#Luca Fine Art Galeri

[lodecoen-showcase]

Biography of Lode - photo of Lode at 2 years old drawing a train with his left hand with a stick in the sand. And yes, his hair was that light blonde.

ENGLISH TEXT: © Lode Coen 2024

Lode Coen, was born in 1952, in Antwerp, Belgium, the  land of Rubens, Jan van Eyck, Magritte and Tintin. He hails from several generations of artists in his family: i.e. theatre makers, actors, musicians, composers and fine artists. 

He is left-handed and started drawing when he was about two years old.

In secondary school, he studied classical languages, Latin & Greek.

In 1972, he was accepted to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He studied graphic design. He started his career, designing posters for the theatre and television in 1976.

He is an early adopter, always eager to learn new skills. He purchased his first Mac in 1984. This led in 1987 to an extended 10-year stay in Silicon Valley. He worked on many pioneering projects: video games, interactive movies. 

As art and design director for Digital Pictures he managed a team of about 12 people and multimillion dollar budgets. He became an expert in CGI, special effects, 3D and UI design.

Back in the EU he founded his own company to create digital designs for IT companies in Silicon Valley for 18 years. Clients included Sun Microsystems, AMD, Intel, Bausch&Lomb, Pfizer, Oracle, Yahoo, PayPal.

For about 40 years he has taught at art and design academies throughout Europe, the U.S.A. and China. He was the president of Sint Lucas College, School of the Arts, in Antwerp (400+ students).

Lode studied Chinese for 10 years and this led to a tour in China. He gave lectures about his art and design practice in 20 top art universities in 10 major cities in 2016. He loves Chinese calligraphy. He is also well versed in Tai Chi and Qi Gong.

Since his retirement in 2017, he went back to his old love: creating fine art, but with the most advanced digital tools available.

His activity gained momentum in 2020. He won the Leonardo da Vinci Award in April 2023 in Milan. An ever growing number of awards, prizes, publications, exhibitions followed.

This culminated in winning the First Prize ‘Lorenzo il Magnifico” at the Florence Biennale in October 2023. Resulting in an exhibition at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts in January 2024.

Coming up: Galerie Espace Vision’Art, will host his solo exhibition, curated by Paul-Enzo, in the centre of Paris in December 2024. In October 2024 he is selected to participate in ‘Capsule Art Collection 4. Contemporary insights’, in Rome, curated by Dr. Monica Ferrarini. Also in October he will participate in the ‘Bienal de Arte’ at the MEAM in Barcelona, curated by Fondazione Effetto Arte.

Quote from Circle Foundation for the Arts—“Lode Coen's art is characterised by an exquisite fusion of elegance and surrealism, resulting in captivating and visually stunning imagery. Within his work, Coen has crafted a distinct visual realm where beauty, mystery, and the unexpected converge to form extraordinary compositions. While renowned for his mastery of CGI and Special FX, honed in the realms of both Silicon Valley and Hollywood, Lode Coen draws his primary inspiration from the Renaissance era.”

ITALIAN TEXT: © Lode Coen 2024

Lode Coen è nato nel 1952 ad Anversa, in Belgio, la terra di Rubens, Jan van Eyck, Magritte e Tintin. Proviene da diverse generazioni di artisti nella sua famiglia: vale a dire registi teatrali, attori, musicisti, compositori e artisti. 

È mancino e ha iniziato a disegnare quando aveva circa due anni. Alle superiori ha studiato lingue classiche, latino e greco. 

Nel 1972 è stato accettato alla Royal Academy of Fine Arts di Anversa. Ha studiato graphic design. Ha iniziato la sua carriera, progettando poster per il teatro e la televisione nel 1976. 

È un early adopter, sempre desideroso di apprendere nuove competenze. Ha acquistato il suo primo Mac nel 1984. Ciò lo ha portato nel 1987 a un soggiorno prolungato di 10 anni nella Silicon Valley. Ha lavorato a molti progetti pionieristici: videogiochi, film interattivi. 

Come direttore artistico e di design per Digital Pictures ha gestito un team di circa 12 persone e budget multimilionari. È diventato un esperto di CGI, effetti speciali, 3D e progettazione UI. 

Tornato nell'UE ha fondato la sua azienda per creare progetti digitali per aziende IT nella Silicon Valley per 18 anni. Tra i clienti figurano Sun Microsystems, AMD, Intel, Bausch&Lomb, Pfizer, Oracle, Yahoo, PayPal. 

Per circa 40 anni ha insegnato presso accademie di arte e design in tutta Europa, negli Stati Uniti e in Cina. È stato presidente del Sint Lucas College, School of the Arts, ad Anversa (oltre 400 studenti). 

Lode ha studiato cinese per 10 anni e questo lo ha portato a un tour in Cina. Ha tenuto lezioni sulla sua pratica artistica e di design in 20 delle migliori università d'arte in 10 grandi città nel 2016. Ama la calligrafia cinese. È anche esperto di Tai Chi e Qi Gong. 

Dal suo ritiro nel 2017, è tornato al suo vecchio amore: creare belle arti, ma con gli strumenti digitali più avanzati disponibili. 

La sua attività ha preso slancio nel 2020. Ha vinto il Premio Leonardo da Vinci nell'aprile 2023 a Milano. Sono seguiti un numero sempre crescente di premi, riconoscimenti, pubblicazioni, mostre. 

Ciò è culminato con la vittoria del Primo Premio "Lorenzo il Magnifico" alla Biennale di Firenze nell'ottobre 2023. Con conseguente mostra all'Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze nel gennaio 2024. 

Prossimamente: Galerie Espace Vision'Art, ospiterà la sua mostra personale, curata da Paul-Enzo, nel centro di Parigi nel dicembre 2024. Nell'ottobre 2024 è selezionato per partecipare a "Capsule Art Collection 4. Contemporary insights", a Roma, curata dalla Dott. ssa Monica Ferrarini. Sempre a ottobre parteciperà alla "Bienal de Arte" al MEAM di Barcellona, curata dalla Fondazione Effetto Arte. 

Citazione da Circle Foundation for the Arts—"L'arte di Lode Coen è caratterizzata da una squisita fusione di eleganza e surrealismo, che si traduce in immagini accattivanti e visivamente sbalorditive. All'interno del suo lavoro, Coen ha creato un regno visivo distinto in cui bellezza, mistero e inaspettato convergono per formare composizioni straordinarie. Sebbene sia rinomato per la sua padronanza di CGI e effetti speciali, affinata nei regni sia della Silicon Valley che di Hollywood, Lode Coen trae la sua ispirazione primaria dall'era rinascimentale." 

[exhibit-of-the-century]

Lecture Notes MON 19th FEB

Masterlist

BUY ME A COFFEE

The Academy and the Public Sphere 1648-1830

Further Reading: Johann Joachim Wicklemann (1717 - 1768) from Reflections on the Imitation of Greek Works in Painting and Sculpture

Antonie Cotpel (1661-1722) on the grand manner, from 'On the Aesthetic of the Painter'

Andre Felibien (1619-1695) Preface to Seven Conferences

Charles Le Burn (1619-1690) 'First Confrence'

More and Other

The first Academies start in Italy and then begin to spread throughout Europe. However, in this lecture we mainly focus on Paris and London. The Louvre palace, where the royal academy started, was where artists established there thought themselves as elites due to being part of the court, near the ruling and partly due to monetary reasons. (Remember: French Revolution 1793)

Now the other place was the RA, or Royal Academy in London was established to promote art and design (not to be confused with the Art and Design/Craft Movement of 1880-1920). Which focused on displaying and teaching painting and sculpture, only sometimes exhibiting drawing. If your work was exhibited, it was seen as being awarded the highest status and praise.

Jean-Baptiste Martin, A meeting of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture at the Louvre Palace, 1712-1721, Musée de Louvre

Although the academies had strict teaching rules and students had to follow. Which meant that art during this time and created by these artists had a regulated style.

While the French salons/academies had no entry fee when they exhibited the work (bi yearly), the British did have a fee of one shilling to view the exhibit (yearly), despite trying to advertise and claiming any person was welcome. When asked and confronted about the fee, they claimed it was to keep out “improper persons” (the poor).

A selection of Art Academies:

The Academia di San Luca, Rome, 1593                                             

The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, Paris, 1648

The Akademie der Künste, Berlin 1696

The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture, Copenhagen, 1754

Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, 1688/1701/1725

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, 1752

Imperial Academy of Arts, St Petersburg, 1757

The Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, 1764

Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, Stockholm, 1766

Royal Academy of Art, London 1768

The Academy of San Carlos, Mexico, 1783

Royal Arts Academy in Düsseldorf,  (1777) 1819

Academia Imperial das Belas Artes, Brazil 1822 (based on an earlier institution)

Martin Ferdinand Quadal, Life drawing room at the Vienna academy, 1787

United in Guilds, mechanical and practical artists wanted to be recognised as artists from a scoio, utility aspect. Painting and sculpture were valued in liberal and intellectual arts.

At the beginning of the 17th century, most painters were part of the Maîtrise de Saint-Luc, a guild founded in 1391, which controlled the market and sanctioned the method of training artists by apprenticeship.

A group of artists, including the young Charles Le Brun, sought to the escape the Masters and placed themselves directly under the protection of the young King Louis XIV, who was capable of removing them from the constraints of the guild. The Academy was established in 1648.

In 1655 letters patent granted the new company the right to call itself the The Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) and decreed that only its members could be painters or sculptors to the king or queen. The Academy moved to the Louvre, where the Galerie d'Apollon hosted the reception pieces (chef-d’oeuvre), works that had to be performed before being approved and then elected an Academician. It oversaw—and held a monopoly over—the arts in France until 1793. The institution trained artists.

Perspective view of the hall of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture at the Louvre in Paris: [print].

Sir William Chambers, Somerset House, Now the Courtauld Institute of Art and Gallery

In 1768, architect Sir William Chambers petitioned George III on behalf of 36 artists seeking permission to ‘establish a society for promoting the Arts of Design’. They also proposed an annual exhibition and a School of Design. The King agreed and the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Academy Schools, and what you know today as the Summer Exhibition were established. The Royal Academicians were first based in Pall Mall, renting a gallery 30 feet long.

