Mazzoleni Torino is pleased to present Gianfranco Zappettini. The Golden Age, a solo exhibition by Gianfranco Zappettini, which follows and complements the show of the same title, curated by Martin Holman, that was on display at Mazzoleni London from February to April 2020. Whilst the London show focussed solely on the artist's most recent body of works, the Turin exhibition will also present previous works.
Gianfranco Zappettini is one of the most renowned living Italian abstract painters. In the 1970s, he was amongst the co-founders of 'Analytical Painting', an international movement which spread between Italy, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. The term 'Analytical Painting' was conceived in 1974 by German art critic and historian Klaus Honnef. Zappettini's works have been exhibited in major public museums across Europe, such as: Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, 1971; Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Turin, 1977; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, 1978; Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 1981, as well as at documenta 6, Kassel, 1977.
Zappettini's artistic development is linked to his spiritual research. The exhibition will be a survey of works from the 1990s, 2000s, and early 2010s, up to the recent gold-coloured paintings, which are representative of the artist's diverse types of research but connected to each other by an unchanged spirit of exploration.
The title of the show refers to Zappettini's exploration on the colour gold as a symbol of physical and metaphysical perfection. In this context, the 'golden age' refers to a longed-for era of spiritual wealth, which—according to the artist—will follow the current era of decline. Zappettini's profound research on Taoism, Zen, and Sufism is intrinsic to this body of works. From these traditional doctrines, the artist recognises the role of art as the upholder of superior and ancestral knowledge that will be passed on to a future of newfound harmony between humankind and its surroundings.
Painting is a spiritual exercise for Zappettini; it is a ritual undertaken with technical mastery and alchemical rigour, which involves a methodical distribution of colour on the canvas and the use of common or industrial materials.
The Turin exhibition will bring together works representing three decades of artistic activity, highlighting aesthetic and conceptual aspects: for the first time, the recent series Il petalo d'oro ('The Golden Petal') will be displayed along with the series Al fine che traspare ('To the End Shining') from the mid 1990s, in which the petal was already the symbol of the evolutionary journey of the soul; a journey that has been completed through the use of gold in the late 2010s. In the same way, the 'overlapping glasses' of the series Sullo sfogliar del fato ('Leafing through Fate')—in which petals are again protagonists of a phase where nature stimulates meditation—will be exhibited alongside the series La trama e l'ordito ('The Weft and the Warp') from the late 2000s, where the vibrance of the material-colour duality is juxtaposed with the order imposed by the Wallnet's texture. The 2010s 'overlapping nets' predict the perfect balance of the Con-Centro ('Con-Centre') series, alluding to that golden mean which is the inner centre of the human being.
A limited series from the year 2000 will also be exhibited. In this body of works Zappettini combines his distinctive white paintings from the 1970s with the series Al fine che traspare ('To the End Shining') from the 1990s. Works from the series Lacrima divina ('Divine Tear') and Luce Prima ('The First Light') will also be included, as well as some others from Il codice degli dei ('The Code of the Gods'), which represent cryptic and elegant 'texts' in a superhuman language whose medium is the artist.
The illustrated catalogue The Golden Age published by Skira includes essays by Dr. Martin Holman, British curator and art critic; Prof. Klaus Honnef, German, museum director, art historian and critic; Prof. Paola Valenti, professor of contemporary art history at the University of Genoa.
On the occasion of the exhibition, the Catalogue Raisonné of Gianfranco Zappettini, curated by Marco Meneguzzo and published by Skira, will be presented.
Press release courtesy Mazzoleni.
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