Mazzoleni is delighted to announce its participation in OVR: Miami Beach, the latest iteration of Art Basel's Online Viewing Rooms, with Post/Past – Spaces and Times from a Future Perfect, a reflection on the definition of time and space in Post-War European art.
"May you live in interesting times", was the theme of the 2019 Venice Biennale. Whether it is a wish or a curse still remains to be ascertained. But with the "uncertain times" we are currently experiencing, we ask what role does art play and can it predict what will follow? From the experiments that followed the Second World War to contemporary descriptions of the human condition, Mazzoleni's presentation explores the creative paths that have led us to today's artistic perspectives. Space becomes a cerebral surface of creation and expression for masters such as Piero Dorazio, Victor Vasarely and Lucio Fontana. In Piero Dorazio's Long Distance II (1984), the crossing trajectories of colours measure and give significance to the painting's field. The precise stripes of balanced colours define the space in which they have been generated. Both Dorazio and Vasarely participated in the landmark MoMA show The Responsive Eye in 1965 and the Hungarian artist's works on the optical perception of forms and spaces were exceptionally well captured on the canvas. In Vonal-Fèny (1975) the painter's handling of linear light and space produce an ethereal movement that is spiralling towards its very centre. Lucio Fontana, the father of the Spatialist movement, produced a vibrant body of work. With the red Concetto spaziale, Attesa, 1965, Mazzoleni adds to the discourse Fontana's iconic cut and the ultimate representation of space on a surface. By the seemingly simple act of the cut, the artist defines the canvas as a channel that opens the door to a galactic dimension.
Painting in some cases is a privileged medium as can be seen for example in Giorgio de Chirico's Ettore e Andromaca with its resonance to classical Italian art. With this metaphysical depiction of the Greek tragedy in its unearthly surroundings, de Chirico propels the human condition into a sideral space. Time and again in his career, de Chirico delved into art history as a key source of inspiration and Ettore e Andromaca is a key example of the dialogue operating between the diagonal structural lines, the combination of bold colours, the prominence of industrialisation, which all echo to Italian modernity. Meanwhile an untitled work on paper of 1961 by "Arte Povera" founding master Jannis Kounellis appears as one last sign before man vanishes.
50's and 60's Abstraction is also represented with powerful paintings by Hans Hartung, Georges Mathieu and Conrad Marca-Relli, all artists renowned for their linear and abstract gestural interpretation of space. The sheer physicality of scratches as mark-making on the canvas from the 1960s can be witnessed in T1962-E3, 1962, a canvas by Hartung. The display also features Mathieu's Maintenon, 1965 and Marca-Relli's Linares, 1958, a vast collage on canvas.
Last but not least Mazzoleni features Massimo Vitali and Melissa McGill. Celebrated as one of today's most influent photographers and an active contributor to the New York Times Magazine and Le Magazine du Monde, Vitali portrays people sharing time and space together: prominently crowds on bright beaches, more seldom in closed or restricted areas. The photographs presented, Vitali's Carcavelos Pier Paddle, 2016, and McGill's Red Regatta offer the viewer an insight into the consistently poetic oeuvre of these artists. Both artists' eye bear witness to places and times of public gatherings quintessential to man's need for spontaneity and insouciance.