In 1775, Sir William Chambers won the commission to design the new Somerset House as the official residence. The Exhibition Room was 32 feet high and situated at the top of a steep winding staircase, it was described by contemporary literary critic Joseph Baretti as ‘undoubtedly at the date, the finest gallery for displaying pictures so far built’.

In the 1830s, the Academy moved to Trafalgar Square to share premises with the newly founded National Gallery, moving again in 1867 to Burlington House.

Summer Exhibition have been held every year since 1769.

Attributed to George Shepherd, The Hall at the Royal Academy, Somerset House, 1 May 1810

Before the establishment of Academies and their own openings to the public, there is no or very little actual documented art exhibitions and if there were any they were not documented. Or permanent.

These exhibitions and academies open art to the public, and gain a wider audience, mostly of the Bourgeois, who also usually commissioned the artists of the academy. Or the state did and the church – which was most common. But now individuals could now own art, which commodified art and created private ownership. This also was spurred on by art being more mobile, being painted on canvases which were easier to transport (in some cases).

The idea that came from this was: “art should be affordable”.

Another thing that came from exhibitions and wider audiences was that art became democratised, leaving it open for criticism and interpretation. Although the interpretation aspect wouldn’t be explored till around the 19th century, on wards really.

Teaching at the Academy

The Academy laid down strict rules for admission and based most of its teaching on the practice of drawing from the antique and the living model to support its teaching method and its artistic doctrine. Great importance was also given to the teaching of history, literature, geometry, perspective and anatomy.

In controlling education, the Academy regulated the style of art.

Professors of the Academy held courses in life drawing and lectures where students were taught the principles and techniques of the art. The students then looked for a master among the members of the academy, to learn the trade in their workshop. Only drawing was taught in the Academy and artists learned painting in the studios of the master, often working on his (rarely her) work.

(Left) Antoine Coysevox, Bust portrait of Charles Le Brun, Marble (Right) Charles Le Brun, The Family of Darius before Alexander, c.1660, 164 x 260 cm

Charles Le Brun became director in 1663 and was appointed chancellor for life. The Academy was administered by a director chosen from among its members, often the King’s favoured artist.

The sketch and finish

Le Brun introduced the sketch (esquisse) to French artistic practice, where it became central to the painter’s training in both official and private academies.

The esquisse was typically a small-scale, rapidly executed work intended to preserve an artist’s première pensée, or initial conception, of a subject. It elaborated composition and colouring, avoiding detail in favour of loose forms and fluid brushstrokes.

These studies were not for exhibition, and exhibited works were expected to be highly finished, often with glassy surfaces and the elimination of brushwork.

During the later eighteenth century some began to see merit in the sketch itself, but it was in the nineteenth century with Romanticism that an ‘aesthetics of the sketch’ really developed. In the 1830s sketch came to be identified with originality and genius.

Pierre Charles Jombert, Punishment of the Arrogant Niobe by Diana and Apollo, 1772, Oil paint on canvas, mounted on board, 35.7 x 28.1 cm, Metropolitan Museum, New York

The notion of aesthetic begins developing at the time, since the academies had a monopoly on aesthetic, they chose what they liked and didn’t. Their control on who was displayed in exhibits, could ensure an artist’s success. Rejection from and by the Salons was seen as the highest insult to an artist (and their aesthetic).

In the early nineteenth century the Academy instigated landscape sketch (études) competitions.

(Left) Pierre Henri de Valenciennes, The Banks of the Rance, Brittany, possibly 1785. Oil on paper, laid down on canvas, 21.3 x 49.2 cm. (Right) Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny, Landscape with a Cave, mid-1820s, Oil on canvas, 62.2 x 45.7cm

Here the importance of studying nature directly was emphasised through the practice of making plein air études, or small studies painted outdoors. Études generally did not serve as compositional models for particular paintings. Rather, these studies of different kinds of terrain and effects of light would be idealized or embellished by classically trained painters in landscapes produced entirely in the studio. From the time of Romanticism on, the sketch aesthetic became more-and-more central, but this was anathema to academic artists.

Exhibiting

In 1667 that the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture held the first semi-public show to display the works of its students considered worthy of royal commissions, laying a foundation the “group exhibition”. It was held in the Palais Brion in the Palais-Royal.

In 1725 the Salon moved to the Louvre and in 1737 exhibitions were opened to the public.

From 1748 group of Academicians formed a jury determining which works would be exhibited and where they were to be positioned. In 1673 the first catalogue (livret) was published. It was unillustrated until 1880. Exhibiting at the Salon was a condition of success.

Nicolas Langlois, Exhibition of works of painting and sculpture in the Louvre gallery in 1699. Detail of an almanac for the year 1700 – Etching and burin.

(Left) Giuseppe Castiglione, View of the Grand Salon Carré in the Louvre, Oil on Canvas, 1861 (Right) Alexandre Jean-Baptiste Brun, View of the Salon Carré at the Louvre, c.1880, Oil on Canvas

Key information:

France: The Louvre Palace, and other locations otherwise referred to as the Salon(s). The bigger the picture was the higher it was hung. The better and more favoured the artist the higher it was hung. Paintings of historical events were favoured and hung at the very top, all other lower in a specific order descending.

London: Portraits were positioned higher, gallery walls were still crowded all the same with frame to frame hanging, with no caption. Although you could purchase a booklet with all information and extra definitions. While there appeared less hierarchy in the London exhibitions, it still persisted just in a different form. Favoured artists got to choose where their paintings were hung. Even going as far as to developed an insult for paintings being hung so high: “the painting was skied”.

Hierarchy of genres

Inherited from Antiquity and codified in 1668 by André Félibien, secretary of the Academy, the hierarchy of genres ranked the different genres of painting assigning higher and lower significance.

 At the top was history painting, called “le grand genre’: often large paintings, with mythological, religious, or historical subjects. Their function was to instruct and educate the viewer. Its purpose was moral instruction.

 Portraiture, depicting important figures from the past as well as the present.

 Genre scenes, the less ‘noble’ subjects: representations, generally small in size, of scenes of daily life attached to ordinary people.

The so-called ‘observational’ genres of landscape painting, animal painting and still life.

Other genres were added, such as the gallant celebrations, in honour of Antoine Watteau, which did not, however, call into question the hierarchy.

These academies were called chaotic by critics, and kaleidoscopic.

Examples of outliers:

(Left) Paulus Potter, The Bull, 1647 - 3.4 metres wide. An unusually monumental animal painting that challenges the hierarchy of genres by its size (Right) Jean-Baptiste Greuze, The Marriage Contract (The Village Bride), 1761, oil on canvas, 92cm x 117cm. Musée du Louvre

These paintings also challenged the hierarchy of the Salon: it shows a scene that anyone could recognise.

This hierarchy was underpinned by the Ideal and the Liberal Arts.

Giogioni, Frieze in the main hall (detail), Fresco, Casa Marta, Castelfranco Veneto, c. 1510

From the Renaissance onwards artists conducted a campaign to be recognized as gentlemen, rather than workers or craftsmen. This centred on a distinction between the Liberal and the Mechanical arts.

The Liberal Arts were divided into the trivium - Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric - and the quadrivium - Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy and Music.

These involved imagination and intellect and were suitable activities for gentlemen.

In contrast, the Mechanical Arts were said to involve mere repetitive copying. These were activities conducted by workers and were often called ‘servile’ or ‘slavish’. They were deemed ‘mindless’ and demeaning to gentlemen.

Since the academies were open to not gentlemen, it was still believed they upheld class divisions. Examples of an artist from a lower background who rose through the ranks: J. M. W. Turner.

Ideal

Academic art, therefore, emphasised imagination and idealization and opposed copying things as they were. Abstract and mental properties were most valued. For instance, drawing was thought more important than colouring, which was often seen as superficial and feminine (cosmetics). Rather than copy a single figure ideal beauty was to be composed from the ‘best’ elements of multiple figures.

The nude was deemed more suitable, because modern dress was seen as ugly and ephemeral. Some thought the male nude more ideal.

In some senses this is a neo-Platonism, where ideal form exists in the mind of a divinity and things in the world are merely inferior copies of that ideal.

A second-century Roman marble copy of a Greek statue of Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, crouching naked at her bath.

(Left) Artist Copying a Bust in the Royal academy at Somerset House, c.1780, Watercolour (Right) Academies and art schools had large collections of plaster casts made from antique sculpture.

The lower genres were thought to be too close to mechanical copying, whereas history painting involved imagination, intellectual learning and work with the ideal figure. This is complex because Academic artists and theorists rejected originality for adherence to principles and precedents.

Some important studies:

David and His School

J-L David, The Lictors Bring to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons, 1789

David was a member of the Jacobin Club and friend of Robespierre. He signed the death warrant for the King. With the fall of the Jacobins he was imprisoned and his life endangered. His paintings were very open to interpretation so upper and lower classes to understand and infer meaning from them, he also had political messages in his paintings. Although quite ambiguous, it engaged in emotions also over morality like usual historical paintings.

David’s austere student Wicar suggested that landscape painters should be executed.

Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Marat, 1793, Royal Museums of Fine Arts, Brussels

Painting around this time was developing Spectacle, as a primary focus to engage people’s emotions, and a shared emotional aspect rather than just class. The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture was suppressed by the Convention at the request of David (August 1793) and it was in 1796 that the School of Fine Arts was founded. In 1816, The Bourbon Monarchy restored the title ‘Academy’.

In the middle of the nineteenth century Hogarth came to be seen as the founder of the British School.

Beer Street and Gin Lane, engraving, 1751

The Public Sphere

Habermas: ‘The bourgeois public sphere may be conceived above all as the sphere of private people come together as a public; they soon claimed the public sphere regulated from above against the public authorities themselves, to engage them in a debate over the general rules governing relations in the basically privatized but publicly relevant sphere of commodity exchange and social labour.'

At the Margins

Johan Joseph Zoffany, The Academicians Of The Royal Academy 1771-72, Oil On Canvas, 101.1 X 147.5 cm

Within this painting there are two paintings on the right most side, two busts of women. These are the two female founders who were not actually allowed in the Academy. However, that’s not to say that women weren’t painting and hosting their own private events, even if they couldn’t be critics and artists academically, so they easily fell into obscurity.

Republican Madame Roland

Feminist historians have suggested that the Salons hosted by women were an essential part of this culture of debate.

