#Eduardo Secci Contemporary

[pikasus-artenews]

GIO’ POMODORO Giò Pomodoro è una figura centrale della scultura internazionale, che si è distinto per le sue invenzioni, sperimentazioni e capacità di coniugare teoria e prassi

[junow-honours]

Oral Presentation 3/3

Slides and accompanying script

1. Artificial Generated Image (Top)

A decision that I made within my process was to use Artificial Intelligence to regenerate my existing images into new iterations. This is both a decision based on efficiency of time, but also for the quality of my content. Allowing the AI algorithm to wash over and revisualise my images allows the work more potential and possibility than the limits that my own personal imagination would offer. I am interested in how AI understands and perceives my ideas, manifesting them into deformed, grotesque, and sinister representations rich with complex, esoteric language and symbolism. I decided that every feature, texture, image, and character design I create will go through a 'wash' of AI, as it both perfectly distorts and intensifies my ideas, making them more disturbing, ambiguous, and other-worldly.

2. Artist model: Simon Denny (Middle left)

Simon Denny, a contemporary New Zealand artist based in Berlin, utilizes the archetype of the game in his exhibition ‘The Founder’s Paradox’, at the Michael Lett Gallery, in 2017. This exhibition employs the structure of the ‘game’ to reflect the complex fractured and fractious social climate destabilized by competing political visions and the uncertainty of new technologies. This exhibition utilizes world-building strategies to illustrate the imagined utopian futures of Silicon Valley’s techno-libertarians on New Zealand land- believed to be safe havens for when the end of the world comes.

The centerpiece of the exhibition is the tabletop strategy role-play game called ‘Founders’, heavily influenced by the colonialist language, objectives, and aesthetics of the game ‘Settlers of Catan.’ The aim of Founders is to not only evade and settle new territories, accumulate resources, and accomplish objectives, but to prosper and pursue immortality and god-like statuses of ‘Founders’. 

Simon Denny, as one of the most significant artist models for my practice, both influenced the visual outcome of my work, and the complexity of the relationship between the game aspect and the contextual ideas it represented. Where my practice deviates from his is the personal and emotional investment I have established with it, where it may have started as an individual project, it has currently become a practice-wide methodology. Allowing myself to become entirely invested and carried away within the creation of the lore and worlds has brought me to a point in which it has become personally important. 

Simon Denny utilizes games and gamification as a tool to communicate his ideas within a series of projects within his wider practice, and where Denny’s work can be read as slightly ironic, my work is intended to be read more seriously.

3. Artist model: Theo Triantafyllidis (Middle right)

Theo Triantafyllidis is a contemporary artist based in Athens, Greece, he exhibited the show Radicalization Pipeline at Eduardo Secci’s Project Space in Milan, October 2021. Triantafyllidis’ work draws inspiration from video-games and recent events of civil disorder in America, he makes connections between gamification, fantasy, political radicalization and internet ‘wokeness’. 

Following the aesthetic of video-games, this exhibition presents ceramic weapons that are reminiscent of the exaggerated forms in video-games, which is compared to the exaggerated extremist ideologies which internet culture has accelerated. 

This exhibition also featured a large screen display playing a live simulation called Radicalization Pipeline, which features two seemingly endless hordes of characters clashing into a violent brawl of protest and violence. 

I am interested in Triantfyllidis’ work because of his connections between real social issues and internet culture, specifically within the realm of video games. Compared to Simon Denny, Triantafyllidis’ work seems to embrace the notion of the ‘ridiculousness’ that exists within both these cultures and the camp aesthetics of fantasy and geek culture.

4. Mid-year work Campaign (Below Middle left)

This is the work that I presented for the Whitecliffe mid-year exhibition in June, which I titled ‘Campaign.’ 

It further focuses on the trope of ‘The Game’, by incorporating elements of world-building, archetypal characters, social systems, storytelling and esoteric lore to develop the premise of my constructed world. At this moment in time I understood that I was using this game as a manifestation of my attempts to understand the world around me. The process of creating it granted me the opportunity and allowance to explore the various complexities of the human condition, aiding me in the discovery of finding a sense of purpose or direction in life.

As written in my accompanying artist statement; I see the world around me as one that is driven by technology, artificial intelligence, consumerism and mainstream entertainment. I believe that our modern world is characterized as disenchanted. This is maintained through the demystification of wonders and marvels from the lense of science and logic, and is heightened by global events of war and pandemic. It is within this world that the desire for ‘wonder’ arises. Wonder exists within fleeting moments of enchantment, which can be accessed through forms of entertainment, escapism, and deep emotional and spiritual connection to things.

