URBAN REBIRTH: A MURAL IS PLH'S “BUSINESS CARD”
Via Voghera, south-west area of Milan. Not so long ago this location was part of that fabric of artisan industries (long live the oxymoron!) that made the Lombard capital rich. The shops and laboratories that overlooked it and those hidden in its courtyards had given it a precise identity, industrious and working-class. A “face” made of ferrous stylistic elements, metal grates and tempered and milled glass, low volumes, earthy colours, solid walls. Today all this no longer exists: despite being located in the Tortona area, one of the most renowned design districts of the Milanese metropolis, Via Voghera has lost its lively character, the houses have lost their “Milaneseness”, saddened by time and scratched by a confused, unsightly carousel of writings and signs that are difficult to decipher.
“I got here a bit by chance”, Enrico Corelli tells us, patron of PLH, “I was looking for a suitable place to set up our new showroom, a place that was part of a lively urban organism, connected to other creative and productive realities. When I heard about this laboratory in via Voghera 4a, and especially after visiting it, I said to myself that it was the right place for us. Despite the outline was anodyne, banal. In fact, from the beginning, when my staff and I began to outline the layout of the showroom, I felt, almost unconsciously, that what we were thinking and doing had in itself the potential to give meaning to this street. The interior, of course, with its essentiality that can be perceived and appreciated through the windows, but also the exterior, that is, the 'business card' with which PLH and the showroom present themselves to the visitor”.
But what can be done to make the prospectus unique and “speaking” and at the same time connect it to the world of PLH and the context? Corelli's tale continues: “I was guided by my passion for art, a love that I nurture with tenacity also because it often suggests valid product solutions as for example happened with the Mono plate collection. The street is overflowing with graffiti and tags, a chaotic layering of messages, mostly cryptic, that have formed over the years. Not a beauty, at least in my opinion. But I have to give it credit for one thing: they convinced me that transforming the front of the showroom with a high-level street art work could redeem the anonymity of the facade. I thought it would also be a gift to my city. So I started to scour the web in search of an artist who could put this idea into practice. Difficult search also due to the wealth of offers which however never satisfied me completely. In the end it was again the case to resolve the impasse. One late autumn afternoon, Alberto, my right-hand man, well-versed in the matter, calls me and says: 'Enrico, I'm here at Deus – a cult Milanese venue where motorbike and engine enthusiasts meet for an aperitif, and not only that, editor's note – and there's a team of graffiti artists decorating it with a story of Ayrton Senna. From what I can tell, they seem like the right fit for us. Come and have a look.' No sooner said than done, I speed across the city and in a flash I arrive at the Deus. What I see is exactly what I'm looking for. I approach the artist who leads the team of painters and introduce myself. And he responds, with an accent that betrays his Argentine origins: 'I'm Pablo Pinxit (aka Compagnucci,) nice to meet you.' We have an aperitif, he updates me a bit on who he is and what he does, I explain to him in broad terms what I have in mind. In the end we agree to meet the following day in the showroom”.
At seven in the evening the two meet, it is already almost dark, Pablo looks and looks at the facade, he seems a bit disconcerted, it seems too industrial, without a real aesthetic motivation. However, once inside, in front of the white, essential, very well-designed architecture of the showroom, he calms down. They begin to talk about their respective stories, about PLH and its values, about the vision and modus operandi of Pablo who, in truth, is not a street artist, but a “neomuralist”. And finally about the project. An understanding is born, an affinity. Corelli explains that he does not look for explicit references to his products, in this case he privileges the artistic factor over that of mere marketing. He wants to create inspiration. “Give me a quote”, He says, “but, regardless, you have carte blanche”. Pablo Pinxit replies: “Great, you'll see that the sense of PLH will still come out. Excellence is a value I share”.
Pablo immediately begins to make increasingly realistic sketches and renderings. Little by little the image of a very complex, almost baroque façade emerges, playing in contrast with the essentiality of the exhibition space. The artist observes: “The theme I have chosen is the pre-eminence of the Italian artistic and literary tradition, a narrative representation of the Italian Genius of which PLH is also an expression”. Once the layout of the work was ready, the property owner, Cliché Offset, still had to be convinced to accept the transformation of the facade: it could have been a problem, but the owners immediately showed an open mind, welcoming with enthusiasm and even participating in the initiative.
So in the 18x5 meters of available surface alongside the flowers that are somewhat of his trademark, Pablo has made the faces of great Italians, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Dante, Leopardi, “bloom” in a lively woven assemblage, surrounded by some details of their works, by graphic signs that evoke technological scenarios and by a reference to Canova, expressly desired by Enrico. The result is a very dynamic mural, with a rich and fascinating storytelling, with references to the great Italians, in tune with the PLH vision and world dedicated to excellence.
Made with paints and spray cans filled with colours specifically designed by Pablo Pinxit, the work stands out with extraordinary aesthetic and emotional vigor in the otherwise dull street curtain of via Voghera: a true, lasting gift to Milan. And it is a manifesto of PLH's experimental and pioneering spirit: who could have ever thought of and created such an intervention?
Corelli hopes that Pablo’s work will inspire other property owners to improve the street frontage of their property, making Via Voghera a small urban highlight. "It would be nice", glosses. “It would give an identity again, this time artistic, to a an area of the city which, however, in its deepest soul, remains, as it once was, enterprising and creative”.
Photo by Alessandro Gaja
