Teresa: Hello?

Serena: You take your time to answer!

T: Who is this?

S: It’s me, Serena!

T: Oh hi! Sorry, I didn’t recognize you.

S: You wouldn’t have these problems if only you weren’t so set on keeping a landline. You have a mobile phone, use it!

T: What can I say, I love vintage.

S: You are odd. But to keep to the topic, did you go to the exhibition at Ortigia Ancient Market?

T: Don’t tell me you went without me!

S: But you went already!

T: I would have gladly gone back!

S: Ok, ok, I will come with you again, but now tell me, what do you think of it?

T: It was an explosion.

S: An explosion?

T: Yes, of sounds, styles, images and themes. I never thought such a classic subject could still have something to say, but I had to reconsider.

S: It is the appeal of the myth: centuries pass by, but it continues to charm!

T: But I have to admit, I found it a little bit gloomy.

S: What do you mean?

T: I mean the theme, it’s not a merry topic, don’t you think?

S: It’s surely strong, but the artists’ different takes intrigued me.

T: You are right. What do you think of Francesco De Grandi’s work, Medea nel giardino di Colchide? He is the only one to picture a young Medea.

S: Did you know that to realize the work he was inspired by the most archaic versions of the myth, when men were still tied to the feminine and Earth? His Medea, although still young, is already wise and sorceress, aware of her role and her powers. And yet the black bird in the background seems to foretell her baleful future.

T: Art is really a powerful medium! And powerful is the work by Natee Utarit, Two Boys and the Sacrifice.

S: I don’t remember it.

T: Come on, it’s the four meters long triptych!

S: Now I remember! An almost chirurgical set, it gave me goosebumps.

T: After all the oeuvre wants to represent the most violent human instincts, from here the choice to transpose the myth in a modern setting. As the curator says, it’s its raw simplicity to make it disturbing, while the conglomerated elements of past and present make the works timeless.

S: Did you eat the tagline? You were never so taken by a painting before!

T: Don’t make fun of me, you know that when I let myself go I can be a poetess!

S: You are forgiven! It’s indeed an excellent exhibition, I share your thoughts!

T: I can feel it, we’ll go back soon! But now is the time for the truth: favorite painting?

S: Difficult, very difficult. But if I have to choose, Fog and Mushrooms is the one.

T: An unusual choice, I didn’t see it coming! Why?

S: The first to attract me were the colors, in particular the combination of such a vibrant palette and the almost dreamlike setting: I felt like I was in front of an oxymoron made canvas, where dreamlike atmospheres form the backdrop to a story of love and death like Medea's. It couldn't help but catch my eye!

T: You're right! After all, Medea is a dual figure, both seductive and dangerous. I read in the catalog that in his works Fridjònssin always inserts subjects with disturbing implications in romantic atmospheres: you couldn't have read it better! We should really see it again...

S: I told you we'll be back, don't worry! In fact, you know what, why don't we opt for an evening visit: the exhibition is open until 8pm, who knows, maybe it will give us the opportunity to experience the works in another way!

T: I’m in. Shall we go this Saturday?

S: Deal! We might as well stop for an aperitif afterwards.

T: I saw that they have opened a refreshment point inside the Ancient Market, a perfect location to talk about the exhibition after the visit!

S: What more could we want?

T: Visit the exhibition on Sunday as well?

Tuuuu-tuuuu-tu

T: Hello? Sere, are you there? Could you imagine… but I’ll convince her, I’m sure!