In 18th century France, salons were organised gatherings hosted in private homes, usually by prominent women. Individuals who attended often discussed literature or shared their views and opinions on topics from science to politics. The different Salons belonged to artistic and political factions.

Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Lebrun, Self-portrait in a Straw Hat, 1782

[albay34-blog]

Fotoğrafların tanıklığında eski İstanbul

Fotoğrafların tanıklığında eski İstanbul. Türkiye’de fotoğrafı sanata dönüştüren fotoğraf sanatçılarının eserleri, Ustalara Saygı Fotoğraf Sergisi’nde sanatseverlerle buluşuyor. Sergide; Ara Güler, Ersin Alok ve Gültekin Çizgen’in de bulunduğu dokuz büyük fotoğraf ustasının 1950 ila 1960 yılları arasında çektiği İstanbul fotoğrafları yer alıyor.

Fotoğrafın Değerleri “Ustalara Saygı” Sergisi’nde Türkiye’de fotoğrafı sanata dönüştüren fotoğraf sanatçılarının eserleri, Ustalara Saygı Fotoğraf Sergisi’nde sanatseverlerle buluşuyor. Sergide; Ara Güler, Ersin Alok ve Gültekin Çizgen’in de bulunduğu dokuz büyük fotoğraf ustasının 1950 ila 1960 yılları arasında çektiği İstanbul fotoğrafları yer alıyor. Türk fotoğrafçılığının büyük ustalarının…

[starryhedgehog]

my everything : an elu coffee shop au (pt. 4)

part one ll part two ll part three ll part four ll part five ll part six ll part seven ll part eight

a/n : this is a series! each part will come out daily -> let me know if you want to be tagged in the comments or send me an ask xx

taglist : @iamshannonmcfarland ll @nidaslife ll @counting-mississippilesslyll @lululallement ll @spacekardemomme ll @desertwytch ll @vludors ll @kiwisfool ll @eluetmaxel ll @itsthelastquestion ll @apollodankaciyorum ll @kritiquer ll @kittyyya ll @choupi-lulu ll

(if u ever want to be removed from the taglist message me and no hard feelings i promise xx)

VI.

When Lucas next walks into the coffee shop, he nearly drops his backpack.  Because right before his very eyes are the three people Lucas has been trying to avoid: Yann, Basile, and Arthur.  And all three are currently leaning against the counter, bombarding Eliott with questions.

“Are you making my coffee?” Comes from Arthur who leans forward, with wide eyes.

“How long’ve you worked here?” This is Yann, now.

And then, “draw me a picture, Eliott, please, please, please?  I love art.”

Eliott laughs, the same beautiful sound, and Lucas nearly swoons right then and there.  But then he remembers what’s going on, and he marches over, dragging Basile away from the counter.  “He’s not drawing you a picture,” Lucas grumbles.

Elliott perks up at this, eyes widening as he sees Lucas. 

Lucas doesn’t notice, for he’s far too busy pushing Basile, Arthur, and Yann toward the table in the back of the shop.  He distinctly avoids the seat by the window. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Lucas scowls, exasperated.  “And why are you talking to, no, bothering Eliott?”

“Ah, first name basis,” Arthur grins.

Yann laughs, passing Arthur a euro.  He then turns to Lucas.  “How’d it go, yesterday?” 

“Fine,” Lucas says.  “Nothing happened.  We just talked.”

“For the entire day?” Yann looks at Lucas with glee.  “Okay.  That’s great.”

Arthur rolls his eyes and dramatically passes the coin back to Yann, who waggles his eyebrows and holds up a triumphant middle finger.

Basile yawns.  “I hope he draws me that race car I told him about.”

Arthur looks sideways at Basile.  “Well huge warning, Baz?  If he does you’d better run.  I think Lulu here might throw fists — and he’s got a mean punch.”  He taps the frame of his glasses, and Lucas scowls.

Basile shrugs, perking up as Eliott calls all three of their names.  Basile is about to run toward the counter, but Yann grabs him by the hood.  “We still have to talk about that girl,” Yann says pointedly.

Lucas thinks this is very dumb, as Basile is so obviously already dating Daphné.

Arthur nods vigorously.  “Yes.  Sit down, Basile.” 

“Get our coffee, Lucas?” Yann looks at him innocently, but Lucas knows better.  He sees the glee behind Yann’s eyes.

Basile looks blank.  “Huh?  What girl?” 

Arthur rolls his eyes.  “Sit down, Baz.”

“I want to see if he likes Lucas!”  Basile whispers a little too loudly.  “That’s why we’re all here, remember?”

Arthur sighs.  “You will, babe, just wait.  Besides, I don’t think Daphné would be too happy to see you so excited about Eliott.”

Yann snickers.  

Lucas walks over to the counter, shaking his head.  He wishes he hadn’t heard that conversation.  

“Hi,” Eliott says, amused.  He smiles as he sees Lucas, leaning forward.  “Are those your friends?”

Lucas nods, sighing.  “Yeah.  They’re a handful.”

“No, they seem cool,”  Eliott says.  “Really cool.” 

“Sorry if they bothered you.”

“Oh no,” Eliott says quickly.  “Not at all.”  He grins, “in fact, they were telling me all about you and your invisible friend.”

The color drains out of Lucas’ face.  “I was twelve!  I’m going to kill them —“

“I was joking,” Eliott teases as he bursts into infectious laughter, “but that was cute.”  He reaches out to mess with Lucas’ hair, pushing four paper cups of coffee toward him.

“Oh,” Lucas says, still not entirely recovered from embarrassment. “Only three.  I didn’t order coffee.”

“I know,” Eliott says.  He pushes the fourth coffee back toward Lucas.  “But still.  It’s for you.  You know, exceptional barista abilities.”

“You don’t have to,” Lucas says.

“Take it,” Eliott insists.  “And I want to.”

Lucas smiles softly and takes the coffees between his arms, stumbling to carry everything as he walks back toward the table.

Yann is grinning at Lucas.  “Oh, yes.  He likes you, dude.”

Arthur nods excitedly.  “Did you see the way he messed with your hair?  He’s totally gone.”

Basile laughs.  “Lucas, the guy gave you free coffee!  Free coffee!  Please date him.”  He turns to Yann, “you know what this means, guys?  We get discounts!”

Lucas looks down at his coffee and smiles, cheeks still pink.  The table grows silent, thrumming with nervous excitement.

Arthur breaks it, howling with laughter.  “Oh my god, guys, guys look, he’s blushing.”

Lucas scowls.  “Shut. Up.”

But then his eyes catch sight of the little hedgehog peeking out from beneath his paper coffee cup, paint-splattered across his spikes.  And then in a little speech-bubble, ‘i’m a fucking masterpiece.  don’t touch.’

He remembered.  He actually remembered.

Lucas stares at the cup and goes completely into bliss.  Distantly he hears the boys whistling and laughing, but right now they’re so far away, and he can’t bring himself to care.

“His eyes just turned into little hearts,” Yann chuckles, poking Lucas’ cheeks.  “I can’t believe this.” 

Basile lights up.  “He gave me a smiley face.”

“And he gave Lulu a gorgeous hedgehog.  But,” Arthur turns to Lucas, still grinning stupidly, “we knew you were a masterpiece, but like, what does this even mean?”

Yann smirks.  “And Lucas said romance was dead.”

Basile jumps up from the table and pumps his fist.  “Yes!”  He turns to Arthur and Yann, “Eliott’s a keeper.”

“For sure,” Arthur says.

Lucas smiles, melting, clutching the coffee cup in his hands.  He thinks he could get used to this Eliott thing.

There’s a little number on the corner of the design, and Lucas faintly distinguishes it as the date three days from now. 

VII.

Lucas meets Eliott at the art museum, and the two of them walk through the galleries and through the millions of paintings.  Lucas makes fun of most of them, because Eliott, really, don’t they all look the same?  But Eliott just laughs and points out interesting facts he’s able to rattle off from the top of his head.  Or, as Lucas likes to put, read from the information signs at the bottom of the portraits.

“Ah,” Eliott says, “Baldassare Castiglione.”  He’s staring at the painting, pensive, his fingertips trailing over his lips. 

There’s no way he knows that.  No way.

“He looks like a chef from a zombie apocalypse.”

Eliott bursts out laughing, then pretends to look at Lucas seriously.  “Could be you.  His eyes are the same color as yours.”

“Get out,” Lucas pushes Eliott, unable to contain the grin spreading across his face.  “Don’t compare me to that.”  He’s about to say more, but suddenly his eyes catch sight of a sign hanging from the ceiling, and he quickly shoves through people, pushing to get towards where he’s so clearly trying to reach.  He manages to grab onto Eliott’s hand before he darts out the section of the gallery. 

Elliott lets out a muffled yelp and is pulled into multiple people.  He’s struggling to follow Lucas because he’s so tall, and Lucas feels a tiny bit of remorse.  But when he turns around to peek at Eliott, there’s a grin on his face, and Lucas knows he’s definitely curious, probably wondering what in the world has gotten him so excited.  Especially considering Lucas has been groaning every time Eliott pushes him into a different part of the museum.

When Lucas finally slows down, his eyes catch on the gilded plaque that reads ‘La Galerie d’Apollon’ and he steps inside, his head leaned up to look at the ceiling.  He walks aimlessly around, searching for something.  He looks past the names of Pisces and Aquarius and walks further and further, neck straining and eyes burning.  And he finds Cancer up on the ceiling surrounded by a small circle of cerulean.  He smiles, satisfied.  “Found it.”

Eliott smiles down at Lucas, who’s still staring up at the ceiling with dazed eyes.  “You like astrology?”

Lucas shrugs.  “Sure.”

Eliott raises an eyebrow, eyes mischievous.  “Sure?” 

“I guess.” 

“You guess?”

“Are you just going to copy everything I say until you get an answer you like?”

Eliott grins bashfully, shrugging.  “Maybe?”

Lucas stares at Eliott for a moment, then sighs and laughs softly.  “Okay, okay.  Yes.”

Eliott gazes at Lucas with a curious expression, and Lucas doesn’t know what it means.  He realizes he’s still holding Eliott’s hand and reluctantly lets go.

But Eliott doesn’t.  Eliott’s still holding onto Lucas’ hand, and when he notices Lucas staring, he interlaces their fingers, eyes crinkling.