5. Mid-year work Campaign, second slide (Below Middle right)

I find that the archetype of the ‘tabletop board-game’ was an appropriate vessel to explore the complexity of all these concepts. Within a game we are presented with choices, we must make decisions, decipher riddles, accept consequences, and find triumph in victory. The board game allows us to take control and gain agency of our own decisions without any risk of significant consequential loss. The popular table-top roleplay game Dungeons & Dragons immerses players within worlds driven by fantasy, occultism, and esoteric lore. These gaming practices open passages to wider influences around ancient mythologies, allegorical tales, recurring motifs and common archetypes of gods, monsters, and heroes.

Becoming the architect, or ‘Dungeon Master’ of my own constructed world allows me the sense of agency that I feel is lacking in reality. I wish to re-contextualize the enchanting and allegorical nature of ancient mythologies into the context of our disenchanted modernity today. Where does technology and mythology intersect and empower one another? Are table-top gaming practices a ritual in itself that allow deeper, spiritual enlightenment to the possibility of higher powers, divinities, and alternate universes?

6. Lit review: Jane Bennett’s The Enchantment of Modern Life (Bottom left)

In The Enchantment of Modern Life, philosopher Jane Bennett describes the phenomenological experience of ‘enchantment’ as a pure state of wonder, a spell-binding moment of complete transfixion or immobilization. To be enchanted is to be struck and enamored by moments of the extraordinary that lives amid the everyday, often prompted through events, entities and objects. Enchantment is something that may be encountered unexpectedly, that appears before us in given circumstances, however it can also be fostered through the deliberate use of strategies, such as ‘gamification.’ 

On the other hand, Bennett’s definition of the disenchanted modernity entails the existential resentment, victimization and tragedy experienced within the human condition. It is reflected through the numerous binds and systems we are tied to; the struggle of living up to impossible ideals and the unattainable futures we project for ourselves. We suffer undeserved punishments, acts of violence and inequality, while searching for an indefinite sense of safety and comfort. We harbor the weight of personal and moral responsibility, and follow systems that dictate the path of our lives to the inevitable and ultimate final destination of death. 

Bennett states that, to accentuate the effect of the enchanted experience, one needs to recognise and “resist the story of the disenchanted modernity.” Although I agree with this statement, I believe that resisting disenchantment in favour of enchantment, that I would define as ‘escapism’, limits the potential and sacredness of the enchanted experience. The temporariality of this state is what makes it more impactful. Acknowledging the disenchantment of our world is key to experiencing enchantment to its full effect, as that cynicism contributes to and consequently elevates the magic of this experience. 

7. Lit review: Rene Girard’s I see Satan fall like Lightning (Bottom right)

Within my second review, I will be analyzing the writing of the seminal Christian thinker René Girard, through the text I see Satan fall like Lightning. This review is focused primarily on his thoughts around the personality archetypes and origins of the ‘Victim’ and ‘Satan’ models. These archetypes are pivotal topics within this text’s wider anthropological discussion around the origins of violence and ‘mimetic desire.’ 

The ‘Victim’ and the ‘Satan’ archetypes can be extrapolated to represent the Christian ideas of God and The Devil which are commonly understood to represent the spectrum of good versus evil. This dynamic encompasses a significant aspect of the human condition; morality. In accordance with this spectrum, the ‘Victim’ and ‘Satan’ are commonly understood as polar opposites; each representing and withholding an extreme side. However, I find the most interesting note that Girard makes is that this spectrum is ambiguous, that both the ‘Victim’ and ‘Satan’ archetypes are dependent on one another, and actually coexist with and within one another. 

The archetype of the ‘Victim’ comes into existence through the moment in which they are accused, betrayed, ostracized, and in many cases sacrificed, by the collective community they had once belonged to. Girard refers to this as the ‘single victim mechanism’, but it is also referred to as ‘scapegoating’. 

The archetype of the ‘Satan’ represents an ideology encompassing personality types such as aggressors, oppressors, accusers and torturers. ‘Satan’ represents the seductive power of accusation, of deceit and desire, he “exists always as a parasite on the being of humankind.. and on the being of God.” ‘Satan’ is imagined as a person to symbolize the manifestation of satanic power and the mechanism of accusation. 

