Marlene 1964

Mimmo Rotella made this artwork, Marlene, out of torn paper, y'know, like urban palimpsests that accumulate on city walls, ripped posters, weathered advertisements, and the marks of time. It's got that raw energy. I'm picturing Rotella cruising the streets, grabbing pieces of posters, maybe even feeling a bit rebellious doing so, a counterpoint to painting? He assembles these fragments, arranging and layering them, the push and pull between control and chance, action and reaction, and the history of the city itself, right there on the surface. Like, what was it like to grab that piece? What did the artist see in the tear? The way he lets the textures and colors of the original posters peek through adds a sense of depth. You can feel the material, almost touch it. The raw edges of the torn paper create movement and rhythm, with dynamic lines that remind me of action painting, Pollock, that kind of thing. The image comes together, not just as an image of Marlene, but as an echo of the city, a conversation between art and life, tradition and innovation.