The Dollar Princess

Critical text

Spazio Field launches a new season in support of contemporary art, inviting artists to create works related to the history of Palazzo Brancaccio. Ivo Còtani has revisited the events of the palace, from its construction to the present day, creating a monumental painting over ten meters long, along with five more of considerable dimensions, recounting the story in his own way. Past and present of the palace, its former and current owners, all travel together on a marvelous hypothetical carriage resembling a festive procession.

By examining Còtani's pictorial experiment, one finds paintings, legends, true stories, and fictionalized ones. The artist's hand emphasizes a connection with certain Italian painting of the 1960s, finding his own personal path of narration. The title makes clear the decisive role that the new bourgeoisie of the late nineteenth century played in supporting. and sometimes saving. a nobility without prospects. Còtani knows how to narrate the game and drama of life in the Palace, without losing his characteristic lightness, which happily infects those who observe his works.

Critical text by Claudio Libero Pisano