What?

Lucas looks up at Eliott, his eyes wide.  Wide and wondrous.  He’s yelling at himself to say something, say anything, but he can’t bring himself to speak.  He’s utterly speechless.  And it’s all because Eliott’s holding his hand, holding his hand, holding his hand.

“Is this okay?” Elliott asks, actually concerned, and bless him, Lucas thinks.  Now he’s about to actually die. 

Lucas is surprised when he nods.  Because apparently his body’s decided that it can nod impulsively, but not speak.  At least, not until now.  “More than okay,” he croaks. 

Eliott smiles, and he’s so close to Lucas.  And Eliott’s looking down at him with eyes full of adoration.  Adoration, Lucas thinks.  That’s what it is.  Adoration.  Eliott’s voice startles him, and he jumps, shaky.  

“Step one,” Eliott says, “hold your hand.”  He’s so close now, and Lucas doesn’t know what to do with his other hand, which he shakily holds in front of him.  “Step two,” Eliott says, looking at Lucas with those beautiful, beautiful eyes.

And Lucas realizes that he can smell Eliott’s faint cologne, but most of all he smells coffee beans, and Lucas’ suddenly grateful for the hand interlaced with Eliott’s that’s keeping him grounded.  “You can’t, you can’t touch —“  He can’t bring himself to finish.

Eliott’s so close that Lucas’ hand is now resting right against his chest, and he can’t breathe, everything’s so warm, so right, so perfect.

“Fuck the rules,” Eliott whispers, his thumb reaching to brush against Lucas’ bottom lip.

And Lucas doesn’t know who makes the first move, who breaks the spell that’s settled around them, but suddenly he’s leaning up on his tiptoes and Eliott’s surging forward, and Eliott’s lips are against his, and he’s being kissed.

Eliott’s lips are soft, and the warmth swirling through Lucas’ entire body is enough to make him melt at the spot.  Eliott’s hands come up to hold Lucas’ face, and Lucas tugs Eliott closer, running his hands through that gorgeous hair he’s wanted to touch for so long.  There’s a soft sound when Eliott hums against his lips, and Lucas shivers.

When he pulls away Eliott is staring at him softly, eyes warm, everything warm.  “Step two,” Eliott says, in that sweet, sweet voice.  “Make out with you.” 

“Step three,” Lucas says impatiently, “kiss me again.” 

Eliott laughs, and Lucas pulls him closer, kissing him again. 

part five

[shooterball]

DALI ESSAY

Andrew Ball 

DSGN-100-F42

Salavador Dali

“I have never taken drugs, since I am a drug. I don’t talk about my hallucinations. I evoke them. Take me, I am the drug; I am hallucinogenic!” wrote Dali himself in his book Dali by Dali in 1960 (Salvador). One of the most famous Surrealist artists of all time, Salvador Dali lived a chaotic, creative, and controversial life that (at some times) almost worked against all the miraculous works of art that he created. 

Dali was born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain on May 11th, 1904 to father Salvador Luca Rafael Aniceto Dalí Cusí and mother, Felipa Domènech Ferrés. His father was a middle-class lawyer and notary who raised his children with a strict, authoritarian parenting style while his mother was softer and more passive, and she also heavily encouraged Salvador Dali in his artistic ability from a young age. Dali also had 2 siblings, a brother and a sister. His brother also named Salvador) was older but tragically died from gastroenteritis 9 months before Dali was born (Descharnes). Dali seemed to be haunted by his late brother’s death throughout his career, incorporating images of him into many of his later works, including Portrait of My Dead Brother (1963). His sister, Anna Marie, was 3 years younger than her middle brother and even ended up publishing her own book about the Surrealist artists’ life entitled Dali as Seen by His Sister (1949). 

From a young age, Dali was influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance masters and their respective works; at one point in his life he would go every day to the Prado Museum to study the works of the masters for hours on end. As he continued his journey into the world of artistry he began to become heavily interested in Cubism and avant-garde movements. The artists discovered modern painting on a summer vacation trip to Cadaqués with the family of Ramon Pichot, a local artist who made regular trips to Paris. In 1921 the Pichot family would also go on to introduce Dali to Futurism. During this same year, Dali’s uncle Anselm Domènech, who was the owner of a bookstore in Barcelona, supplied him with books and magazines on Cubism and contemporary art (Descharnes). These all became art styles that he would incorporate into his works throughout the years. Dali received his formal training in fine arts in Madrid at the Municipal Drawing School and also attended the Royal Academy, where he only stayed until 1926 before leaving right before his final exams. 

Dali finally got his opportunity to shine in 1918 when he got his first public exhibition of his work at the Municipal Theatre in his hometown of Figueres, this site would go on to be a place he would frequent in his later life (Soby). His career really began to heat up after he got the opportunity to put on his first solo show at Galeries Dalmau in Barcelona, where his works were on display from November 14th-27th in 1925, the showcase featured 22 works and was a huge critical and commercial success for the rising artist. From then on Dali began his deep dive into Surrealism, including some of his most famous works from 1927 Honey is Sweeter than Blood and Gadget and Hand which would be shown at the Autumn Salon in Barcelona. Dali would even go on to have one of works Dialogue on the Beach, be famously rejected by the same Autumn Salon that had put his work on just the year before (Salber). This was due to Dali’s interests of SIgmund Freud’s writings that led him to use more sexual elements in his works, much to the Salon’s dismay. Shortly after this Dali went on to create one of his most well known pieces and arguably the most famous Surrealist artwork of all time the Persistence of Memory in 1931.

Dali lived in France throughout the entire Spanish Civil War before finally leaving for the United States in 1940 where he achieved mass commercial success (Maddox). Despite his paintings, he was known for much more throughout his career including graphic arts, film, sculpture, design and photography. Dali also wrote fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays and criticism. Throughout his career, his artworks incorporated themes of dreams, the subconscious, sexuality, religion, science and his closest personal relationships; giving a very personal and vulnerable feel to his legacy (Parinaud). Despite his legendary body of work, Salvador Dali is unfortunately sometimes remembered best for his eccentric, often ridiculous, and especially during the time, extremely controversial behavior. Dali gave his final painting Head of Europa to King Juan Carlos before dying a year later in 1989 at the age of 84. In his last few years Dali suffered from various mental and physical health conditions but managed to stay true to the art that he loved until even his final days. 

Works CIted

Descharnes, Robert, and Gilles Neret. Dali. Descharnes & Descharnes, 1998. 

Maddox, Conroy, and Benedikt Taschen. Salvador Dali: Eccentric and Genius. The Hamlyn Publishing Group , 1979. 

Parinaud, Andre. Maniac Eyeball: The Unspeakable Confessions of Salvador Dali. Creation Books, 2004. 

Salber, Linde. Dali. Life & Times Haus Publishing, 2004. 

“Salvador Dali.” American Art, vol. 7, no. 4, 1993, pp. 110–110. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3109156. Accessed 9 Nov. 2022.

Soby, James Thrall. Salvador Dali. Plantin Press, 1941. 

[bandiperartisti]

il trust dedicato al finanziamento e alla valorizzazione della giovane arte lancia il suo primo bando

Italian Art Trust Onlus è un progetto no-profit volto al finanziamento, sostegno e promozione di artisti under 35 che riveste la struttura giuridica di Trust Onlus. Il trust nasce con l’intento di sviluppare iniziative di utilità sociale nei settori della promozione dell’arte e della cultura, al fine di fornire supporto economico e laboratoriale a giovani artisti durante il loro percorso accademico e post-accademico. L'obiettivo è quello di finanziare e salvaguardare la produzione artistica contemporanea in Italia promuovendone l'esposizione al pubblico.

Il 21 dicembre 2020 Italian Art Trust ha lanciato un bando volto a supportare artisti che versino in una condizione economica svantaggiosa e che svolgano attività nel settore dell’arte contemporanea. Il premio di produzione che sarà attribuito al vincitore (o ai vincitori) prevede una somma di euro 3.000 messa a disposizione dal Gruppo Banca Generali Private in qualità di partner tecnico dell’iniziativa.

Il vincitore (i vincitori) sarà selezionato da una giuria di spicco della scena artistica italiana che annovera al suo interno: Rolando Anselmi (gallerista, Galerie Rolando Anselmi), Matteo Bergamini (direttore di Exibart), Germano Bonetti (collezionista), Franz Botré (direttore di Arbiter), Rossella Farinotti (curatrice, critica d’arte e giornalista), Francesco Lecci (gallerista, Clima Gallery), Edoardo Monti (collezionista, curatore e fondatore di Palazzo Monti), Marco Poggiali (gallerista, Galleria Poggiali), Stefano Raimondi (curatore e direttore di Art Verona), Donatella Saroli (ricercatrice e producer) e Luca Zuccala (giornalista e vicedirettore di Artslife).

Il premio di euro 3.000 verrà incrementato tramite una campagna di raccolta fondi aperta congiuntamente alla pubblicazione del bando.

Il progetto artistico premiato sarà altresì esposto in una delle sedi del Gruppo Banca Generali Private a Milano.

Per maggiori informazioni:

Sito: www.italianartrust.com

Email: italianart@leptrustee.it

[clarasofiarosenberg]

BIO

Clara Sofia Rosenberg is an Art Critic, Architect and independent Artist. Her aim is to curate and produce an Art that connects people,and a sustainable Architecture that helps them,in the respect of the environment.

CV

ARCHITECTURE

From February 2022: Architect at CCHE architects Lausanne, CH

From December 2021: Architect curator at Felicia Lamanuzzi Architetto, CH

June 2020: works as architect in Lugano, Ticino.

2016-2020 “Accademia di Architettura”, Mendrisio, Bsc Architecture 2019: opens TheActive-Landscape: a sustainable architecture collective among Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio

https://theactive-landscape.tumblr.com/

Oct 2018/ June 2019 , internship at Junya Ishigami, Tokyo, Japan

ART

From 2012:

Rosenberg&Rosenberg&Co. - FABBRICA ARTIGIANALE ITALIANA OPERE ARTE

2014-2016: Art Gallery Assistant and curator, Alberto Peola Gallery of Contemporary Art, Turin.

