Marilù Eustachio HEIMAT

With works by
Marilù Eustachio

Curated by
Christiane Rekade

In her paintings and drawings Marilù Eustachio reflects upon personal experiences as well as thoughts on literature and art. To this day the artist, who was born in Merano (*1934) but lives in Rome, associates the Vinschgau valley with the feeling of home. And it is this Heimat (home) that is the theme of the new work series that Marilù Eustachio will be presenting in her solo exhibition at Kunst Meran. Additionally, the exhibition will give an insight into the artist’s multifaceted oeuvre of the past twenty years.

Her mother – a woman from Vinschgau – never really felt happy in Rome, says Marilù Eustachio, and so travelled to South Tyrol whenever she had the time. Her daughter accompanied her. And even as an adult Eustachio still frequently returns to Mals and South Tyrol. In the past year the artist has approached this Heimat (home) in approximately 70 works on paper. They are drawings – with ballpoint pen, pastel or ink, mostly vague allusions of landscapes (trees, mountains, buildings). Others are denser and more elaborated depictions, some are almost abstract colour compositions. The light and fine drawings are reduced – like memories after many years – and concentrate on the essential. For the first time a selection from the series will now be on show at Kunst Meran.       

Alongside this new group of works a selection of works from the past twenty years will be shown in a wall-covering salon-style hanging, conveying the ever recurring content as well as formal themes of the artist. Landscape and nature, for example, and especially trees are a recurrent motif that can be observed throughout the years. Portraits are another recurring theme, for example in the series Il presente, il passato – Trasmutazioni that has been developed since 2003 and from which some works will be integrated into the hanging. For this, Eustachio appropriates copies of photographs (of Matisse, Renoir, Giacometti to Michael Jackson or Matthew Barney) taken from magazines or newspapers with pencil or colour pencil. The collages that are included in the hanging show her enthusiasm for experimentation, for playfulness and her keen sense of humour. For example in Homage to Fontana – a collage made from the lids of tissue boxes.     

Kunst Meran devotes a third concentrated work ensemble to Eustachio’s painting. The most recent of the so-called Carte Colorate are abstract paintings reduced to two colours and ever repeating, layering brushstrokes. 

Marilù Eustachio trained as a painter and draughtswoman on various courses and has run painting courses for youths in penal institutions for over 20 years (Istituti di Osservazione per Minorenni). Alongside art, literature is another passion and important source of inspiration in her work. She is and was continually in contact and interaction with other artists, intellectuals and authors – Susan Sonntag was amongst her friends, as well as Giorgio Agamben and the German painter and feminist Sarah Schumann.