Alexandra Mazzanti and the Return to Figurative Art:
A Portrait of Passion, Research, and Pioneering Spirit
Born in 1978 in Rome, Italy, Alexandra Mazzanti emerges as an art collector and curator with an unconventional path guided by original research deeply rooted in the world of international creativity.
Descendant of the noble Hercolani family of Bologna, and raised in an environment steeped in classical art and music cultivated by her mother, Maddalena Di Giacomo, Alexandra developed from an early age a profound sensitivity, refined and romantic, and an intrinsic connection with the aesthetics and evocative realms of 18th and 19th-century art.
Her classical education was enriched by practical experiences as she worked alongside sculptors and painters in their studios between Rome and Venice. This blend of study and behind-the-scenes experience in creation led her to the world of theatre, where she worked as a set designer and stage photographer. By 1999, her visionary scenarios had reached prestigious stages such as the Teatro Olimpico in Rome and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
Alexandra’s entry into the art market saw her curating intimate art and interior design salons in her residences in Rome, Verona, Florence, and Venice. These spaces became meeting points for friends and art lovers to engage with artists and commission works of art. Through frequent travels exploring international art markets, Alexandra became passionate about the vibrant underground scene in Los Angeles as well as the unique contemporary scene in Japan, further broadening her curatorial perspective and personal collection.
In 2007, amidst a stagnant European art scene predominantly focused on the tired trajectory of abstract and conceptual art no longer reflective of contemporary sentiment, Alexandra, together with her mother Maddalena Di Giacomo, founded the Dorothy Circus Gallery.
Born from a shared vision of bringing new trends in figurative art that Alexandra had recently discovered in the United States to the Italian landscape, the DCG of Alexandra Mazzanti quickly became a reference point for the most innovative contemporary artistic expressions and a crucial platform for international artists. It promoted new trends, still unknown or considered lowbrow, such as Street Art and Pop Surrealism, offering them a luxurious setting for the original narratives and aesthetics that had deeply resonated with her personal journey.
Discovering Pop Surrealism
“Pop Surrealism suddenly bursts onto the contemporary art scene from the hidden alleys of the underground, radically developing and emerging as a fully established and unique artistic movement. What primarily makes its uniqueness is the radical departure from the current artistic language, breaking away from the enigmatic abstractionism of white cubes, from those geometric and rigid forms replaced by Pop Surrealism with a profoundly figurative art, driven by the awakening of collective emotion and rendered through the visual messages of the most extreme intimacy.”
“Pop Surrealism presents itself as art pulsating with life, whose pop icons perfectly reflect the controversies of the historical and cultural reality in which we live. It mocks this reality with sharp yet sophisticated irony, a wise sarcasm that suddenly reveals a new awareness, the existence of the surreal.
Here, Pop Surrealism becomes an exact projection of the unconscious and its adventures. This explains the constant fairy-tale presence in the works of such artists, where childhood, personified through recurring childlike figures, becomes a metaphor for the pure and innocent soul, the only one capable of glimpsing the dreamlike universe of the unconscious, where nothing is absurd and the surreal materializes.
Simultaneously, the grotesque of the paradoxical compositions makes the atmosphere vague and no longer safe, due to an unknown hiding behind the trunks of enchanted forests, reflecting the same imperceptibility of the human subconscious. As is often the case with major cultural avant-gardes, which arise boldly to oppose what has become tradition, Pop Surrealism is born to regenerate a forgotten figurativeness through new interpretative canons, giving shape to an artistic current in its own right.
Having faced initial official criticism, followed by a constant process of expansion and development that has now involved the fields of design, fashion, and photography, the new Surrealism has become an integral part of contemporary art. This is thanks to its major icons, such as Joe Sorren, Marion Peck, and Mark Ryden, whose huge-format oil paintings are exhibited in prestigious international museums and collected by renowned collectors and Celebrities…”
(Alexandra Mazzanti, 2010)
Femininity: Not a Matter of Gender but of Expressive Language
Alexandra Mazzanti’s curatorial work is deeply inspired by her studies of the voices of female artists historically underrepresented in the art scene. She has dedicated herself to creating an exhibition space that not only celebrates female artists but also delves into the complexities of femininity. Using “female language” as a philosophical pillar, Alexandra’s approach promotes introspection and the art of emotions, articulated with courage and sensitivity by both female
artists and artists with a “female avatar.”