Opens “LaGilda”, independent school and collective of contemporary art:

https://lagildahome.tumblr.com/

2013-2014:

MA, Fine Arts, 110/110 cum laude “Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti” Turin, Italy

2009-2012: BA, Fine Arts (History of Contemporary Art) 110/110 cum laude “Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti” Turin, Italy

——————————————————————————

SHOWS

CURATOR:

2020, "Art Coronavirus2020" TheActive-Landscapewebsite,2020

2016, LaGilda, “Work in Project@MEA”, Mea Antiques, oriental art gallery, Torino

2015, Victoria Stoian, “Rallenting Codri Earthquake”, Studiolacittà, Verona 2015, Victoria Stoian, “Codri Earthquake”, Galleria Alberto Peola, Torino

2015, “Pinksie the whale”, Palazzo Ersel, Torino

2015, LaGilda, “Work in Project@SCOOP”, SCOOP, Società Cooperativa di Progettazione, Torino.

——————————————————————————

ARTIST:

2015, “Between Crinkles”, Palazzo Montevecchio, Turin, curated by Caterina Avataneo

2015 “Auction, Pinksie the whale”, Palazzo Ersel, Turin

2013, “Sguardi Luminosi”, Mirafiori Galerie, Turin, curated by Guido Curto

2014, “Exhibition Italia-Israele”, Cripta San Michele, Turin, curated by Luca Beatrice.

——————————————————————————

TEXTS:

2014, “Riccardo Gualino’s Modern and Contemporary collection of art”, relator Martina Corgnati, 2014

2013, “Art and psychoanalysis: from Mike Kelley to Sigmund Freud”

——————————————————————————

ARTICLES:

Artribune: http://www.artribune.com/author/clararosenberg/

[goldbergvariations2020]

George van Dam (°1964)

has worked with several leading composers of today and with ensembles such as the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik and Ictus, of which he is one of the founding members.

Being very active in the dance - and theatre world, he has performed in the productions Rosa, Achterland (Ysaÿe), Kinok and Partita2 (Bach) by Rosas/Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and in Die Siel van die Mier, Escorial by Josse De Pauw (Muziek LOD, Transparant), as a pianist in Trio in Mi-B­mol (Mozart) by Jan Ritsema (Kaaitheater) and with Ultima Vez/Wim Vandekeybus.

His own compositions include song cycles, chamber music, a concerto for violin and timbila-orchestra (GP Drumming), music for film (Joseph Plateau Prize 2005), silent film, theatre/dance performances, music for choir (Collegium Vocale, Ghent) and works with visual artists Manon de Boer, Angela Bulloch, Trudo Engels, Ana Torfs and others.

In 2012, he resumed his activities as harpsichordist and studied with Johan Pieterse, Robert Kohnen, Elisabeth JoyB and with Ketil Haugsand, Bob van Asperen in masterclasses at the Piccola Accademia in Montisi and Utrecht.

Recent projects include the theatre/dance productions War and Turpentine by Jan Lauwers/Needcompany in which he appeared as a soldier-violinist, Goldberg Variations on the harpsichord (with the musician- performer Simon Lenski) and Probabilities of Independent Events by Grace Ellen Barkey/Needcompany.

www.georgevandam.com

-

Mathieu Hendrickx (°1987)

studied psychology (2006-2009) at the University of Ghent and visual arts at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels (2009-2013, MA). After his studies he founded the arts collective Messervideo with friends - amongst which Oleg Danilov - at Smart. They have worked for i.a. Meg Stuart Damaged Goods, Atelier Claus, Youth Orchestra Flanders, Beursschouwburg, Galerie Greta Meert, Myriam Van Imschoot, Goethe Institut, De Singel, location hunting for Bas Devos...

His personal artistic practice oscillates between film and performance wherein both fields inform one another.

Since 2019 he has worked on the film production The Country Was Stolen 2019 Kring 21, Des Eissentes, Hoeilaert 2018 James Joyce & Franz Kafka are visiting Berlin, Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium / LA_Ï BO_NA @ Ithaka, Leuven 2017 CHOUCHOUKA – LA_Ï BO_NA @ SALOON, Brussel 2016 James Joyce & Franz Kafka The Writer's Pose..., Monk, Brussels 2015 Sweetheart, Maison Folie, Bergen 2014 Sweetheart, Prix Médiatine, Brussels / HGO!Extra, Brussels / Kaskcinema, Ghent / Extrapool, Nijmegen, 10 Balles et Un Mars, RosaBrux, Brussels, James Joyce & Franz Kafka, are burning der Prozess..., 2m3 2013 ACT 1, I Think This Too Shall Past, TTTT, Ghent / James Joyce & Franz Kafka, Retrospective..., Vitrine St Lukas, 2011 On the Road, Vitrine Recyclart, Brussels

vimeo.com/mathieuhendrickx

[the-country-was-stolen]

Bio.

Oleg Danilov (°1991) studeerde fotografie in Sint-Petersburg (2008-2009) en film op Sint-Lukas Brussel (2010-2016, MA) en in Helsinki als deel van ERASMUS waar hij ervaring heeft opgedaan als assistent cameraman bij het draaien van een aantal korte films. Tijdens en na zijn studies werkte hij op verschillende filmsets (licht en camera departement) o.a. Spitsbroers (VTM), en als casting assistent voor Kursk van Thomas Vinterberg en Annette van Leos Carax. Daarnaast werkte hij als freelance fotograaf en videomaker voor Muntpunt, Museum M van Leuven, Kadonation, Jules Clarysse etc. In 2013 richtte hij samen met o.a. Mathieu Hendrickx Messervideo op.

Zijn artistiek praktijk in fotografie en film draait rond exploratie van de stedelijke ruimte en dikwijls werkt hij met found footage materiaal en historische narratieven. 2016 Borderline (MA projekt Sint-Lukas Brussel) 2013 Under the Clouds (CINEMATEK, Joods Museum van België, Cinema Klappei Antwerpen) 2012 De Veiling (Film Festival Oostende) 2011 Eerste minuten van de dag

---

Mathieu Hendrickx (°1987)

studied psychology (2006-2009) at the University of Ghent and visual arts at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels (2009-2013, MA). After his studies he founded the arts collective Messervideo with friends - amongst which Oleg Danilov - at Smart. They have worked for i.a. Meg Stuart Damaged Goods, Atelier Claus, Youth Orchestra Flanders, Beursschouwburg, Galerie Greta Meert, Myriam Van Imschoot, Goethe Institut, De Singel, location hunting for Bas Devos…

His personal artistic practice oscillates between film and performance wherein both fields inform one another.

Since 2019, he also working on the project GOLDBERG VARIATIONS with George van Dam- in development 2019 Kring 21, Des Eissentes, Hoeilaert 2018 James Joyce & Franz Kafka are visiting Berlin, Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium / LA_Ï BO_NA @ Ithaka, Leuven 2017 CHOUCHOUKA – LA_Ï BO_NA @ SALOON, Brussel 2016 James Joyce & Franz Kafka The Writer’s Pose…, Monk, Brussels 2015 Sweetheart, Maison Folie, Bergen 2014 Sweetheart, Prix Médiatine, Brussels / HGO!Extra, Brussels / Kaskcinema, Ghent / Extrapool, Nijmegen, 10 Balles et Un Mars, RosaBrux, Brussels, James Joyce & Franz Kafka, are burning der Prozess…, 2m3 2013 ACT 1, I Think This Too Shall Past, TTTT, Ghent / James Joyce & Franz Kafka, Retrospective…, Vitrine St Lukas, 2011 On the Road, Vitrine Recyclart, Brussel.

[francoismarieluca]

[Inconnu] • 2019 Encre & aquarelle sur papier 90/105 cm « Mon but étant de compromettre précisions et approximations. Un perpétuel tiraillement entre un désir d’extrême précision, et l’envie de déstructurer ce qui constitue mon sujet. C’est ainsi que j’entremêle lignes et couleurs telle une chorégraphie, dans le but de provoquer le mouvement et de créer une osmose entre eux. Explorer cette bipolarité picturale me permet de la confronter à de multiples éléments qui composent mes travaux. Pour mettre en oeuvre ma démarche, j’utilise différentes techniques qui s’opposent radicalement comme le carton, avec lequel je trace d’épaisses lignes de peinture. La plume avec laquelle j’applique de l’encre de chine pour ensuite mettre en place une infinité de lignes aussi fragiles qu’agencées qui viennent contredire la brutalité et le tumulte du carton. Par ailleurs, les couleurs que j’utilise viennent alimenter mon propos. Une noirceur intense et profonde qui se confronte à la luminosité, la transparence et à la fragilité d’encres aquarelles recouverts de fines lignes tracées à la plume. » • Exposition IL dans les cryptes de l'abbaye Saint-Victor du 1er Mars au 1er Avril 2019.https://www.facebook.com/events/205647030274532/ & La Galerie & AG2R LA MONDIALE Paca Corse en mai 2019 -> François-Marie Luca www.francois-marie-luca.com contact@francois-marie-luca.com #artbrut #fauvisme #expressionisme #marseille #francoismarieluca #fevrier2019 #contemporarypainting #contemporaryart #worksonpaper #artnaif #france #art (à François-Marie Luca) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt_L9wrBMt4/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=10tv6xdgmtyz0

[micaramel]

This week’s featured exhibitions:

Elene Chantladze at LC QUEISSER

Noel W. Anderson at JDJ

David Ostrowski at Jir Sandel

G.B. Jones, Paul P. at Cooper Cole

Jannis Marwitz at Lucas Hirsch

Veit Laurent Kurz at Miguel Abreu

Yona Lee at Fine Arts, Sydney

Christian Theiß at Clages

Rirkrit Tiravanija at Chantal Crousel

Christine Wang at Galerie Nagel Draxler

Group Show at FUTURA

Group Show at Balice Hertling

Ursula Reuter Christiansen at Bizarro

Have an excellent week.

The post Week in Review: September 13, 2020 first appeared on Contemporary Art Daily.

from Contemporary Art Daily https://bit.ly/3k8LF1y

[hectordager]

Joseph Adolphe – HEAVYWEIGHTPAINT

Joseph Adolphe se mudó a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1992 para asistir a la Escuela de Artes Visuales  donde recibió su MFA en 1994. Ha recibido varios premios por su arte, incluido el primer lugar en el concurso «Figura ahora 2010» en la Universidad de Fontbonne en St. Louis, Missouri. Su trabajo ha sido presentado en más de cuarenta exposiciones desde 1998 en todo Estados Unidos e internacionalmente. Ahora vive con su esposa e hijos en New Haven, Connecticut, y es profesor de Bellas Artes en la Universidad de St. John  en Nueva York.

