Macro Testaccio is one of two Macro contemporary art museums in Rome. It is situated at the base of Monte Testaccio, an artificial mountain composed entirely of fragmented ancient Roman amphorae. The gallery itself is an ex-abattoir built between 1888 and 1891 and designed by architect Gioacchino Erosch.

 

The complex consists of several large gallery spaces constructed in brick and cast iron, and was opened as a gallery space in 2003. Currently on show at Macro Testaccio is a monographic exhibition of recent works by Italian artist Marco Tirelli. His large canvases, which were created for the exhibition, are divided between two spaces, one displaying the ordered and rational works of clearly recognisable objects, the second showing saturated monochromes of a more abstract nature.

 

The artist's interest in French Pointillism is apparent in the works, which consist of tiny dots of pure colour creating objects and shapes that emerge from the canvas like ghostly apparitions. Tirelli, in his creation of the works for this exhibition, has been strongly influenced by the Macro complex itself, with its markedly industrial characteristics. The two pavilions differ in lighting and colouring, the first being naturally lit with pale grey walls, the second with backed out windows and a Pompeian red interior.

 

Tirelli's works are on display until the May 13.

 

www.macro.roma.museum

 

Susan Strongman