This distinctive narrative framework not only sheds light on the unique experiences and contributions of women but also advances a matriarchal vision that fosters community growth and promotes understanding and dialogue. Alexandra Mazzanti’s journey in the art world is deeply shaped by her commitment to fostering a sentimental rather than commercial gallery.
Discovering Pop Surrealism
Her role as owner, director, and sole curator of the Dorothy Circus Gallery is not simply about curating art but aims to stimulate the constant study of art history and culture, its recurring symbolism, and the myriad fantastic expressions of the human psyche.
Since 2007, Alexandra has curated hundreds of solo and group exhibitions with artists from around the world, primarily for her DCG in Rome (est. 2007) and London (est. 2017), as well as several significant institutional and museum projects. She has worked with the most renowned icons of Street Art and the Pop Surrealist movement, significantly contributing to bringing them to the attention of the contemporary European art world and highlighting extraordinary new talents in contemporary international art. Among her institutional projects: “Spray for Your Rights,” “Cross The Streets,” “Color for Action,” “Pop New Pop” at MACRO in Rome, “Pop Surrealism, What a WanderFool World” at the Carandente Museum, “Troubles With Angels,” a Ray Caesar retrospective at Palazzo Saluzzo, and “Lacrima Aquarium” at the Casa dell’Architettura Acquario Romano.
Alexandra’s experience as both a collector and art consultant allows her to deeply understand the personal and aesthetic needs and background of both collectors and artists.
This expertise is reflected in her ability to work closely with artists, deepening the connection between the origins of a work of art and its appreciation. Her sentimental approach to art is also mirrored in the relationships she establishes with her clientele, blending constant attention to the art market with the ability to anticipate trends, excelling in discovering emerging talents and consistently and devotedly following established artists, bringing their careers to the attention of new collectors and placing their valuable artworks in prestigious collections.
Reflecting her philosophical commitment to the role of art in society through her curatorship, Alexandra transcends the boundaries of a visual experience of the Surreality of art, offering with each exhibition a deep introspective journey and sharing emotions born from elective affinities. Her selection of artists is based on technical mastery in both painting and sculpture, creative originality, and the ability to continue humanity’s narrative with an awareness of the trajectory of art history and modern art, as well as a meaningful translation of contemporary storytelling. The presented works are innovative and stimulating, capable of creating a refined visual language that, while respecting cultural heritage, subverts it with its contemporary soul.
Future Projects: The Maddalena Di Giacomo Foundation
Looking to the future, Alexandra is set to introduce the Maddalena Di Giacomo Foundation, opening in 2026, nestled within the grandeur of a historic Venetian palace. This Foundation is dedicated to exploring the conjunction between ‘Memory’ and ‘Synesthesia,’ offering a curated selection of artworks spanning the centuries. The Foundation aims to be a Cultural Salon that invites dialogue between historical and contemporary art forms through a rich program of exhibitions and educational activities,
including workshops, conferences, concerts, and artist residencies.
The inception of the Maddalena Di Giacomo Foundation was catalyzed by the loss of Alexandra’s mother, inspiring in her a profound commitment to continue and disseminate their shared heritage. Now, along with her three children, Alexandra dedicates herself to carrying forward this cultural legacy, ensuring that the values and visions they cherished together will be perpetuated through the Foundation.
“Let’s begin from the name. Dorothy, like the main character of the Wizard of Oz: an imaginary creature indeed, but not like the absent-minded Alice. Another detail: the red shoes that not only have superpowers, they wink on stage. Let’s get down to the circus: an idea of choral show, between the clownish and the tight-rope walker. The common element is the marvel that joins art, music, theatre and entertainment. And now astonishment becomes a sort of research; hunger to reach beyond, to find the image that catapults you in realm of dreams. Extraordinary or multi-sensory trips, enclosed in a hyper stratified artwork, or dispersed in the environment.