8. DEMO exhibition work Realm Maps (Bottom)

This is my most recent work, from the Honours DEMO exhibition, this was a very helpful experience because I had the opportunity to explore different presentation options. It features the deconstruction of the existing Campaign game into dissected layers, which I then nailed in place flush to the wall. Rather than creating a sense of narrative or gameplay, I was more focused on the design and visual aspects of the board mats, presenting them in this way allowed for an easier way of engagement, while also still implying that it exists in a gaming context. This project was beneficial in that it introduced new methodologies of presentation following systems of logic, where each piece has its own established place. I like this way of organizing information, as if it were a dissected diagram.

[abstracteddistractions]

Michael Staniak, “ Oxide Painting 180,” 2020,

Painting, Casting compound, iron oxide and acrylic on engineered wood panel, steel frame,

211 × 159 cm | 83.1 × 62.6 in.

Courtesy: Eduardo Secci Contemporary

[fridaynotes]

Complete Installation Images from Study of a Myth in Progress at Eduardo Secci Gallery, Florence, Italy 2017 http://www.fridaynotes.com/secci

[inspirationofluciescandale]

Pedro Matos

“At once familiar and completely alien.”

Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence, Italy.

April 27 – June 3

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How to find a balance, how to find the happy medium? One that falls between objectivity and subjectivity, between temporality and timelessness? Where lies the limit between a natural space and an urban space? Pedro Matos’s work oscillates between these concepts and these interrogations. In his canvasses, the artist references nature, the ocean. He imprints images, uses photography, resorts to technology – Photoshop and projection – to create these abstract artworks we are given to see. Inspired by random textures seen close to the sea or during his urban strolls, he draws us into his universe which, to us, seems at once familiar and completely alien.

This solo project by Pedro Matos introduces entirely new series of works, all of which co-exist and share the same intrinsic concept. In the series titled Carving, we can recognize messages and carvings such as those found on the walls of our cities, in stairwells or in the public toilets of motorway service stations. We can feel people’s desire to capture a moment, a love story, or simply express their identity. Matos seizes an ephemeral carving and restores its primary purpose: by imprinting these forgotten messages on his canvasses he gives them a second life – this time round, enduring. This notion is also present in the series titled Juxtaposition, where the abstract quality of textures and natural scenarios meticulously studied, juxtaposed and assembled enable to pause both time and space.

Matos transforms a banal image of our daily life and elevates it to the condition of a work of art. He enables us to see the beauty present in the banalities of everyday life. The series titled Subliminal Gesture also allows us to explore this concept, as the artist focuses on the typical paving found in suburban houses in Portugal. The marble that forms these disregarded pavings – cracked and laid out in a falsely geometric manner – inspires the artist. He finds in them a beauty and an interest they had never witnessed before.

For this exhibition, Matos also continues his exploration of sculpture, which has introduced a new dimension into his practice. While still using materials from daily life, this time he turns to stimulants, such as caffeine, and protein powder, among others. The artist places them in opposition to concrete, one of the materials most used in the construction of our urban spaces – once again a play between the strength and the sturdiness of a material with real qualities like concrete, and the emptiness, the quick gain and the non-lasting effect provided by these stimulants.

In this exhibition, Matos allows us to take a step back, to become observers of the surrounding world. He gives us the keys to find a certain harmony amidst our chaos.

– Text by Pauline Foessel.

This exhibition is part of “Studio Visit” with solo presentations by Anne Laure Sacriste, Alice Browne, Pedro Matos and Timothy Hull.

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Pedro Matos “At once familiar and completely alien.” at Eduardo Secci Contemporary Pedro Matos “At once familiar and completely alien.” Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Florence, Italy.

[minimalist-aesthetic]

Eduardo Secci Contemporary, July 13, 2019

[mu-th-ur]

Michele Gabriele http://www.ofluxo.net/the-missing-link-on-every-point-of-a-sphere-by-michele-gabriele-at-eduardo-secci-contemporary/

[distinktionsfetzen]

Check out Matthew Ritchie, The Finite Being (2021), From Eduardo Secci Contemporary

[italiaefriends]

