Mimmo Rotella was an Italian artist born in 1918. He was best noted for his usage of “double décollages” where he ripped mostly movie posters off of walls before attaching them to canvas and adding other posters to the canvas to create interesting compositions and fun color combinations. Rotella was the only Italian artist that belonged to the French Nouveau Realist movement, who he showcased with in the 1960s. Rotella studied art in Naples, Italy before arriving to Kanas City where he developed his experimental “phonetic” poetry, comprised of words he created that held new meanings and sounds. Rotella eventually returned to Italy where he abandoned his signature style of collages and began experimenting with textiles and other tangible materials. Later in his life he painted with acrylic paint and incorporated other photographic themes before settling in Milan in 1980. Rotella, once called the “Italian answer to Andy Warhol”, died in 2006 after a long life dedicated to graphic art and design.