Las pinturas al óleo de Joseph Adolphe representan incertidumbre, ansiedad y vulnerabilidad en la actualidad. Ya sea que sean derrotados combatientes, bestias ágiles o niños inocentes, sus súbditos parecen agobiados por el conflicto y el peso del mundo. No obstante, son personajes fuertes y resistentes, ya que su confianza y valentía le dan a las pinturas un optimismo innegable incluso cuando el tema es oscuro. «Toro Bravo», la primera exposición individual de Adolphe en BDG fue un éxito rotundo. En el verano de 2012, su pintura, Mars No. 1, fue elegida para la portada del Anual Internacional de Pintura de la Galería Manifiesto, y Joseph Adolphe y su trabajo aparecerán en el próximo documental, HEAVYWEIGHTPAINT. Las pinturas de Joseph Adolphe se encuentran en muchas colecciones privadas y corporativas en los EE. UU. Y en el extranjero

PREMIOS Y HONORES 2014 Conferenciante principal, Simposio internacional sobre diplomacia cultural, Naciones Unidas, NY. 2011 ManifestGallery.org, INPA2, International Painting Annual 2. Finalista. Elegido para la imagen de portada. 2011 ManifestGallery.org, INDA6, International Drawing Annual 6. Dos dibujos a gran escala seleccionados. 2010 Ganador del 1er lugar, The Figure Now 2010, International Juried Exhibition, Fontbonne University, St. Louis, Missouri. «Una exposición internacional con jurado, que reconsidera los enfoques tradicionales y contemporáneos de la figura. 2009 Studio Visit Magazine, volumen ocho y volumen nueve. Publicación con jurado. 1998 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant. 1992 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY, MFA Program, Beca Académica Completa

EXPOSICIONES INDIVIDUALES SELECCIONADAS Galería Bertrand Delacroix 2014, Nuevas pinturas, Nueva York, Nueva York Galería Bertrand Delacroix 2012, Toro Bravo, Obra reciente, Nueva York, Nueva York 2011 Galería Kehler Liddell, Nuevas pinturas, New Haven, Connecticut 2010 Galería West Rock, Pinturas de Italia, New Haven, Connecticut 2009 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Affinities, New Haven, Connecticut 2008 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Deconstruction & Resurrection, New Haven, Connecticut 2005 Galerie Françoise, New Works: Figures, Baltimore, Maryland 2003 Galerie Françoise, Joseph Adolphe: Urban Landscapes, Baltimore, Maryland 2003 Gallery 119, Joseph Adolphe: Urban Landscapes: Brooklyn & Rome, Jackson, Mississippi 2003 The Object Image Gallery, New Paintings, Brooklyn, Nueva York 2002 The Late Show, Rome: Paintings from the Eternal City, Kansas City, Missouri 2002 Pulmone Pulsante, Joseph Adolphe: Drawings 1993–2002, Rome, Italy 2002 The Late Show, Urban Landscapes-Brooklyn, Kansas City, Missouri 2002 North 6th Gallery , Joseph Adolphe: Drawings and Paintings, Brooklyn, Nueva York 2001 Bogigian Gallery, Joseph Adolphe: Paintings, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

EXPOSICIÓN DE GRUPO SELECCIONADO 2014 New Zones Gallery, G’ddy Up !, Calgary, Canadá 2014 Axelle Gallery, Winter Collective, Boston, MAMÁ. 2013 The Art Directors Club, Round ZERO, NYC 2012 Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, NYC 2011 Jonathan Frost Gallery, New Artists Showcase, Rockland, Maine 2011 Norwalk College Gallery, Zoology 101, Norwalk, Connecticut 2010 A-Space Gallery @ West Cove Studios, Large Works Show, West Haven, Connecticut 2010 Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, Figure Now, St. Louis, Missouri 2010 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Size Matters, New Haven, Connecticut 2009 Paper New England, Go Figure, Newspace Gallery, Manchester, Connecticut 2009 Paper New England, Current Connecticut, Artspace, Hartford, Connecticut 2009 Ct. Com. on Culture & Tourism, Touring Connecticut, CCCT Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut 2008 Kehler Liddell Gallery, Change, New Haven, Connecticut 2005 Delgado-Tomei Gallery, Figuratively Speaking, Brooklyn, New York 2005 NY Law School, Imprimir: OIA Group Show, Nuevo York, Nueva York 2004-5 Manhattan Graphics, Touring Group Show: monoimpresiones, en toda la India

2003-5 Conversaciones, Exposición colectiva itinerante, Comienzo en Baltimore, Maryland 2004 Evergreen House, Universidad Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland. 2 de octubre al 23 de enero

2004 Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, Delaware. 6 de febrero al 23 de mayo

2004 Universidad de Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut. 15 de julio a agosto 20 2003 Galerie Françoise, Summer Group Show, Baltimore, Maryland 2002 The Object Image Gallery, Brooklyn Artists, Brooklyn, New York Gallery 2002 119, The Self Portraits Show, Jackson, Mississippi

FERIAS DE ARTE 2014 ArtMRKT SAN FRANCISCO, Stephanie Breitbard Fine Art, San Francisco, CA. 2014 Dallas Art Fair, Newzones Gallery, Canadá, 2014 Miami International Art Fair, Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, Nueva York. 2014 Feria de Arte Contemporáneo ArtPalmBeach, Galería Bertrand Delacroix, Nueva York. 2013 Red Dot Art Fair, Miami, Bertrand Delacroix Gallery, NYC

TEACHING 2000-Profesor actual de arte, Departamento de Arte y Diseño, St. John’s University, NYC

PRENSA Rae, Haniya, «Heavyweight Paint», Guernica Magazine, 26 de junio de 2013, Documental 2010-2014, Heavyweightpaint. www.Heavyweightpaint.com PoetsArtists, Joseph Adolphe, número 40, noviembre de 2012, págs., 8-10 Sepulvida, David, Westville Painter hace el corte «Heavyweight», The New Haven, Advocate, 4 de junio de 2012. Versión web: The Coffin Factory, Shelter, Paintings by Joseph Adolphe Issue 3, pgs 43 y 46 Sepulvida, David, New Haven, Independiente, «Open Studios Meets Westville Renaissance», 15 de octubre de 2010. Sección de Artes. Hoffman, Hank, A Continuum of Gesture, The New Haven Advocate Pg. 35, 7–13 de enero de 2010 Catlin, Roger The State Through Artists ‘Eyes, The HartfordCourant, sección Art Week, pág. 12, 6 de noviembre de 2008 Duran, Elvira J. Elección de la crítica, Todos necesitamos un poco, New Haven Magazine, pág. 38, octubre de 2008 City Wide Open Studios Catalog, 2008–2009 Artists Directory, pág. 159 Glaser, Brian Visual Arts Journal, School of Visual Arts Magazine, Alumni Exhibitions, Nueva York, NY, Volumen 16, Número 2, pág. 90, 92. Birke, Judy Dos artistas, dos enfoques hacen un buen espectáculo en Kehler Liddell, New Haven Register & (NewHAvenRegister.com), Sección E pg.1–2, 3 de febrero de 2008 Duran, Elvira J. Joseph Adolphe en La Galería Kehler Liddell, New Haven Magazine, pág. 48–49 , enero de 2008 Kobasa, Stephen, V. Painting Thick, The New Haven Advocate, pág. 39, 14 y 20 de febrero, edición de 2008. Hoffman, Hank Más que rascar la superficie, ctartscene.blogspot.com, Connecticut Art Scene: Dedicado a cubrir la comunidad de artes visuales en Connecticut, jueves 21 de febrero de 2008 Art in America, (agosto de 2004). «Guía anual de museos, galerías, artistas», pág. 15 (2665) “Ganadores de premios honrados” (noviembre de 2003) Charities USA, New York p. 26 Chalkley, Tom, (12/10/03) “Dialogue Boxes” City Paper, The Arts Section, Baltimore, MD. Benoit, Julie, (noviembre de 2003). «Conversaciones: influencia y colaboración en el arte contemporáneo», Radar 8, Baltimore Arts & Culture, p. 22 Giuliano, Mike, (20 de julio de 2003). «Dos galerías ofrecen dos tomas del mundo», The Messenger, p.11 M.FA Alumni, «Illustration as Visual Journalism», School of Visual Arts Films, Documentary Video Modenstein, SA (2003, primavera). «The Magazine Rack, Alumni Notes» Visual Arts Journal, p.42 y 46 Brown, Kenneth (2003, 10 de marzo). «Nuevo escaparate para el artista canadiense» Park Slope Courier, vol. XXV No. 10, pág. 4 Hackman, Kate. (2002, noviembre / diciembre) «Eterno / Glorioso». Revisión, p. 14 Barnaba, S. (2002, junio). «Citta e dintorni». La Repubblica Trova Roma, p. 9. Sacca, Annalisa. (2002, junio). «Joe Adolphe: Disegni-Sulla Soglia Dello Sguardo». Ilfilorosso 32, p. 57. Selvaggi, Giuseppe. (2002, 22 de junio). «La rivolta di Narciso». Il Giornale D’Italia, p.14. Hackman, Kate. (2002, mayo / junio). «Joe Adolphe en el Late Show». Review, p. 18. Johnson, Dustin. (2002, julio / agosto). «Habitaciones con vistas familiares». Revisión, p. sesenta y cinco Miller, Joe (2002, 23-29 de mayo). «Pinturas de Joe Adolphe». Pitch Weekly p. 24 «Need a Art Fix: The Late Show Provides» (25 de mayo de 2002). The Kansas City Star sección F, pág. 7 Grapa, Capricho. (14 de junio de 2002). «Un artista ha crecido en Brooklyn». The Kansas City Star sección F, pág. 33 Lucas, Jerez. (2002, 24 de marzo). «Autorretrato». The Clarion Ledger sección F, pág. 5. «Exposición Adolphe en la Galería Bogigian» (9de febrero de 2001) The Wilson Billboard, pág. 3 «Artista de Nueva York en Wilson» (marzo de 2001) The Chambersburg Gazette, pág. C3

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Emma Talbot

Education: 1993-1995   Royal College of Art, M.A. Painting1988-1991  Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, B.A. Fine Art (First Class)1987-1988   Kent Institute of Art & Design, Foundation in Art & Design

One Person Exhibitions: Forthcoming     Emma Talbot Nicolas Krupp Basel2018     Emma Talbot Caustic Coastal Salford     Woman-Bird-Snake Galerie Onrust Amsterdam2017     Open Thoughts Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, Germany         Stained With Marks Of Love, Arcadia Missa, New York USA        The World Blown Apart, Galerie Onrust Amsterdam2016         Time after Time, Petra Rinck Galerie, Düsseldorf           Entrances & Exits, Gallery Twenty Two, Bristol, UK           Unravel These Knots, Freud Museum, London2015         Step Inside Love, domobaal, London                    Memories Turn to Dusk, Petra Rinck Galerie.