It is with audacity that in 2007, Alexandra Mazzanti’s gallery lands in the Pigneto district of Rome, an old peasant area on the outskirts of the city, dear to Pasolini and gentrified by the new occupiers (artists, intellectuals, VIP fauna). The area of the gallery is on the ground floor of a small villa; two large rooms with fiery red walls and an external courtyard. Since its first inauguration it became instantly clear that Dorothy is not just any art gallery, the public is welcomed by a contortionist in a shop window. But the idea is not to shock, to enhance the container to sweeten the enclosed. The show is intrinsic to the idea of art as an immersive experience. And the vernissage is a small masterpiece in itself, playing the surprise card. It reminds me of the historical Parisian exhibition “Le Vide” by Yves Klein at the Iris Clert gallery in 1958, with its monochrome white walls and blue cocktails being served to visitors.
Seventy years later at the Dorothy gallery you can sense the same feeling of being at the forefront, in a Pop Surrealism key. The new climate – melting pot if techniques, contemporary iconography, computer graphics, underground style and erudite citations – is one of the new “isms” of the Naughties. And Alexandra Mazzanti, adventurous like her fairy tale alter-ego, is already searching for the Witch of the West; not to defeat her, but rather to adopt her. Dorothy is to Pop Surrealism what The Factory was for Pop Art: a family. Without matriarchal diktats or the whims of a career woman, it is not unusual that after an exhibition you find yourself in the lounge of Alexandra Mazzanti’s museum-house, between toys and vinyls, sculptures by Kathie Olivas and Amanda’s dog attempting to steal a mouthful from the table.
Dinners chez Mazzanti, like the vernissage, are always different: from sushi to last minute recipes made out of fridge leftovers, from macaroons to the capital’s most famous tiramisu. All done without formality, the only ingredient that is never missing is a merry company. This is the reason why Art and Life are continuously blurring into one, from the pressroom to the living room, from foreign trips to uncover new talents to the tireless web searches.
The alchemy comes out of a blend of fantasy and substance, of creative flair and entrepreneurial nose. And the secret is the passion, an adventure after the other. It’s from this desire to change that the decision to relocate to the centre was born. To the new base in Via dei Pettinari, between Campo de’ Fiori and Ponte Sisto. Which is of course a strategic location, but the logic is not just business oriented. In the meantime, Dorothy has grown. You can see it from her creations, her children Gelsomina and Romeo (Alexandra is always surrounded by an aura of rarified and pre-Raphaelite beauty so that it’s difficult to guess how old she is): at the beginning, they were two tiny little things, now they have become a sensitive preadolescent girl and a quick-witted boy.
They are two pieces of artwork in flesh and bone that do not disdain being depicted near their mother like the main characters of a familiar novel, in which homework and football matches are laced with instalments and inaugurations. If it’s true that the art dealer lives in symbiosis with the rest of the world, it is also true that she manages to cut herself out sometimes on her own. That’s when you see her in front of her computer, captured by the latest “genius” uncovered online. Or absorbed into planning her next event, strong-willed and dreamy… Then she wakes up and you can hear her shout: “Gelso, Romeo, food is ready!”
(About Alexandra Mazzanti by M. E. Fiaschetti)
ADVISORY SERVICES
Being Collector herself and Artist Advisor since her early career, Alexandra Mazzanti is able to deeply understand the personal and aesthetic needs and taste of the collector as well as that of the artist and deepen the link between the Origins of the work of Art and its Fruition. The sentimental approach that AM has with Art is equally reflected in the relationship she has with her clientele and her expertise. She has extensive and professional knowledge of the contemporary art market and by always anticipating its trends, she is both able to source rising talented artists and well known artists to enhance their careers by delivering thought-provoking exhibitions and allocate promising and valuable artworks in prestigious art collections.
AM goes further her expertise and aims to share emotions based on elective affinities. She feels a connection with the collectors who bring art to their homes, wether the art has been acquired from her gallery or not, as if they have just embarked on a journey together. For Alexandra, sharing the art collecting experience feels like having known each other forever. We are all connected by a secret feeling that remains intangible and creates the special bond that only comes with Art. A strong painting has the power to connect us all in different ways, making us no longer strangers, but rather friends with shared memories. This is the reason why AM very carefully selects the Artists for the gallery programme and for your personal collection as if it was for her own.
