Galleria Abscondita presents the exhibition ARTE IN MURRINA at Via della Scrofa 114, Rome. The exhibition is dedicated to the artistic research of Antonio Dei Rossi, the only living exponent of Venetian contemporary figurative murrina and the last representative of this tradition, which originated in the second half of the 19th century
When one first takes into their hand a murrina by Antonio Dei Rossi, the experience gives rise to a range of sensations. The immediate tactile and gestural encounter first exposes us to a sense of disorientation and curiosity: it is an uncommon object, unfamiliar to us, whose rarity we perceive, as its origins and purposes remain obscure.
The small scale of the object compels the gaze to slow down, to linger, and gradually an icon emerges – a figure that, once brought into focus, becomes familiar. One then wonders how such an object has been created and understands that it is entirely made of glass – not painted, but a single block fused in heat – in which all elements are inseparable. Once the process of creating the murrina is grasped, one returns to immerse oneself in the image portrayed within this glass disc. Its physical perimeter acts as a conceptual frame, opening a perspectival view onto a fragment of reality.
The longer one observes the murrina, the more one identifies with the living and dynamic world of the depicted subject. It draws us in like a vertiginous vortex. We hear the roars of savannah felines, the chirping of wild birds, the scent of flowers, the sound of the sea, the rustle of insects’ wings.
The portraits observe us as much as we observe them, and the more experimental murrine
introduce into the history of this art elements never attempted before: portraits on convex surfaces (Eye, 2007), iconic recursions (Tautology [hand], 2024), asymmetrical perspectives (Earring, 2025). Antonio Dei Rossi’s art does not imitate reality; rather, by evoking it, it materializes it and grants it a presence beyond time.
Like a modern Atlas, Dei Rossi bears upon himself the artistic tradition of Venetian figurative murrina. He inherits the techniques employed in Murano since the mid-nineteenth century and rediscovered by his father in the late twentieth century, while also recalling – on a miniature scale– the conceptual and formal solutions of Renaissance tondi and of Greek and Roman clipei.
The murrina shares with the coin its form, weight, and iconographic intensity. It passes from hand to hand, carrying with it the mark of its maker. It is not possessed or collected to fill a space, but to preserve something precious. Rome welcomes Antonio Dei Rossi’s work as it has always welcomed what bears the mark of time: with the quiet awareness of those who recognize the enduring value of things.
Curated by Gabriele Frasca, the exhibition presents a wide selection of the artist’s figurative murrine produced over more than twenty years of activity, along with a selection of design objects - vases and jewelry - in which murrina takes center stage. The catalog, published on the occasion of the show, includes a writing by Alberto Toso Fei , essayist, writer and and an expert in Venice and Murano history.
Works by Antonio Dei Rossi are held in the collection of Museo del Vetro di Murano, Venice.
