Portraits with Balloons by Chiara Rapaccini-Rap

curated by the Educational Services - Art Workshop

To mark the launch of The Good Little Girl, published by Sonzogno Editori, the Art Workshop is thrilled to host a site-specific installation by Chiara Rapaccini, alias Rap. An artist, writer, illustrator and designer known for her tight style and for her strong, shamelessly clashing colors, Rap has changed tone and timber to present the pages of her first illustrated novel for adults.
The characters and stories leap out of the pages of the book to take the Palazzo delle Esposizioni's Atelier by storm.  The installation comprises period photographs on canvas for a gallery of family portraits, faded and corroded by time but revisited by the artist with her caustic pen, together with sketches and drawings, notes and objects from the 'fifties and 'sixties.  Rap's beloved color gives way to shades of white, black and gray to interact with the old photos.  But where she seems to give in to a melancholic vein, her balloons and dialogues in tempera, echoing suburban taggers' street art in their irony and impertinence, allow the familiar artist to shine through in the acerbic ambiguity of a mature child painter.
Visitors will be able to track the exhibit's backstage story in a gallery of photographs by Filippo Trojano.
For the launch of the exhibit, Rap is inviting adults and children to narrate and listen to stories in an ironic and laidback tour of the exhibit. The event also inaugurates a cycle entitled Within Children's Memory, a workshop designed to allow adults and children to work together on building a unique family tree, which follows mysteriously changing rules as it grows and its branches spread out. The workshop, designed for children aged 5 to 7 accompanied by their parents, will be held every weekend in October. Another appointment not to be missed is the book launch in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni's Forum at 6.00 pm on 4 October.  Paola Vassalli will be introducing the author, who will be talking about the book with Davide Riondino and Tatti Sanguineti.

CHIARA RAPACCINI
A successful artist, writer, illustrator and designer, Chiara Rapaccini is the author of numerous award-winning books for children. She has produced animated cartoons for television and the cinema (including the credits for two of Mario Monicelli's films) and she has worked as an illustrator for Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Il Manifesto and L'Unità.  She has held personal exhibits in Rome, Milan, Venice, Osaka, Brussels, Paris, New York and Tokyo.  She has orchestrated a number of advertising campaigns for Omnitel, Volvo and Alitalia, and she has worked with the Teatro Argentina in Rome, the Museo Archeologico in Naples and the Itabaschi Museum in Japan. She has been teaching illustration for children at the IED - Istituto Europeo di Design in Rome since 1995. She won the Premio Battello a Vapore for the best children's illustrator in 1999 (www.chiararapaccini.com).

BLIBLIOGRAPHY
C. Rapaccini, La casa impossibile, Trieste, Emme Edizioni, 1991
C. Rapaccini, I vestiti impossibili, Trieste, Emme Edizioni, 1991
C. Rapaccini, Le Storie di RAP e Grullerie in Peter Pan, February 1994 Turin, Edizioni Sonda
C. Rapaccini, Merendine, Florence, Giunti, ("La gru" collection), 1994
C. Rapaccini, Ti voglio bene ma non ti amo, Florence, Giunti ("La gru" collection) , 1996
C. Rapaccini, La vendetta di Debbora con 2 b, Edizioni Piemme, ("Il battello a vapore" collection), 1996
C.Rapaccini, Dammi un Whisky, Samanta!, Florence, Giunti, ("La gru" collection, 1997
C. Rapaccini, Povera Barbie, Trieste, edizioni E. Elle, ("I corti" collection), 1997
C. Rapaccini, Le Viperette, Emme Edizioni, 1999
Chiara Rapaccini, M'ama, Buena vista 2003
Elio e le Storie tese, Chiara Rapaccini, Animali spiaccicati, Einaudi Stile libero 2004
Chiara Rapaccini, Babbi, Buena Vista 2004
Giorgio Faletti, Chiara Rapaccini, L'uovo e la gallina, Gallucci 2005
Chiara Rapaccini, Amori sfigati, Salani, 2010

exhibit information
1 to 30 October
Tuesday to Thursday, Sunday 3.30 pm to 8.00 pm; Friday 3.30 pm to 10.30 pm; Saturday 10.00 am to 3.00 pm / 6.30 pm to 10.30 pm;

Atelier Palazzo delle Esposizioni - Via Milano 13
admission free