The Sacrificial Body of Painting: Collezione Maramotti Bets on Emerging Art

The art of Giuditta Branconi (b. 1998, Sant'Omero, Teramo) is a profound process of reworking and appropriation. It stems from a continuous engagement with images, words, and distinctive pictorial styles. Her art is exceptionally composite, refined, and structured, yet it paradoxically takes form where conventional structure is absent: from the chaotic core of a malaise involving vulnerable, 'sacrificial' bodies or visible materials. This concept is vividly expressed in the title of her solo exhibition, *Cannon Fodder*, on display until July 26, 2026, at Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia. The phrase itself evokes a tumultuous blend of highly disparate elements.

Her canvases seamlessly integrate both high and popular culture. Phrases and words are painted in negative on the reverse side of the linen support, coexisting with delicate floral designs and nostalgic traces of childhood cartoon characters. These fusions and 'rejections' are seemingly 'shot' onto the canvas, yet they possess a considered and unhurried quality. Instinctive marks blend imperceptibly into the overall composition. Deliberate, reactive writing is present, but it functions as a pictorial element rather than an evocative representation of violence. Writings in diverse languages, arabesque motifs, influences from Asian art, engravings, and elements from children's art are skillfully interwoven by Branconi. She ensures that each component acts as a pure pictorial sign, stripped of overt instructive intent. The word itself transcends its literal meaning, becoming an imprint of color within the painted context. The perceived 'military chaos' is subverted, receding to its ultimate purpose: accord, contention, and the final equilibrium of the artistic medium, which seeks to display its divergent harmony in full. Images, words, and symbols together form the indivisible, total aesthetic unity of the visible.

The overall effect is delicate, affectionate, yet subtly unsettling, a sentiment echoed in the titles of her works, all dated between 2025 and 2026: *Mi ricordavo più felice di così* (I Remembered Being Happier Than This); *C'est la panik sur le Périphérik* (It's Panic on the Periphery); *Danza e poi viene a prenderti (corri bambina)* (Dance and Then It Comes for You (Run, Child)). Extracts from literature, comics, newspapers, songs, and instant messages coexist with fairytale motifs and symbolic elements. These syntheses feature hearts and chains, hunting scenes, clouds, faces, stars, numbers, letters, flowers, birds, skeletons, and butterflies, creating what could be termed a "fantastic Middle Ages." This concept draws on the theories of art historian Jurgis Baltrušaitis and the vibrant essence of medieval Gothic art, embracing *horror vacui* where no space is left empty, and every element contributes to the pictorial narrative. It is the narration of a stream of consciousness that fluidly transforms into an aesthetic flow. For instance, *Se seguissi le molliche di pane (non torneresti qui mai più)* (If I Followed the Breadcrumbs (You'd Never Come Back Here)) manifests as a wooden support structure.

This installation features three paintings and a raised platform, inviting viewers to engage with the canvases from multiple perspectives—front and back, above and below. This approach fosters a less analytical, non-philological mode of observation. One can easily become immersed among the figures and images, much like in Sigmar Polke's *The Magic Lantern* (1995). Histories and stories, events and flows, symbols and cartoons are visible in both negative and positive forms. Colors subtly shift, hinting at their mixture on the pigment-saturated support, revealing distinct differences between the recto and verso. They are united even in their inherent differences. Once again, painting, by staging other narratives, ultimately stages itself.