11 may 2013 | Museo Piaggio, Pontedera (PI)
11 may – 22 june 2013
The Piaggio Museum hosts the anthological exhibition “Al Shaab Yurid…” (The people want…) by the Lebanese artist Ali Hassoun from 11 May to 22 June 2013 in its historic headquarters in Pontedera.
The exhibition, promoted by the Municipality of Pontedera and the Piaggio Foundation, with the patronage of the Province of Pisa and the Tuscany Region, aims to be a contribution to the cultural and artistic integration of the peoples bordering the Mediterranean and an exaltation of the values of a brotherhood which ignores religious and political divisions. The event represents the completion of the workshop “Nobody said it was easy” that the artist, with the collaboration of Prof. Ferretti, Giglioli and the photographer Marco Bruni, carried out during the year with the students of the Liceo XXV Aprile of Pontedera.
Ali Hassoun, Italian by adoption, was born in Lebanon in Sidon in 1964, settled in Siena in 1982, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and in 1992, again in Florence, graduated in architecture. Since 1996 he has lived and worked in his studio in Milan.
In this exhibition, curated by Luca Beatrice, the artist displays works from 2000 up to the most recent ones which are affected by the winds of change in the Arab world. On this occasion, the works that the students created under the supervision of Ali Hassoun are also presented.
The pictorial theme of common people, always present in Ali Hassoun’s works, returns in a synthesis of the multiple cultures that accompanied his artistic journey from his native land, Lebanon, to his artistic training in Italy.
The most evident theme among those that emerge in his pictorial research is an idea of “humanity” as a universal and common quality among all peoples, founded on an original spirituality that precedes religious and political diversification. Thus the artist becomes an interpreter of different but comparable cultures, which coexist in the perfectly orchestrated space of his colorful canvases. The characters of the recent “jasmine revolution” or of an Africa as experienced as it is fabulous and imagined, in his compositions are all captured in a game of cultured quotations and indirect references between figure and background.
In his latest works, ordinary people are “Heros”, the heroes of contemporary times. Whether they wear the “keffia” of the Arab Spring or dress “Made in Italy”, they are still the protagonists of the global scene.
As the artist himself says: “The people want…” it is the affirmation of a will for freedom, it is a hope of trust in human beings for the self-determination of their own destiny”.
To honor the Vespa, which like the works of Ali Hassoun has always been a universally recognized symbol of cultural integration and individual freedom, the artist painted an “LX” model with his beautiful and poetic images. The vehicle, transformed into a work of art, will thus become part of the “Vespa d’Artista” collection of the Piaggio Museum which boasts, among others, the prestigious “Vespa Dalì”.