July 14 – Old cards, cut in different ways and then pasted onto another sheet of paper, can make up an amazing scenery if the artist is skilled and trained in the art of collage, as is Franco de Courten. Increadibly creative, de Courten paints canvases and cards putting on display his ability to use colors and his elegant use of collage. Born in La Spezia, but Roman by adoption, de Courten was born in 1932 and has been active since 1954. He presented numerous solo and group exhibitions in Italy, Europe, Middle East, Australia, Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia. Among these, “Rencontres”, held at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 2007, stands out. These days, his works are on display in Buenos Aires, at the Rome Hall of the Italian Institute of Culture. The exhibition, “Collages,” promoted by the Italian Institute of Culture of Buenos Aires and the Italian Embassy, will remain open until July 18, and is one of the events of “Verano Italiano,” a festival celebrating Italian cinema, music, opera, art, food and wine. Ambassador to Angola in the years of the civil war, to Israel at the end of the ’70s, and to Algeria between ’96 and ’98, Franco de Courten is a perfectly unique talent in the Italian painting scene, and is considered one of the most interesting exponents of a new Orientalism.
