Mimmo Rotella Catalogo ragionato Secondo volume 1962-1973.
Skira 2020
English translation of the catalogue by Scriptum
The second volume of the catalogue raissoné on the works of Mimmo Rotella (Catanzaro, 1918 – Milan, 2006), edited by Germano Celant, is in part the most extensive systematic cataloguing project of his entire oeuvre. The publication is made possible by a collaboration with the Mimmo Rotella Institute, founded in 2012 by Inna and Aghnessa Rotella and directed by Antonella Soldaini, and with the Fondazione Mimmo Rotella, directed by Aghnessa Rotella. In this volume, the scientific analysis and verification are carried out on the works made between 1962 and 1973, when the artist consolidated his décollage practice in its most graphic and pop aspects and began exploring photomechanical image reproduction techniques. He used photography and the artypo, up to defining a more automatic and immediate process in his effaçages and frottages. Across a timeline, the catalogue highlights the various stages that have distinguished his practice, thus allowing an inclusive and documented reading of this period.
This work is dedicated with love and gratitude to the memory of Germano Celant who sadly passed away while the book was going to print, after lucidly devising the entire project for the systematic cataloguing and critical appraisal of Mimmo Rotella’s work.