Once Upon a Time is the first of three chapters telling the story of
Dorothy Circus, one of the most famous contemporary art's galleries in
Rome. Alexandra Mazzanti, owner and curator, stood out immediately for
her artistic foresight and her unconditional love for the Low Brow & Pop
Surrealism movements. She deeply believes in her project and its
potentialities, up to the point of making Dorothy Circus a landmark of
its kind - especially in the European market, where the Gallery has
become the first reference address for Pop Surrealism. Also the artists
she hosts are first class: Ray Caesar, Mark Ryden, Tara McPherson, Ron
English, Nicoletta Ceccoli and Camille Rose Garcia are only some of the
names involved in her three-year project. Once Upon a Time is a yearbook
of the gallery, where you can find all the events and artists who
populated the area in 2011, with critical essays, biographies and many
pictures. For fans of the genre it represents a book that cannot be
waived, for the curious who is approaching this world for the first
time, it's simply a clear and useful guide to an artistic genre
increasingly understood and appreciated in official circles - and
beyond. With its magical as well as disturbing atmosphere, one foot in a
dream and the other in a nightmare, the Pop Surrealism movement took its
first steps in Los Angeles in the late Seventies, where it met with
Surrealist movement, and at their happy marriage they invited Cinema,
Comics, Music and many other realities in perpetual becoming. Up to the
present days, when the movement is characterized by different kind of
artists and a thousand fascinating contamination. Once Upon a Time takes
you in a world that you cannot resist, where reality and fiction merge
in a perception straddling Carroll's and Lovecraft's imaginary.
