Diplomatic World 67

SYLVESTER STALLONE
75 TH BIRTHDAY RETROSPECTIVE
OSTHAUS MUSEUM HAGEN
After museum exhibitions at the State Russian Museum,
St. Petersburg (2013) and the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art
Contemporain, Nice (2015), the Osthaus Museum Hagen, on
the occasion of Sylvester Stallone’s 75th birthday, presents a
retrospective of his works. The complete oeuvre from the late
sixties until today is illuminated, as well as the various artistic
phases of the action star. On view are approximately 50 paintings,
including self-portraits and never-before-seen early works.
Stallone’s paintings are on the one hand “action-packed” and
expressive like his films and on the other hand subtle and multi-layered
in their statements. The Hollywood star with an affinity
for art knowledgeably uses various art forms such as surrealism,
expressionism and abstraction as forms of expression.
Painting has been a close and constant part of Sylvester
Stallone’s creative expressions for the past 55 years, with his
artistic output fueling his cinematic work and vice versa.
Sylvester Stallone: “That’s what I love about painting, it’s the only
true communication you can have. Writing can be manipulated,
painting is the fastest and purest translator of the subconscious.
When something is going on inside you and you hit the canvas,
it’s hard to fake it. The artist on the canvas is number one for me
when it comes to conveying his feelings.”
Stallone’s most famous film character, ROCKY, was first created
on screen long before the movie script and is featured in the
exhibition as 1975’s “Finding Rocky.”
Stallone discovered a love of painting at a young age. His early
works, which he signed Mike Stallone, were very experimental.
However, for financial reasons, he worked as a writer and began
his acting career.
Sylvester Stallone was intensively involved with contemporary
art as a collector and as a painter. At the end of the 1980s he
was particularly interested in the art of Picasso, Gerhard Richter
or Anselm Kiefer. He also dealt with the abstract works of Mark
Rothko and developed his own style. In this way, he created numerous
expressionistic works, some as alienated self-portraits,
others playing with language.
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive bilingual
catalogue, with interviews as well as texts by Dr. Tayfun Belgin,
director oft he Osthaus Museum Hagen, Dr. Evgenia Petrova,
scientific director of the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, and
to Dr. Jérôme Neutres, the former director of the Réunion des
Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais and president of the Musée du
Luxembourg. The catalog will be published in early February.
Copyright: courtesy Galerie Gmurzynska artwork Sylvester
Stallone anf Sabine Brauer Fotos
WHEN ART TOUCHES THE SOUL
SYLVESTER STALLONE IS NOT ONLY
AN ACTOR, HE IS A PERSON WITH
AN INCREDIBLE DEPTH WHO
UNDERSTANDS THE WORLD AND
PROCESSES HIS WORRIES, HIS FEARS
BUT ALSO HIS PASSION FOR THE WORLD
IN HIS WORKS
LOOK AT HIS EXHIBITION
THEN YOU DON’T SEE ROCKY
THE FIGHTER ANYMORE
YOU SEE A WONDERFUL
PERSON AND ARTIST
BARBARA DIETRICH,
CEO DIPLOMATIC WORLD
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