Alexandra Mazzanti and the Return to Figurative Art:
A Portrait of Passion, Research, and Pioneering Spirit
Born in 1978 in Rome, Italy, Alexandra Mazzanti emerges as an art collector and curator with an unconventional path guided by original research deeply rooted in the world of international creativity.
Descendant of the noble Hercolani family of Bologna, and raised in an environment steeped in classical art and music cultivated by her mother, Maddalena Di Giacomo, Alexandra developed from an early age a profound sensitivity, refined and romantic, and an intrinsic connection with the aesthetics and evocative realms of 18th and 19th-century art.
Her classical education was enriched by practical experiences as she worked alongside sculptors and painters in their studios between Rome and Venice. This blend of study and behind-the-scenes experience in creation led her to the world of theatre, where she worked as a set designer and stage photographer. By 1999, her visionary scenarios had reached prestigious stages such as the Teatro Olimpico in Rome and the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
Alexandra’s entry into the art market saw her curating intimate art and interior design salons in her residences in Rome, Verona, Florence, and Venice. These spaces became meeting points for friends and art lovers to engage with artists and commission works of art. Through frequent travels exploring international art markets, Alexandra became passionate about the vibrant underground scene in Los Angeles as well as the unique contemporary scene in Japan, further broadening her curatorial perspective and personal collection.
In 2007, amidst a stagnant European art scene predominantly focused on the tired trajectory of abstract and conceptual art no longer reflective of contemporary sentiment, Alexandra, together with her mother Maddalena Di Giacomo, founded the Dorothy Circus Gallery.
Born from a shared vision of bringing new trends in figurative art that Alexandra had recently discovered in the United States to the Italian landscape, the DCG of Alexandra Mazzanti quickly became a reference point for the most innovative contemporary artistic expressions and a crucial platform for international artists. It promoted new trends, still unknown or considered lowbrow, such as Street Art and Pop Surrealism, offering them a luxurious setting for the original narratives and aesthetics that had deeply resonated with her personal journey.
Discovering Pop Surrealism
“Pop Surrealism suddenly bursts onto the contemporary art scene from the hidden alleys of the underground, radically developing and emerging as a fully established and unique artistic movement. What primarily makes its uniqueness is the radical departure from the current artistic language, breaking away from the enigmatic abstractionism of white cubes, from those geometric and rigid forms replaced by Pop Surrealism with a profoundly figurative art, driven by the awakening of collective emotion and rendered through the visual messages of the most extreme intimacy.”
“Pop Surrealism presents itself as art pulsating with life, whose pop icons perfectly reflect the controversies of the historical and cultural reality in which we live. It mocks this reality with sharp yet sophisticated irony, a wise sarcasm that suddenly reveals a new awareness, the existence of the surreal.
Here, Pop Surrealism becomes an exact projection of the unconscious and its adventures. This explains the constant fairy-tale presence in the works of such artists, where childhood, personified through recurring childlike figures, becomes a metaphor for the pure and innocent soul, the only one capable of glimpsing the dreamlike universe of the unconscious, where nothing is absurd and the surreal materializes.
Simultaneously, the grotesque of the paradoxical compositions makes the atmosphere vague and no longer safe, due to an unknown hiding behind the trunks of enchanted forests, reflecting the same imperceptibility of the human subconscious. As is often the case with major cultural avant-gardes, which arise boldly to oppose what has become tradition, Pop Surrealism is born to regenerate a forgotten figurativeness through new interpretative canons, giving shape to an artistic current in its own right.
Having faced initial official criticism, followed by a constant process of expansion and development that has now involved the fields of design, fashion, and photography, the new Surrealism has become an integral part of contemporary art. This is thanks to its major icons, such as Joe Sorren, Marion Peck, and Mark Ryden, whose huge-format oil paintings are exhibited in prestigious international museums and collected by renowned collectors and Celebrities…”
(Alexandra Mazzanti, 2010)
Femininity: Not a Matter of Gender but of Expressive Language
Alexandra Mazzanti’s curatorial work is deeply inspired by her studies of the voices of female artists historically underrepresented in the art scene. She has dedicated herself to creating an exhibition space that not only celebrates female artists but also delves into the complexities of femininity. Using “female language” as a philosophical pillar, Alexandra’s approach promotes introspection and the art of emotions, articulated with courage and sensitivity by both female artists and artists with a “female avatar.”