Selected Group Exhibitions: Forthcoming     John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool 2018 Journeys Through The Wasteland, Turner Contemporary Margate Solitary Pleasures, Freud Museum, London Rumpy Bees and Pumpy Blooms, Klosterpresse, Frankfurt Virginia Woolf, Tate St Ives, (touring in 2018 to Pallant House Gallery, Fitzwilliam Museum) Some Islands, Coleman Projects, London 2017 CONDO Arcadia Missa, London  Art Cologne (Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam) 2016 MAC International Ulster Bank Prize, MAC Belfast, Northern Ireland Telling Tales, Collyer Bristow, London Ghost On The Wire, Objectifs, Centre For Photography and film, Singapore John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool Art Cologne (Petra Rinck Galerie) Charlie Dutton Gallery, Beijing, China William N Copley, Emma Talbot, Ina Van Zyl, Galerie Onrust, Amsterdam, Netherlands Comic Tragics, Art Gallery Of Western Australia, Perth Endgame, Turps Gallery, London In Neuen Raumen, Petra Rinck Galerie, Düsseldorf 2015 DRKRM, DAM Gallery, Berlin Graphics Interchange Format : 25 Years of Focal Point Gallery, Southend on Sea To Go Too Far, Petra Rinck Galerie, Düsseldorf In Miniature, Small Collections Room, Nottingham Contemporary Birmingham Show, Eastside Projects, Birminhgam UK 2014 Mind The Gap, Petra Rinck Galerie, Düsseldorf Drawn Together, Artist as Selector, Jerwood Gallery, Hastings The Manchester Contemporary (domobaal) Detail, H Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand Outrageous Fortune, Artists Remake the Tarot, Focal Point Gallery and Exeter Phoenix, Hayward Touring 2013            Atomic, Transition Gallery London Art Britannia, Madonna Building, Miami      Drawing Now,  (Kusseneers Gallery), Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris  Random House Arcadia Missa LondonAll The Dead Dears WW Gallery, London2012            John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery Liverpool  I Wish You Well Vegas Gallery, London The Perfect Nude, Wimbledon Space, London, SPACEX, Exeter  2011   Me And My Shadow, Kate MacGarry, London       TOLD Hales Gallery, London  The Life Of The Mind The New Art Gallery, Walsall (Curated by Bob  and Roberta Smith including Louise Bourgeois, Lucia Noguiera,        Sarah Lucas, Tracey Emin, Chris Ofili)            Outrageous Fortune, Focal Point Gallery, Southend /  Hayward Touring  Pulp Fictions, Transition Gallery, London  2010            Party! The New Art Gallery, Walsall  Dough & Dynamite, (curated by KobetsVasey)  McAslan + Partners, London 2009  One Cannot Be Thwarted by Antidisestablishmentarianism,  Primo Alonso, London  Drawing 2009 Biennial, The Drawing Room, London  Storytime, Gallery North, Newcastle (Emma Talbot, Dexter Dalwood,  Francesca Steele, Christina Koilati)             Awopbopaloobop, Transition Gallery, London 2008            Painted Room, Transition Gallery, London The Walls in Three Places, White Nave, Dover, Kent  Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London Fellowships and Awards: 1996    Bob and Susan Kasen Summers Studio Award1995    Rome Scholarship, British School at Rome

Collections: Saatchi Collection, David Roberts Collection, J. Sainsbury PLC, Unilever, City of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Ministry of Heritage, Abu Dhabi Bank, TI Group, Stephenson Harwood, Bob & Susan Summers Collection (NY, USA), Art Gallery Of Western Australia.

Publications, Editioned Prints, Artists' Books, zines and editorial contributions (selection)

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Enticed by Luxury and Art History at TEFAF New York

At the Mireille Mosler gallery stand: from the studios of Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyders “The Head of Medusa” (ca. 1617–18) oil on canvas 875 x 113 cm (all photographs by the author for Hyperallergic)

Imagine getting dressed up in a jacket and tie or a dress suit to purchase albaster swans. Well, when one comes from a certain socioeconomic class, I suppose there is an unwritten protocol to these sort of shopping excursions to the Park Avenue Armory. Each year I attend the TEFAF New York fine and decorative art fair, I’m reminded of how much social status is codified in the style of dress of the majority of the patrons (and sales people): in the Park Avenue location itself, in the amenities available (which include an oyster bar) in the wares for sale, which include precious objects, from old master paintings to classical statuary to medieval armory, jewelry, and those aforementioned swans. Most seem to follow the protocol that stratifies the distinctions between old and new money (and no money to speak of), though once or twice I see a pair of causal trousers, elasticized at the ankles, on a man wearing a jacket but no tie.

Much of the fair is taken up with various bits of design clothed as fine art, but that is too gilded and decorative for my taste, even when it’s attempting to look modern, such as Onaga Tomatsu’s “framed lacquer panel with various fish” (nd) which is a layered, cubist take on fish that makes the entire scene into a kind of twisted parquet floor pattern. It’s the kind of piece that looks expensive while being intellectually poor.

The fair is much more interesting to me when I find the older, pre-modern painting work that succeeds, particularly in the portraiture, in constructing a scene that, while wholly invented, is emotionally convincing. Pieces like “The Head of Medusa” (ca. 1617–18) from the studios of Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyders — which shows the cut-off head on the ground with a stunned expression stamped on her features, and the writhing, conglomeration of snakes beginning turn on each other — make the ancient story seem true. They “give to reality to greater permanence of the imagined” as the poetry critic Alfred Alvarez said of Sylvia Plath’s last collection. Leonardo Coccorante’s “Architectural Capricci, a pair” (1730) is a landscape that depicts a set of ruins; while ramshackle, they still look glorious, and it helps that the painting is so large I felt that I could walk into it.

At the Didier Aaron gallery stand: Leonardo Coccorante, “Architectural Capricci, a pair” (1730) oil on canvas 205 x 152 cm

Among the modernist painting offerings are some favorites I will always walk a mile to see, such as the couple of oddly colored nudes by Egon Schiele I found at the Galerie Sanct Lucas stand. I also appreciated the few pieces that used some pre-modern character arrangements in modern settings, such as Dean Cornwell’s “Interior with Two Figures” (nd) which has an older man with one shoe off, a sour expression and a glass in his hand and a younger woman with Dante Rossetti lips seemingly waiting for life to happen. It reads as the macho artist with his muse, but the apartment is dilapidated and the romance is gone.

The TEFAF fair continues to be a place that looks to overwhelm with its opulence and wealth signification. But besides that, it lets me glimpse some connections between art historical eras that I might otherwise miss.

Egon Schiele, “Male Nude with Raised Right Leg, Back View” (1910) watercolor and pencil on paper, 43 x 30 cm

Egon Schiele, “Reclining Male Nude” (1910) watercolor and pencil on paper, 31 x 43 cm

At Daxer and Marschall gallery: Angelo Morbelli, “Sunset in the Mountains” (1907) oil on canvas 23.5 x 38.3 cm

At Colnaghi gallery: Jusepe de Ribera, “Saint Onuphrius” (nd) oil on canvas, 99.5 x 74.8 cm

Jack Kilgore gallery: Emilio Baz Viaud, “Portrait of the Painter George Hutzler, with his Pet Bimba” (1949) pencil and tempera on paper board, 76.2 x 55.8 cm

Nauman Fine Art: Dean Cornwell, “Interior with Two Figures” (nd)

Åmells gallery/Adam Willliams Fine Art Ltd.: Stefan Johansson, “Sleep Corner” watercolor on canvas, 63 x 49 cm

The scene at Taylor Graham gallery

At Sam Fogg gallery: “Saint George and the Dragon” (ca. 1480)

Peter Finer gallery: various swords, rapiers and armory

Gregg Baker Asian Art gallery: Onaga Tomatsu “Framed lacquer panel with various fish” (nd)

Tomasso Brothers Fine Art: (attributed to) Nicholas Stone, “A set of four English alabaster swans” (2nd quarter of the 17th century) 56.5 x 66.7 x 39.5

The post Enticed by Luxury and Art History at TEFAF New York appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[affairesasuivre]

Parade / Hans Op de Beeck

Né en 1969 à Turnhout, Belgique. Vit et travaille à Bruxelles et Gooik, Belgique

L’artiste flamand Hans Op de Beeck a étudié les Beaux-Arts à Saint-Lucas à Bruxelles. Il a ensuite participé au programme de post-diplôme de la Higher Institute for Fine Arts de Anvers, puis a collaboré pendant deux ans à la Rijksakademie à Amsterdam. Son travail a fait l’objet de nombreuses expositions tant personnelles (MUHKA à Anvers (2006), Kunsteverein à Hanovre (2012), Frac Paca à Marseille (2013), Moca Cleveland (2014) que collectives (Reina So a à Madrid, The Drawing Center à New York, Museo d’Arte Moderna à Bologne, Kunstmuseum à Bonn, Biennale de Venise). En 2016-2017, son travail a fait l’objet d’une grande exposition de type rétrospective au CentreQuatre – Paris.

