SANTE POLITO. FRAMMENTI

PARATI presents Sante Polito. Fragments, an exhibition curated by Gianluca Marinelli that retraces, for the first time in a retrospective format, the artistic journey of the Taranto sculptor Sante Polito (1947–2021). Through a selection of sculptures and preparatory studies—many of which are unpublished—created from the 1960s to the early 2000s, the exhibition captures the complexity and originality of one of the most significant figures in contemporary Apulian sculpture.

Polito's research is distinguished by its ability to combine formal experimentation, ethical tension, and sensitivity to the social and cultural transformations of the territory. His creative projects, developed over more than four decades, give life to a personal plastic language in which aesthetics, innovation, and civic engagement are constantly intertwined.

With this exhibition, PARATI inaugurates a new line of activities dedicated to the rediscovery and critical reinterpretation of artists who, starting from the second half of the twentieth century, have contributed significantly to the development of visual arts in Puglia. This path complements ongoing initiatives aimed at promoting and enhancing the younger generations of artists.

The exhibition project is further complemented by a documentary section set up at the Libreria Dickens, a historic cultural landmark in the city of Taranto designed by architect and gallerist Piero Bruno, founder of Galleria Extra. The choice of this location is not random: Bruno was one of Sante Polito's main interlocutors, and their long professional and personal partnership marked a particularly fertile season in the artistic scene of the territory. The documentary section provides traces and testimonies, offering a glimpse into the context in which the sculptor's research developed.

The artist's early works are characterized by intense and profoundly existential figuration, already open to the demands of modern sculpture and oriented towards experimentation. The first pieces, mostly made of polished plaster, exhibit expressionist deformations, a material archaicism, and dynamic poses infused with strong emotional tension.

Starting in 1969, amidst the vibrant cultural ferment that characterized Taranto during those years, Polito progressively abandoned traditional figuration to focus on an abstract search of organic origin. This led to the creation of rounded and metamorphic forms designed for not only visual but also tactile engagement, in dialogue with the works of Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore, and Hans Arp. The introduction of iron and found objects further broadened the artist's expressive possibilities, as he addressed social and environmental themes through symbolic and visionary images, in which agonizing horses and deformed figures become metaphors for the solitude of contemporary man and the crisis of rural civilization.

From the 1980s onward, through his more mature works, Polito's research concentrated on the recovery and recontextualization of materials, tools, and artifacts from everyday life. Elements removed from their original function were transformed into sculptural presences that evoke a pre-industrial past or a present seen as future archaeological testimony. By integrating metal, stone, and reclaimed materials, the artist constructs works capable of establishing a poetic dialogue between matter, memory, and symbol.

Among the most significant realizations are the installations and public monuments Uccello di Ferro, Cento Pietre, Nuova Vegetazione, and the Memorial for the Fallen in Statte, emblematic examples of a conception of sculpture as a means of relating to the landscape, urban space, and collective memory.

The exhibition is realized with the support of Campagna Amica Taranto, Coldiretti Taranto, the Municipality of Statte, and Libreria Dickens.

PARATI
Founded in December 2025, PARATI is a project room dedicated to contemporary artistic research and the promotion of visual arts in the territory. The project is driven by artist and art historian Gianluca Marinelli, photographer Angelo Greco, and curator Cristina Carriere.

PARATI is part of a broader strategy of cultural and territorial enhancement promoted by Coldiretti Taranto and Campagna Amica, aimed at supporting initiatives that encourage participation, cultural growth, and the construction of new networks among art, community, and territory.
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