This distinctive narrative framework not only sheds light on the unique experiences and contributions of women but also advances a matriarchal vision that fosters community growth and promotes understanding and dialogue. Alexandra Mazzanti’s journey in the art world is deeply shaped by her commitment to fostering a sentimental rather than commercial gallery.
Her role as owner, director, and sole curator of the Dorothy Circus Gallery is not simply about curating art but aims to stimulate the constant study of art history and culture, its recurring symbolism, and the myriad fantastic expressions of the human psyche.
Since 2007, Alexandra has curated hundreds of solo and group exhibitions with artists from around the world, primarily for her DCG in Rome (est. 2007) and London (est. 2017), as well as several significant institutional and museum projects. She has worked with the most renowned icons of Street Art and the Pop Surrealist movement, significantly contributing to bringing them to the attention of the contemporary European art world and highlighting extraordinary new talents in contemporary international art. Among her institutional projects: “Spray for Your Rights,” “Cross The Streets,” “Color for Action,” “Pop New Pop” at MACRO in Rome, “Pop Surrealism, What a WanderFool World” at the Carandente Museum, “Troubles With Angels,” a Ray Caesar retrospective at Palazzo Saluzzo, and “Lacrima Aquarium” at the Casa dell’Architettura Acquario Romano.
Alexandra’s experience as both a collector and art consultant allows her to deeply understand the personal and aesthetic needs and background of both collectors and artists.
This expertise is reflected in her ability to work closely with artists, deepening the connection between the origins of a work of art and its appreciation. Her sentimental approach to art is also mirrored in the relationships she establishes with her clientele, blending constant attention to the art market with the ability to anticipate trends, excelling in discovering emerging talents and consistently and devotedly following established artists, bringing their careers to the attention of new collectors and placing their valuable artworks in prestigious collections.
Reflecting her philosophical commitment to the role of art in society through her curatorship, Alexandra transcends the boundaries of a visual experience of the Surreality of art, offering with each exhibition a deep introspective journey and sharing emotions born from elective affinities. Her selection of artists is based on technical mastery in both painting and sculpture, creative originality, and the ability to continue humanity’s narrative with an awareness of the trajectory of art history and modern art, as well as a meaningful translation of contemporary storytelling. The presented works are innovative and stimulating, capable of creating a refined visual language that, while respecting cultural heritage, subverts it with its contemporary soul.
Future Projects: The Maddalena Di Giacomo Foundation
Looking to the future, Alexandra is set to introduce the Maddalena Di Giacomo Foundation, opening in 2026, nestled within the grandeur of a historic Venetian palace. This Foundation is dedicated to exploring the conjunction between ‘Memory’ and ‘Synesthesia,’ offering a curated selection of artworks spanning the centuries. The Foundation aims to be a Cultural Salon that invites dialogue between historical and contemporary art forms through a rich program of exhibitions and educational activities,
including workshops, conferences, concerts, and artist residencies.
The inception of the Maddalena Di Giacomo Foundation was catalyzed by the loss of Alexandra’s mother, inspiring in her a profound commitment to continue and disseminate their shared heritage. Now, along with her three children, Alexandra dedicates herself to carrying forward this cultural legacy, ensuring that the values and visions they cherished together will be perpetuated through the Foundation.
“Let’s begin from the name. Dorothy, like the main character of the Wizard of Oz: an imaginary creature indeed, but not like the absent-minded Alice. Another detail: the red shoes that not only have superpowers, they wink on stage. Let’s get down to the circus: an idea of choral show, between the clownish and the tight-rope walker. The common element is the marvel that joins art, music, theatre and entertainment. And now astonishment becomes a sort of research; hunger to reach beyond, to find the image that catapults you in realm of dreams. Extraordinary or multi-sensory trips, enclosed in a hyper stratified artwork, or dispersed in the environment.
