dreams ...Nothing is lost, nothing is discarded, everything makes sense within the magnificent work of God. The mercy of God does not discard. This is the role of artists and poets: fight the culture of waste and evangelise.”
Joseph Pace recovers various materials, even jewelry industrial production’s residues, and by assembling this shimmering waste material no longer in fashion, intends to reawaken the interest of the distracted man of today to the only true value, that of spirituality, through sacred and religious themes, to transform them into "producers of hope”.
The exhibition is composed of seven sculptures plus a small sculptural group and a medium sized crucifix. They deal with the creation of the earth and the birds, the creation of man and woman, the great human family, and the crucifixion.
