Giuseppe Modica. Il fuoco nel mare (Giuseppe Modica. The Fire in the Sea)

From September 11 to October 25, 2026, the Mattatoio of Rome hosts the exhibition Giuseppe Modica. Il fuoco nel mare (Giuseppe Modica. The Fire in the Sea), curated by Giuseppe Appella, dedicated to one of the protagonists of the New Metaphysics movement.

The exhibition features forty large-scale works, created between 1997 and 2026 which unfold in a non-anthological path, but represent a journey through Modica's work and language, a journey into a painting capable of capturing light, geometry, rhythm, and harmony. Indeed, the works, which address various themes dear to the artist, have as their common thread light in all its broad meanings - from day to night, from natural to artificial - along with time, which engages both individual and collective memory.

The title of the exhibition, "Fire in the Sea", harks back to a 1975 story by Leonardo Sciascia, which tells the legend of Colapesce, who, having descended into the depths of the sea, discovered that Sicily was supported by three columns, one of which, beneath Mount Etna, was consumed by the volcano's fire.

And it is precisely the paradox between fire and water that becomes the key to understanding a complex painting, constructed on antithetical pairs - light and dark, dawn and dusk, interior and exterior, surface and depth - that intertwine throughout the exhibition. A painting that achieves absolute simplification and synthesis through geometric and mathematical rigor.

Giuseppe Modica is one of the most significant representatives of the New Metaphysics movement, as defined by Maurizio Fagiolo dell’Arco, an artist with over fifty years of research and a significant exhibition history in private galleries, museums, and public spaces in Italy and abroad.

The exhibition, promoted by the Department of Culture of Rome Capitale, Azienda Speciale Palaexpo and Fondazione Mattatoio di Roma – Città delle Arti and organised by Azienda Speciale Palaexpo in collaboration with Archivio Giuseppe Modica, is free of charge.

Photo: official poster of the exhibition