It is with audacity that in 2007, Alexandra Mazzanti’s gallery lands in the Pigneto district of Rome, an old peasant area on the outskirts of the city, dear to Pasolini and gentrified by the new occupiers (artists, intellectuals, VIP fauna). The area of the gallery is on the ground floor of a small villa; two large rooms with fiery red walls and an external courtyard. Since its first inauguration it became instantly clear that Dorothy is not just any art gallery, the public is welcomed by a contortionist in a shop window. But the idea is not to shock, to enhance the container to sweeten the enclosed. The show is intrinsic to the idea of art as an immersive experience. And the vernissage is a small masterpiece in itself, playing the surprise card. It reminds me of the historical Parisian exhibition “Le Vide” by Yves Klein at the Iris Clert gallery in 1958, with its monochrome white walls and blue cocktails being served to visitors.
Seventy years later at the Dorothy gallery you can sense the same feeling of being at the forefront, in a Pop Surrealism key. The new climate – melting pot if techniques, contemporary iconography, computer graphics, underground style and erudite citations – is one of the new “isms” of the Naughties. And Alexandra Mazzanti, adventurous like her fairy tale alter-ego, is already searching for the Witch of the West; not to defeat her, but rather to adopt her. Dorothy is to Pop Surrealism what The Factory was for Pop Art: a family. Without matriarchal diktats or the whims of a career woman, it is not unusual that after an exhibition you find yourself in the lounge of Alexandra Mazzanti’s museum-house, between toys and vinyls, sculptures by Kathie Olivas and Amanda’s dog attempting to steal a mouthful from the table.
Dinners chez Mazzanti, like the vernissage, are always different: from sushi to last minute recipes made out of fridge leftovers, from macaroons to the capital’s most famous tiramisu. All done without formality, the only ingredient that is never missing is a merry company. This is the reason why Art and Life are continuously blurring into one, from the pressroom to the living room, from foreign trips to uncover new talents to the tireless web searches.
The alchemy comes out of a blend of fantasy and substance, of creative flair and entrepreneurial nose. And the secret is the passion, an adventure after the other. It’s from this desire to change that the decision to relocate to the centre was born. To the new base in Via dei Pettinari, between Campo de’ Fiori and Ponte Sisto. Which is of course a strategic location, but the logic is not just business oriented. In the meantime, Dorothy has grown. You can see it from her creations, her children Gelsomina and Romeo (Alexandra is always surrounded by an aura of rarified and pre-Raphaelite beauty so that it’s difficult to guess how old she is): at the beginning, they were two tiny little things, now they have become a sensitive preadolescent girl and a quick-witted boy.
They are two pieces of artwork in flesh and bone that do not disdain being depicted near their mother like the main characters of a familiar novel, in which homework and football matches are laced with instalments and inaugurations. If it’s true that the art dealer lives in symbiosis with the rest of the world, it is also true that she manages to cut herself out sometimes on her own. That’s when you see her in front of her computer, captured by the latest “genius” uncovered online. Or absorbed into planning her next event, strong-willed and dreamy… Then she wakes up and you can hear her shout: “Gelso, Romeo, food is ready!”
(About Alexandra Mazzanti by M. E. Fiaschetti)
ADVISORY SERVICES
Being Collector herself and Artist Advisor since her early career, Alexandra Mazzanti is able to deeply understand the personal and aesthetic needs and taste of the collector as well as that of the artist and deepen the link between the Origins of the work of Art and its Fruition. The sentimental approach that AM has with Art is equally reflected in the relationship she has with her clientele and her expertise. She has extensive and professional knowledge of the contemporary art market and by always anticipating its trends, she is both able to source rising talented artists and well known artists to enhance their careers by delivering thought-provoking exhibitions and allocate promising and valuable artworks in prestigious art collections.
AM goes further her expertise and aims to share emotions based on elective affinities. She feels a connection with the collectors who bring art to their homes, wether the art has been acquired from her gallery or not, as if they have just embarked on a journey together. For Alexandra, sharing the art collecting experience feels like having known each other forever. We are all connected by a secret feeling that remains intangible and creates the special bond that only comes with Art. A strong painting has the power to connect us all in different ways, making us no longer strangers, but rather friends with shared memories. This is the reason why AM very carefully selects the Artists for the gallery programme and for your personal collection as if it was for her own.
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