Italy's Mezzatorre Resort & Spa Displays Contemporary Art

Italy's Mezzatorre Resort & Spa Displays Contemporary Art
Contemporary art collections are being displayed in more and more luxury hotels as part of a growing worldwide trend that people have come to refer to "art hotels" and "museum hotels". Important historical collections and site-specific installations by emerging young talents increasingly characterise the halls and rooms of prestigious hotels. The exclusive Mezzatorre Resort & Spa on the luxuriant island of Ischia has also decided to embrace this trend and for summer 2011 it is inaugurating a cycle of semi-permanent exhibitions by contemporary artists.

The first one is by Pierre-Yves Le Duc, French by birth but Neapolitan by adoption, who has brought sixty works – three of which have never been shown before – to the luxury hotel, where they have been set up to form a fascinating path throughout its rooms. Starting on 11 June 2011 the artist will exhibit two cycles of works, invading the halls and suites of the Mezzatorre Resort & Spa with his distinctive mark, and creating a delightful contrast with the classical and rarefied atmosphere of these rooms. Twenty-nine oils on paper from the "Last Supper" and "Nine Muses and Nine Poets" installations, painted starting in 1997, can be viewed in the Chandelier Restaurant. Twenty-four other works from the same pictorial cycle will be shown in the most beautiful suites, and five white acrylic canvases – three of which brand new – will hang on the snowy walls of the sixteenth-century tower that inspired the name of the hotel. This represents a premiere of the exhibition of Le Duc's works at an American venue, the Bill Lowe Gallery in Atlanta.

Born in 1964, Le Duc left France as soon as he earned his university degree to move to Naples, as he was fascinated by the city's history and art. He staged his first exhibition in 1994 when, in Piazza San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, he showed thirteen large canvases portraying enormous vaginas that, to the public, looked like angels: crucified anthropomorphic figures. This was followed by numerous public exhibitions – some of which criticised – showcasing his oeuvre. Today his paintings are in public and private collections throughout Italy and in Europe.

The works will be on display at the hotel until the end of October.

Hotel Profile: Mezzatorre Resort & Spa