Explore why Mazzoleni Art Gallery participates in Abu Dhabi Art 2025 and its commitment to artists in the Gulf region.
- Why did Mazzoleni Art Gallery choose to participate in Abu Dhabi Art 2025?
Jose Graci: Participating in Abu Dhabi Art offers a unique opportunity to engage with an international audience and to promote the artists we represent within the Gulf region Our presence underscores Mazzoleni’s commitment to fostering dialogue with collectors, institutions, and cultural entities in a region that is rapidly developing its artistic heritage.
I would like to underline that this year marks our fourth participation in the fair, having first joined in 2022. Since then, our engagement has grown even stronger.
One of our artists, Marinella Senatore, is also featured in the Artist Commissions in Historic Sites, a programme launched by the fair in 2017 that invites established artists to create site-specific installations in historic locations in Al Ain. One of her most renowned large-scale light installations, Bodies in Alliance (2021), was installed at the entrance of Manarat Al Saadiyat, the main pavilion hosting the fair. In 2023, the Italian Cultural Institute of Abu Dhabi presented the exhibition Marinella Senatore: I Contain Multitudes.
- Which artworks or artists will you present at this edition, and what criteria guided your selection?
Jose Graci: Our main booth features a curated selection of works by contemporary Italian artists we represent: Nunzio, Marinella Senatore, Andrea Francolino, and David Reimondo. Their practices investigate how materials shape, transform, and convey their artistic language, each exploring a distinct yet interconnected approach to form, matter, and meaning.
In addition, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy under Lorenzo Fanara and the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi, led by Susanna Iacona-Salafia, we present a dedicated booth titled The Roots of 20th and 21st Century Italian Art. This features an exclusive selection of seven seminal Italian masters: Agostino Bonalumi, Enrico Castellani, Giorgio de Chirico, Lucio Fontana, Giorgio Morandi, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Salvo.
The selection follows a chronological and thematic narrative that highlights the depth, innovation, and enduring modernity of Italian artistic tradition, emphasising the ongoing dialogue between past and present.
- How do the works you are presenting fit into the artistic and cultural dialogue of the Middle East?
Jose Graci: The selected works address universal themes such as space, time, identity, materiality, and experimentation, subjects that resonate strongly with the cultural discourse of this region. By presenting both contemporary voices and historic masters from Italy, we aim to foster cultural bridges, facilitating deeper dialogue between Italian creativity and the region’s dynamic artistic landscape.
- The initiative “The Roots of the 20th and 21st Century Italian Art” celebrates a pivotal period in Italian art. Why is this period essential to celebrate?
Jose Graci: Italian art of the 20th century is defined by a remarkable capacity for innovation and the renewal of artistic languages, qualities that remain strikingly relevant today. This period is characterised by a dynamic dialogue between past and present, memory and experimentation.
Giorgio de Chirico, founder of Metaphysical Painting, laid the foundations for Surrealism and profoundly influenced international art across the 20th and 21st centuries. His works transcend direct representation, offering enigmatic and dream-like realities.
Lucio Fontana, founder of Spatialism, revolutionised artistic practice by breaking through the canvas with his iconic cuts and punctures, transforming the pictorial surface into an open, limitless space.
Salvo developed a highly distinctive and versatile body of work, ranging from early conceptual experiments in the late 1960s to the radiant, metaphysical landscapes that define his mature period. Travel played a central role in his artistic development: from the 1990s onwards, his journeys across West and Central Asia, and various parts of Europe profoundly shaped the iconography and atmosphere of his paintings.
Celebrating this period means acknowledging the extraordinary contribution Italy has made to the evolution of global visual language.
- Having galleries in both Italy and the UK, how would you describe the differences in taste between Italian and British collectors?
Jose Graci: UK art collectors tend to focus on contemporary and post-war art, often with an eye toward market trends and investment. Italian collectors, by contrast, frequently maintain a strong passion for classical art and historical continuity, shaped by the country’s rich cultural heritage.
However, it would be misleading to speak of sharply divided tastes. The contemporary art market is global, and artistic proposals circulate freely across countries and cultures. For example, the artist Salvo attracts collectors from Europe, the United States, China and South Korea. Both Italy and the UK have highly diverse collecting communities, encompassing investors, passionate enthusiasts, and collectors motivated by social or cultural engagement.
- What trends or preferences do local collectors exhibit? Which artists and types of art do they favour?
Jose Graci: Now participating for the fourth year, we have observed strong interest in different artists: Andrea Francolino, for example, who centres his work on the poetics of the crack draws attention. His practice oscillates between the physical dimension of what appears broken, cracks and fracture, and the spiritual dimension of the void, often highlighted through the preciousness of gold. His journeys to remote places bring forward reflections on fragility and ephemerality; David Reimondo’s exploration of new forms of language also resonates with local collectors. Since 2014, he has developed symbols, graphemes, and phonemes that suggest the complexity of human thought. Marinella Senatore emphasises the transformative power of art and social engagement. Her practice celebrates individuals and communities through images, phrases, and quotations, while the energy of light is also captured in her collages on gold foil.
- How do you select the artists you represent, and do you include Arab artists in your programme?
Jose Graci: For over forty years, Mazzoleni has presented more than 200 solo and group exhibitions featuring leading Italian and international artists, with a museum-calibre programme focused primarily on Post-War Italian Art.
Since 2017, the gallery has expanded its activities, forging collaborations with outstanding contemporary artists and promoting Italian art on a global scale. While remaining committed to our mission, we have also presented works by international artists such as the Brazilian Iran do Espírito Santo, the American Melissa McGill, and the Mexican Jorge Méndez Blake.
We remain entirely open to future collaborations with artists connected to our programme—including, potentially, Arab artists whose practices resonate with our curatorial direction.
- How would you describe the evolution of the international art market, and what role do the UAE play in this context?
Jose Graci: The international art market has become increasingly globalised, with new geographic hubs emerging as significant cultural and commercial players. The UAE, particularly Abu Dhabi, is establishing itself as a leading centre for art, supported by initiatives such as this fair and by major institutions including the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Manarat Al Saadiyat, 421 and the Cultural Foundation. These initiatives attract a global audience and contribute to positioning the UAE as a vibrant and influential cultural crossroads.
- What is your opinion on the transformation of Abu Dhabi Art into Frieze Abu Dhabi, and what opportunities or challenges does it bring for international galleries?
Jose Graci: The transformation of Abu Dhabi Art into Frieze Abu Dhabi marks an important step in the region’s cultural development. It reflects years of sustained investment in building a strong artistic network and confirms the emirate’s ambition to further position itself on the global stage. This evolution also acknowledges the consistent vision of director Dyala Nusseibeh, who has guided the fair over the years, ensuring its growth and international resonance.
For Frieze, this partnership offers access to a region with solid institutions and growing international relevance. For galleries, it brings clear opportunities, new collectors, greater visibility, and a more global network, while also introducing increased competition as more international participants enter the fair.
Overall, the combination of Abu Dhabi’s cultural vision and Frieze’s global reach creates a promising framework for growth, dialogue, and long-term engagement in the region.
by Katya Marletta