In the Project Room, Fondazione ICA Milano presents L'Addio, the first solo exhibition by Leonardo Devito (Florence, 1997) in an Italian institution, curated by Chiara Nuzzi.

The exhibition includes a new corpus of paintings and ceramic bas-reliefs created specifically for the Foundation’s spaces. The works extend beyond the walls of the Project Room and expands through the corridor, establishing a continuous dialogue between images and architecture.

Devito’s visions arise from the interweaving of autobiographical experience, memory, literature and shared imaginaries. In the exhibition L’Addio, these narratives converge to the transition’s narration from youth to adulthood: a moment of transformation in which one breaks away from the domestic and familial sphere to face the inevitable uncertainty of self-construction.

Through painting and ceramics, Devito revives the centuries-old pictorial tradition of storytelling through images, reactivating its allegorical and symbolic potential. Devito’s use of colour and his evocative process transform the meaning of the figures, allowing an open narrative—one in constant redefinition—to emerge.

Suspended atmospheres and literary references evoking the worlds of Kafka, Calvino and Buzzati construct a visual vocabulary characteristic of Devito’s work, populated by human and animal figures, domestic interiors and landscapes that are at times desolate. These references also recur in L’Addio, which thus becomes the story of a continuous transformation and the search for a new identity.

Fondazione ICA Milano would like to thank Banca Intesa Sanpaolo, the Foundation’s official sponsor, Valsoia and Enel for their support of ICA Milano’s programme and activities.

The exhibition Leonardo Devito. L'Addio is supported by Eni as Main Partner.

We thank Ciaccia Levi gallery for its support of the exhibition Leonardo Devito. L’Addio.