An exhibition at the Uffizi celebrates the iconographic commitment of the singer-songwriter Paolo Conte's career. A selection of his 69 drawings can be seen, including many unpublished ones never exhibited before, made from the 70s to now. The exhibition, entitled 'Nostalgia for a golf, a very sweet blue wool golfer', can be seen from today until 7 January 2024 in the graphic art rooms of the Uffizi Gallery.
The subjects of the drawings, as well as the lyrics of his songs, tell fragments of the life of the Piedmontese lawyer-artist.
On 7 January, at the end of the exhibition, Paolo Conte will donate the 1978 Self-Portrait of a Pyrla, to the museum, thus becoming part of the museum's collection of self-portraits.
"I have already had the opportunity to confess that the vice of painting and drawing is older in my life than that of music and songs," said Paolo Conte, "also confessing that musical composition maneuvers on me in the form of excitement, while painting and drawing give me calm and lightness."
"After the exhibitions held on the occasion of the publication of my multimedia work Razmataz - continues Conte - in which 1,800 of my illustrations had been mounted on the corresponding DVD, my attendance at the fine arts stopped, also because of the legitimate concern that that much notoriety acquired as a songwriter could lead one to think that I wanted to take advantage of it to free myself to another different limelight. So, then, my works are back in my drawers, just like the nostalgia of a sweet blue wool sweater. Now, accepting Eike Schmidt's honorable invitation, some of my works on paper are re-presented to the public and enthusiasts in the prestigious Uffizi Gallery."
The director of the Uffizi Eike Schmidt explained that "Paolo Conte's exhibition wants to testify to the double artistic soul of the great musician, and bring to the attention of the public this perhaps less known, but no less fundamental aspect of his creativity".
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