Gerry Mulligan, No title #29, a. 1980 Markers on papar23,97 x 33,97 cm.
«There are some words that have been kind of lost from modern usage that I would like to bring back to my music and have striven all my life to do. Beauty, grace, nobility – these are the things that music can bring to us, as human beings. I think it is well that we who make music keep that in our consciousness».
(Gerry Mulligan)
Galleria Milano presents for the first time in Italy a large number of works on paper by Gerry Mulligan (New York, 1927 – Darien 1996), internationally known as musician, jazz and symphonic composer, as well as saxophonist, but less as figurative artist. The catalogue, published on the occasion of the exhibition, will include essays by Alfonso Alberti, David Amram and Daniel Salvatore Schiffer.
The works have a musical character, that is Mulligan’s own musical language finding its way on paper: a tense substance, organized through quick gestures upon an open space, its structural logic provided primarily by color. It is color that beats time, giving the blank spaces, the void, the typical function and feeling of pauses in music: not just a mere, silent interruption, but rather the lyrical space where the mass of marks (notes) finds room to breathe and express its intimate meaning. « His drawings, just sketched nevertheless intense, are counterpoints to the notes of his partitions, they have a rhythm too: the rhythm of the image » (Daniel Salvatore Schiffer).
During the period of the exhibition, the gallery will host the saxophonist Mario Marzi, together with a group of musicians, playing Mulligan’s repertoire. A tribute concert to Gerry Mulligan will also take place on Tuesday 15th September at the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi of Milan, held by saxophonists Mario Marzi and Achille Succi, together with the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatorio. The event is part of “MITO SettembreMusica” festival.
The exhibition, organized in collaboration with Gerry & Franca Mulligan Foundation, is part of the program Arte Milano that, on the occasion of Expo 2015, will gather seven galleries and foundations: from May to November Galleria Milano, Galleria Blu, Lorenzelli Arte, Fondazione Marconi, Galleria Tonelli and Studio Giangaleazzo Visconti will offer a rich exhibition period.
The project Arte Milano is under the patronage of Comune di Milano.
