A selection of fifteen works by the Sicilian musician and artist Franco Battiato (Catania, 1945 – 2021) is part of the initiatives to explore the theme of portraits in art, promoted by the Municipality of Bellano and the culture department. The paintings presented in the Bellano exhibition – oils on wood with a gold background and oils on canvas from private collections – portray the faces, almost in icon form, of the Catanese master’s closest friends. The exhibition represents an in-depth examination of Franco Battiato’s oeuvre, providing an unprecedented and, unjustifiably, sideways view of the artist’s vast body of musical, operatic and cinematographic production. The installation, very rigorous in its presentation of the paintings, invites the viewer to a devotional and ironic approach, characterised by an ‘orientalising’ style, thanks to a series of precious Afghani, Anatolian and Mauritanian carpets, on loan from Altai, a Milan-based researcher, owner of the world’s only and last collection of primitive carpets of nomadic origin. Reality does not exist offers visitors an island of respect and awareness where they can pause and contemplate the painted image, experiencing a moment of intimacy with the work of art.
