Severino Salvemini's Urban Ghosts

An art and cinema enthusiast, Severino Salvemini, Full Professor in the Department of Management and Technology at Bocconi University, has combined his two passions through painting. He has produced a series of watercolors (52 30x40 paintings) depicting abandoned movie theaters around the world, locations he frequents both because of a personal passion and because of his professional focus on topics related to management of culture. His paintings will be at Galleria Nuages in Milan, Via del Lauro 10, from 6 April to 13 May, in an exhibit entitled "Urban Ghosts – A voyage through cinemas that are no more."

"Watercolor is a refined technique that has always been used to represent beauty. But I think it is also suited to depicting simple subjects such as the façades of old abandoned cinemas," explains Salvemini. These subjects maintain a crumbling, dusty charm, and are depicted by the Bocconi professor in their transitional stage, before being transformed into garages, pizzerias, showrooms or staying as they are, just closed and awaiting the passage of time. "I saw many of these cinemas first-hand while traveling around Italy and around the world, and I took pictures of others. There are American, African, Asian cinemas, most from the 1930s to the 1960s."

This series of watercolors dedicated to abandoned movie theaters is an excellent follow-up to his series of paintings produced between 2008 and 2012 of intercoms, small and seemingly commonplace tools of urban communication. "Actually, both intercoms and façades of old cinemas are subjects that are not beautiful in the traditional sense of the word. But that is precisely why I wanted to paint them with such a sophisticated technique."
Proceeds from sales of the paintings will support CAF Association projects that accommodate children who are victims of abuse and mistreatment.
The book Fantasmi Urbani, ed. Skira, will also be released for the exhibit.