Monica De Mitri Painting and Drawing spaces.

By Radmila Urošević

#1 Support and Substrate of the artwork, how does the artist proceed?

BIOGRAPHY

Monica De Mitri was born in Milan in 1965. She graduated from the State Institute of Art in Mantua in 1984. She lives and works in Mantua where, in the 90s, she begins his creative journey. Of her art she says, “I think things have a soul. I’m just the tool that brings it out.” 

Among the main exhibitions the solo exhibition at the Art Gallery Lubiam in Milan in 2013 and at the Art Gallery Cubo Studio in Mantua in 2017. In 2019 she won the Collective 18 competition of the No Name collective Art Gallery in London, earning, in January 2021, the Cover on the No name collective Art Magazine. In December 2019, selected by the curator Carlo Micheli, participates in the exhibition at the Museo Marino Marini in Florence “EXVOTO per arte ricevuta”, an event curated by Angelo Crespi, sponsored by the Fondazione Maimeri, with a catalogue published by Mondadori. Her works are published in numerous national and international art magazines. Last solo exhibition was in Mantua- Italy, in June 2021. Named Artist of the Year 2023, by the NNC London Art Gallery. Website: www.monicademitri.it

EXHIBITIONS

2024 January – Bergamo Art Fair, guest artist at the Frattura Scomposta art magazine stand .

2023 September – Collective exhibition “Quel sottile piacere”, galleria Diritti a colori curator Carlo Micheli

2021 June – Solo exhibition “Senzatitolo”, Casa di Rigoletto in Mantova2019 December – Collective exhibition, ‘Ex Voto per arte ricevuta’ curator Angelo Crespi promoted from Fondazione Maimeri– museo Marino Marini Florence2019 October – Collective exhibition, ‘Ex Voto per arte ricevuta’ curator Angelo Crespi promoted from Fondazione Maimeri– Milano fiera GrandArt2018 September – Trend Scouting for La Biosthetique Paris2017 May – Solo exhibition, Art Gallery Cubo Studio in Mantua2016 May – Collective exhibition, Mantova Creativa2015 May – Collective exhibition, Mantova Creativa2014 May – Collective exhibition, Mantova Creativa2013 June – Solo exhibition, Art Gallery Lubiam in Milano2012 May – Collective exhibition, Mantova Creativa2010 April – Solo Exibition, in ForlìPUBLICATIONS

In articles

2023 April – Painting : The volume and the Canvas, interview with Radmila Urošević, https://peinturespace.hypotheses.org/362021 January – Cover No Name Collective Art Magazine, London – UK2019 December – No Name Collective Art Magazine, Art Magazine – London – UK2019 April – No Name Collective Art Magazine, Art Magazine – London – UK2019 January – La Voce di Mantova, daily neswpaper2018 December – Art Magazine Frattura Scomposta2018 July – 7 Corriere Della Sera, weekly Magazine2018 June – No Name Collective Art Magazine – London – UK2018 May – DarteMA, Art and Culture Website2017 December – La Nuova Cronaca di Mantova, Weekly Magazine2017 March – Create Magazine, Art Magazine in Philadelphia – USA

On social media

2020- 2021 – No Name Collective Art Magazine, Instagram, and Facebook2019 November – Angelo Crespi, Instagram2019 September – No Name Collective Art Magazine, Instagram and Facebook2019 February – Rated Modern Art, Instagram2017 April – GNMH Avard Kim Jung Hwi Art Curator Korea, Instagram2017 March – Sophie Gunnol Art Curator Miami FL, InstagramInformation / ContactFacebook: Monica De Mitri Art – https://www.facebook.com/Monica-De-Mitri-Art-453343458103911/Instagram: MoDeMi_Art – https://www.instagram.com/modemi_art/?hl=it

“Monica De Mitri’s paper labyrinths unfold with elegance and lightness, almost following an inner melody, resurfacing from the folds of memory.” Carlo Micheli[1]

2021 Installation painting 100 x100 CM acrylic and paper on canvas

Monica De Mitri’s artworks question the substrate and the support of painting. The graphical shapes that emerge from her paintings are coming out of the picture plan. This creates a drawing in volume. Pleasuring the eyes by colouring space, the artist work generates a paper dance in space. Everything is fully handmade, and the work process is interesting, by recycling papers from different companies: “I often use paper that is eliminated from the production cycles of companies, thus giving a second life and an artistic value to something that would otherwise be just a waste material.”, she says.

 From painting the paper to composing the canvas, Monica De Mitri’s artworks bring a reflection about space and time. We would not qualify her Installation Paintings as abstract art, but as concrete art. As she says: “The creation of the work does not happen by making a specific project but by following the ideas that come to me by observing what surrounds me or the paper that I have available.” The artist watches the material which is the substrate of her art and the genesis of her ideas. The shapes are coming out of the texture of the paper and the colour she applies on it. Indeed, she explains that she “always begin by painting the paper and then the canvas, after having given the bases of color, and making sure that the result is perfect” then she starts “to shape the paper and glue it.” 

Once she has got prepared the elements composing the picture, she applies them on the canvas. The whole composition must be perfect, and she doesn’t allow any trace of glue to be seen. The canvas must appear as one single piece. There are two types of support in her work: the paper and the canvas. The paper looks like it is the substrate of the painting and the canvas the final support, but the whole artwork crafts one single abstract picture. This picture is approaching a sculptural drawing that creates spaces and reliefs in pre-existing space. As she may say “The choice of paper as a material came naturally because I have always loved it, it is ductile and malleable, it has an infinity of different types and thicknesses”.

Coming out of the picture frame, Monica’s paintings have a strong relationship to the scope the canvas and matter. She explains that this way: “The large paintings that I make do not have a frame because it would limit the work and relegate it within a space too defined and that’s not my intent.”. Space seems to be also a matter in her work; indeed, the artist says that: “The work must interact with the space that surrounds it, dialogue and change according to the variation of light and color is the means that enhances this process. The canvas is just the support of the artwork in paper.”

[1] Extract from Carlo Micheli’s critic in the catalogue Monica De Mitri, Senzatitolo, exhibition at the Casa Di Rigoletto, Mantua, Mantova Città d’Arte e di Cultura, Mantova Estate-, 2021. Translated from Italian, p.2.