Ignazio Mortellaro

Ignazio Mortellaro (Palermo, 1978) after a degree in Engineering and Architecture, a research project at the Centre of Studies of the Faculdade de Arquitectura de Porto and two years spent in South America and Filicudi, decided to focus his research on the field of visual arts, combining his interest in many disciplines such as science, philosophy, geography and literature. The research focuses on the study of the phenomena and rhythms of nature, cognitive logic and the definition of space. Drawing plays a central role in the design phase of the work and is used as a privileged tool for synthesis and reasoning. The artist’s work is heterogeneous, using different mediums such as sculpture, drawing, photography, video and installation.

His solo exhibitions include: Giš-gi-tug-ga (2023), Matr – मात (2020), Siamo due abissi, un pozzo che fissa il cielo (2018), Scalza varcando da sabbie lunari (2017), Abolito il cielo (2015) and ‘Apar (2014) with

the Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea Palermo|Milano gallery.
He has also partecipated in several group exhibitions in museum spaces such as the Fondazione Merz in Turin (2018), the Riso Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia in Palermo (2015), the Segesta Archaeological Park (Catalfimi, 2022), the Kunst Meran in Merano (2018) and the Museo Civico di Castelbuono in Palermo (2018). Mortellaro’s works can be found in several private and public collections, such as the Archaeological Park of the Dionysian Walls in Siracusa – where the permanent sculpture Overturning Moment is located – or La Collina di Loredana in Pantelleria, a private sculpture park on the island of Pantelleria. He won first prize in the ideas competition for the roofing of part of Riso Museo d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia (2014) and for the restoration of the Church of the former Benedictine Monastery in Partanna (2008).
In 2017, together with Valentina Bruschi and Vittorio Rappa, the artist founded a platform, Radiceterna Arte e Ambiente, for the research and promotion of contemporary art, with which he curates a series of exhibitions (Allora & Calzadilla, Katinka Bock, Björn Braun) and a publication series published by Hopefulmonster (Turin). The project also included the creation of a free library on the topics of Art and Nature. His interest in experimental music led him to found the Oblivious Artefacts collective in 2008, which brings together artists, photographers, architects and sound designers who work in Palermo, Rome and Berlin. For the collective, he curates the visual concept for several underground techno, idm and ambient record labels.