L’artiste amand Hans Op de Beeck stimule les sens des spectateurs en créant des constructions poétiques et évocatrices de mondes parallèles, entre réalité et fiction. Autant de portes ouvertes sur les mondes fictifs qu’il fait naître à partir de la banale vie quotidienne. À travers l’exploration de pratiques aussi diverses que l’écriture, la mise en scène, le film d’animation, le dessin, la sculpture et l’installation, l’artiste amand Hans Op de Beeck développe une forme de fiction visuelle entre ironie et gravité, humour et mélancolie, scrutant la manière dont le temps et le monde nous échappent, offrant au visiteur-spectateur un moment d’émerveillement et d’introspection. Hans Op de Beeck parle souvent « d’expérience » quand il évoque ses installations sculpturales immersives. Il parle de paysages et de points de vue, de distance à la fois spatiale et temporelle et de métamorphose des espaces investis. On y décèle aussi l’ennui et l’absurdité tragicomique de notre existence postmoderne, d’un monde qui tourne en rond, en boucle comme les boucles qu’il utilise souvent dans ses vidéos minutieusement mises en scène pour leur propension à nous faire voyager d’univers oniriques en compositions sonores singulières.

En 2016, Hans Op de Beeck avait subjugué les visiteurs du Printemps de septembre avec une grande installation immersive dans le réfectoire des Jacobins à Toulouse, un paysage monochrome, un désert de dunes conviant les visiteurs à une escale tantôt silencieuse tantôt chuchotée, entre fiction et réalité, invitation à la méditation et à la rêverie. À l’ancien tribunal, l’Été photographique de Lectoure 2017 présente le film « Parade » à la grande halle.

« Parade » (2012) est une œuvre vidéo dont la mise en scène se déroule sur la scène d’un théâtre. La bande sonore et l’image entrent dans un dialogue subtil dans cette œuvre vidéo poétique et touchante.

L’imposant rideau de velours rouge s’ouvre avec une valse lente composée spécialement pour la pièce, tandis qu’un cortège de personnages apparemment sans fin marche au pas ralenti, tel un flux de passants dans une rue. Là défile sur la scène une variété d’êtres humains, transportant les postures de leur corps, de tous âges, de toutes les classes, de tous les métiers et occupations, ils portent des vêtements qui sont autant d’uniformes qui signalent ce qu’ils sont, chacun est une existence individuelle, unique. Ce défilé de personnages est sans doute un événement plutôt banal, mais il peut être perçu comme une réflexion visuelle fondamentale sur la vie et la mort. La bande sonore et l’image entrent dans un dialogue subtil dans cette œuvre vidéo poétique et touchante.

www.hansopdebeeck.com

Hans Op de Beeck est représenté par Galleria Continua à San Gimignano, Peking, Les Moulins et la Havane, Galerie Krinzinger à Vienne, Marianne Boesky gallery à New-York et Galerie Ron Mandos à Amsterdam

[redazionecultura]

sede: Galleria Nicola Pedana (Caserta); cura: Marco Tonelli.

“In un certo senso infinito – sottolinea nel suo testo Marco Tonelli – vuole essere un titolo di una mostra, ma anche una provocazione intellettuale, un modello visivo, una comunicazione estetica, un’affermazione che sollecita domande. Cosa si nasconde nel certo di un senso infinito? Certo come certezza o, al contrario, come modo in(de)finito e vago di esprimere un significato? E senso allude all’aspetto sensibile dell’esperienza, quello appunto dei sensi, o al significato, alla direzione? Come se esistesse un senso dell’infinito, una direzione infinita? Tutto dipenderà appunto da come interpreteremo l’infinito compreso nel titolo. Concetto di per sé impensabile nella sua interezza, proprio perché senza fine e quindi senza limiti per esseri finiti e limitati come noi, l’infinito lo possiamo solo dire o scrivere, simboleggiare, avviare in sequenze numeriche (1…3…5…7…11…13…), ma mai fisicamente contenere. Vittorio Messina è un artista a cui piace sfidare inafferrabili e sottili inquietudini, praticando installazioni che vogliono spingersi oltre la loro pur oggettiva materialità costruttiva. Le sue opere sono tentativi di uscire dalla gabbia del pensiero razionale, dalle ovvietà dei dati sensibili, dai dogmatismi del trascendente, anzi ambiscono in un certo senso a fondere razionalità-sensibilità- metafisica nell’opera d’arte. Oltre la metafora, oltre l’analogia, forse l’opera di Vittorio Messina è da sempre in cerca di un’estetica basata proprio sull’in un certo senso, essenza stessa dell’Arte, che è a sua volta un concetto inafferrabile, non delimitabile, illimitato. Ovvero, in un certo senso, infinito”.

Vittorio Messina Vittorio Messina compie gli studi all’Accademia di Belle Arti e alla Facoltà di Architettura di Roma, città nella quale vive e lavora e dove, alla fine degli anni Settanta, esordisce nello spazio di Sant’Agata dei Goti – punto di incontro e luogo di sperimentazione della giovane arte di quegli anni, con “La Muraglia Cinese”, una mostra articolata intorno all’omonimo testo kafkiano. Già con la “Muraglia” e con le mostre alla galleria ‘La Salita’ di Roma (1982) e alla galleria Locus Solus di Genova (1983), il lavoro di Messina è orientato verso una forma di scultura ambientale dove scompare progressivamente l’uso di materiali organici e naturali. Così, passando per le mostre alla galleria Minini di Brescia (con Garutti nel 1985), al PAC di Milano, alla mostra ‘Il Cangiante’ curata da Corrado Levi (1986), Messina espone le prime “celle” nel 1986 alla Moltkerei Werkstatt di Colonia e alla galleria Shimada di Yamaguchi (Giappone), veri e propri edifici costruiti con materiali seriali di uso edilizio, di solito autoilluminati con lampade industriali. Nella sua ricerca l’artista ha elaborato ripetutamente questa iconografia come unità di riferimento, sinonimo della “stanza”, elemento base dell’architettura e in specie dell’edilizia urbana. Dalla metà degli anni Ottanta Messina, utilizzando i materiali e i modi, ha messo in evidenza l'”abuso” consumato dall’arte in rapporto al degrado e alle tematiche ambientali e sociali in atto nelle periferie metropolitane. Nel 1987, a Palazzo Taverna in Roma (Incontri Internazionali d’Arte), all’interno di un ciclo dove si succedono gli interventi di Maria Nordman, Bruce Naumann e Luca Patella, Messina costruisce una ‘cella’ e pubblica un testo, ‘Paesaggio con luce lontana’, dove affiora la tematica heisenberghiana dell’indeterminazione, già presente peraltro nella mostra ‘Spostamenti sulla banda del rosso’ di Villa Romana (Firenze 1985). Da questo momento il lavoro di Messina si svolge con stringente continuità visionaria nel grande ‘Krater’ esposto alla mostra ‘Europa Oggi’ del Museo Pecci di Prato (1988), nell’installazione totale alla galleria Oddi Baglioni di Roma dello stesso anno, fino alla mostra ‘Aetatis suae’ alla galleria Tucci Russo di Torino (1990), dove uno schermo televisivo fuori sintonia fa da contrappunto a una serie di cinque grandi nicchie, che svolgono con una sorta di ‘scrittura plastica’ il tema della nominazione. Successivamente, dalla ‘cella’ della galleria Minini di Brescia (1991), a quella del Kunstverein di Kassel (1991) e della galleria Victoria Miro (Londra, 1992), ma anche della ‘Stanza per Heisenberg’ (opera notturna per Edicola Notte, Roma, 1991), come nelle 24 finestre della mostra ‘Lux Europae’ di Edinburgh (1992), fino ai lavori del Castello di Girifalco, Cortona (con Thomas Schutte, 1993), l’opera di Messina si configura, con l’imprevedibilità e il disincanto di un vero e proprio cantiere metafisico. Un’idea, questa, che si sviluppa a partire dagli anni Novanta, nelle mostre al Kunstverein di Dusseldorf, alla Villa delle Rose di Bologna, alla National Galerie di Berlino, al Museo di Erfurt, al Museo di Leeds, fino alle grandi installazioni nei “Dialoghi” (Maschio Angioino e Castel dell’Ovo, Napoli, 2002), integrando una forma di mobilità e di precarietà radicali all’immagine della città come organismo improprio e artificiale. Nella mostra “A village and its surroundings” (H. Moore Foundation, Halifax, 1999) alcune installazioni includono l’uso di film-video nella prospettiva del ‘tableau vivant’, della ‘segnalazione’ e del ‘controllo’. In ‘La discrezione del tempo 1′ (Museo Ujasdovki, Varsavia, 2002) e in “Una città visibile” (chiesa di San Paolo, Modena, 2004), e poi ancora nelle “Cronografie, o della città verticale” (Cavallerizza Reale, Torino, 2006), e in “Momentanea Mens” (DKM Foundation, Duisburg, 2009), lo spazio-tempo dell’habitat umano tende a espandersi ulteriormente, fino alla dilatazione estrema di “Hermes”, un’opera della durata di 72 ore, divisa in 9 “Capitoli”, nata dall’elaborazione di un film di 42 minuti primi, in formato 8 mm del 1970 (Insel Hombroich, 1970/2008). Nelle opere esposte al MACRO (“Eighties are Back”, Roma, 2011) e poi nel confronto con Thomas Schutte alla Villa Massimo (Roma, 2011), Messina rafforza la componente tautologica del suo lavoro e avvia una nuova riflessione sulle forze e le dimensioni dello spazio reale, come nel 2013 al Museo delle antiche Mura Aureliane di Roma, dove si rapporta ancora con un ambiente fortemente segnato dalla storia e dagli eventi. Nel 2014, con le due grandi mostre al MACRO di Roma e alla Kunsthalle di Goeppingen, sul tema di “Postbabel e dintorni”, i nuovi “Habitat” evocano temi profondi, dove il soggetto della città riemerge come riflessione sull’origine del linguaggio e della stessa forma dell’arte come tensione e portato culturale della comunità umana. Una complessità, questa, che pervade i nuclei plastici di “Teatro Naturale prove in Connecticut” della grande mostra all’Albergo delle Povere di Palermo (Museo Riso, 2016), che segna, insieme all’originario recupero kafkiano, l’impervia proiezione nel sistema della incompiuta modernità della globalizzazione.

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Vittorio Messina. In un certo senso infinito sede: Galleria Nicola Pedana (Caserta); cura: Marco Tonelli. "In un certo senso infinito – sottolinea nel suo testo Marco Tonelli - vuole essere un titolo di una mostra, ma anche una provocazione intellettuale, un modello visivo, una comunicazione estetica, un'affermazione che sollecita domande.