With the technique of tearing, collage, and cartonnage, Maurizio Prenna challenges himself with the ultimate symbol of pictorial art through the centuries—the flower—without abandoning a naturalistic reference, yet reinterpreting it through material combinations. Cardboard is the base material, torn and glued to create a floral shape that is close to reality, enhanced by color that reflects natural hues. The flowers, the subject of each composition, emerge from the fragmentation of the cardboard, which, in the artist’s hands, is reassembled into a chromatic mosaic rich in texture and layers. Every cut and tear are part of a visual narrative that explores the duality between an end and a new beginning, between chaos and harmony. The works evoke the fluid and spontaneous gestures of Impressionism, reinterpreting the floral theme through a contemporary lens.

Thus, the technique used becomes a powerful metaphor. Cardboard, a symbol of fragility and transience, is destroyed only to be reassembled into a new structure, creating a symbiosis between strength and delicacy. And the Baudelairean reference in the title should not be seen as misplaced, for it is indeed about flowers, albeit with an allusion to his poetry collection. The title alludes, in fact, with the word “flowers” to the beauty that only art can create; the word “evil” refers to the decay and vulgarity of contemporary society. And Mau, Maurizio Prenna, perhaps for this reason chose to grapple with petals, stamens, and stems, as for him, too, in the corruption of the contemporary world, only art, like nature, can produce beauty.