Arte Cultura Attualità

"Kevin Francis Gray" al Museo Bardini di Firenze 2020

Kevin Francis Gray è nato ad Armagh, nell’Irlanda del Nord, nel 1972. Ha studiato al National College of Art and Design di Dublino, poi alla School of the Art Institute di Chicago e nel 1999 ha conseguito un MA in Fine Arts al Goldsmith College. Le sue opere hanno fatto parte di mostre presso la Royal Academy, il Sudeley Castle, il Museum of Contemporary Art, il Nieuw Dakota, il Palazzo Arti Napoli, il Musee d’Art Moderne, l’Artium, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo, il Tel-Aviv Museum of Art e l’Art Space. Fino al 21 dicembre il Museo Stefano Bardini presenta la mostra Kevin Francis Gray, curata da Antonella Nesi. La Mostra è promossa dal Comune di Firenze, organizzata da Mus.e, in collaborazione con Eduardo Secci Contemporary, con il generoso supporto di Moaconcept. La presenza delle opere di Kevin Francis Gray a Firenze testimonia e conferma il ruolo di primissimo piano che la città riveste nell’ambito della promozione dell’Arte contemporanea. La Mostra di Kevin Francis Gray al Museo Bardini di Firenze sancisce il profondo legame tra l’Artista e il territorio toscano attraverso i lunghi anni di collaborazione con gli Studi di lavorazione dei marmi di Pietrasanta. Ma è per la prima volta che, grazie a questa mostra, l’Artista espone le proprie opere sul territorio fiorentino, alla ricerca di un dialogo diretto con i grandi maestri del passato. Nelle sale del Museo troviamo oltre venti lavori realizzati con diversi tipi di marmo e altre in bronzo. Kevin Francis Gray, nelle sue opere manifesta una grande devozione nei confronti dell’Arte del passato, la testimoniano l’uso dei materiali e l’amore nei confronti, di quel classicismo posturale dei suoi soggetti magicamente avvolti da un velo senza tempo. Antonella Nesi, curatrice della mostra, nel sottolineare quanto le opere di Kevin Francis Gray richiamino la scultura più classica, fatta di perfezione tecnica e tensione verso una bellezza estetica impeccabile, palesa quanto le sue sculture possono dialogare con i marmi ellenistici, con le essenziali forme scultoree medievali, con la perfetta forma rinascimentale della collezione plastica del Museo Stefano Bardini, straordinario luogo del cuore e ludoteca dell’anima.

Il magnifico Museo Stefano Bardini, e in Via dei Renai,1 a Firenze 

Orario mostra: Venerdì / Sabato / Domenica /Lunedì: 11.00-20.00 (ultimo ingresso ore 19.00) 

http://musefirenze.it/musei/museo-stefano-bardini/

#comunichiamoalmondolitalia #tuttoilbelloeilbuonochece #bastaunpost #RinasceFirenze

Foto della presentazione alla Stampa della Mostra. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Nk5wTdyyWNeaJCf3A

Pubblicato da italia&friends

Arte Cultura Attualità di un Paese straordinario chiamato Italia 

[pikasus-artenews]

UNMATTER Tre artisti di estrazioni e formazioni diverse affrontano il tema della non-materia in una mostra a Milano.

[virtucontemporaryart]

👏Works by Pedro Matos ⠀ ⠀ @pedrodvmatos⠀ ⁣⁣⠀ #pedromatos #eduardoseccicontemporary #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #virtucontemporaryart #visualart #featuredartist (at Eduardo Secci Contemporary) https://www.instagram.com/p/ByfWtdZDpNZ/?igshid=14acswt5cm8js

[thisisglamorous]

Landon Metz, Untitled, 2016, Eduardo Secci Contemporary

[fridaynotes]

Untitled Art Fair in Miami Beach with Eduardo Secci Contemporary, December 2017 

[tartagliaarte]

Discorso intorno alla forma. Terry Haggerty a Firenze

Discorso intorno alla forma. Terry Haggerty a Firenze

EDUARDO SECCI CONTEMPORAY, FIRENZE ‒ FINO AL 16 NOVEMBRE 2019. VECCHIE E NUOVE SCULTURE IN LEGNO E METALLO E UN’OPERA PARIETALE SITE SPECIFIC RACCONTANO VENT’ANNI DI RICERCA SULLA FORMA, LO SPAZIO E LA PROSPETTIVA DA PARTE DI TERRY HAGGERTY.

Terry Haggerty. Symmetric difference. Exhibition view at Eduardo Secci Contemporary, Firenze 2019

Una fisicità illusoria che si ispira all’arte astratta e ai…