Roman artists as told by Manfredi Giocchini
A few weeks ago I bought The New York Times and read an article that described Rome as a city on the decline, dirty and with plenty of issues. Nothing new, so far, Rome is more than two thousand years old and has definitely a melancholic mood. But growing up in the so-called “eternal” city, the most beautiful in the world, makes you a spectator of history, of art and therefore, from the very start, Rome teaches you to appreciate beauty. The city has surely issues, no doubt about it. The biggest of this generation is the mass expatriation of young creatives. Personally, though, I believe that staying away for a while is necessary also to grow professionally and to compete with the world. Those who stayed and those who came back, anyway, are changing one of the city’s faces: for the past few generations, Rome has been among the leaders in the creative sector; in the last few years, besides, also thanks to Milan’s energy, Rome is undergoing a remarkable growth in the creative industry.
Photographer – Manfredi Gioacchini
New York – and Los Angeles – based photographer with a great passion for the arts, he found his form of expression in portraiture and documentary photography. These kinds of artists’ disciplines made him study and understand the importance of documenting the actions of the human being in relation with nature. In fact, in his background, there is important amount of time spent in Africa, where he became more self-confident in documenting reality using a camera.
But it is in Los Angeles and on the West Coast that he has found the best symbiosis between modern man and nature. He is currently collaborating with various international European and North American publications. Opening of the show of his book Portraits of Artists the 18th of September at LACMA.
Coordinated by Sara Sozzani Maino
The artists:
The Italian conceptual artist lives and works between Rio de Janeiro and Italy. He graduated in Economics at Milan’s Bocconi and studied philosophy and art a the EAV, the School of Visual Arts of Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro. In his works he toys with the different meanings of artwork, from the moment of the creation to the relationship with the public and the ownership by collectors and museums. The works of Salvatore are like metaphors of life and explore the power struggles between the individuals who take part in it.
Lucio Salvatore
Lucio Salvatore's exhibition Il Peso del Pane at Parque Lage, Sala Cortona of the Palazzo Pamphilj, Roma. Installation, wooden tables, white cloth, bread loaves containing stones
1000 x 90 x 90 cm
Lucio Salvatore's exhibition Il Peso del Pane at Parque Lage, Sala Cortona of the Palazzo Pamphilj, Roma. Installation of bread loaves containing stones.
2017 - PARQUE LAGE, Palazzo Pamphilj
Parque Lage, 2017
Palazzo Pamphilj, Roma
Curated by Fernando Cocchiarale
19.05.17 - 16.06.17
Lucio Salvatore exhibition Parque Lage in Palazzo Pamphilj’s Candido Portinari Gallery, the Brazilian Embassy in Rome, is, according to the artist's statement: “A mini-retrospective of works developed over the last few years in Rio de Janeiro and presented in five individual exhibitions and two groups shows in Brazil, in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. [...] The works have never been exhibited outside Brazil and the exhibition at the Brazilian Embassy takes on a very important meaning for me, born in Italy but considered a carioca artist” (from Parque Lage exhibition's project).
Although seemingly far from the explicit poetic focus of his work, with strong conceptual influence, such an affirmation is so essential to the artist that has led him to design and organize this exhibition as a sign of his identity inscription in the art world, such as "a carioca artist".
Openess to the cultural other and the consequent democratic respect for different identities - religious, racial, sexual and gender, among others - have become, in recent decades, positive evaluation criteria for cultural production and both political and micro-political actions.
Proposed by post-structuralist thinkers, such as Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida, François Lyotard, Roland Barthes, these productions and actions have subsequently been assimilated by the multicultural and postcolonial turning promoted by the "third world" intellectuals, such as Stuart Hall, Homi Bhaba, Gayatri Spivak and Anibal Quijano. Driven by the criticism of the supposed universality of knowledge that has legitimized practices of European colonial domination, these intellectuals opposed their local identities to globalized Euro universalism.
We must therefore investigate the paths on which these identity traits are often constructed and established on the basis of intuitive synthesis with a local emblematic- critical vocation. For many, the best answer to this survey would be provided by intellectual researchers, from which specific skills may be required to:
- propose and coordinate scrupulous investigations into the textual and iconic documentation of the topics sought;
- formulate a theoretically articulated interpretation (reading) of these traits.
Already common sense, whose responses are usually based mainly on the experiences articulated in the daily-empirical spheres of opinion, is, therefore, permeable to infiltration of prejudices. But this lived instance also condenses identity synthesis of collective appeal, affectively filtered, as they assimilate not only discourses but also flavors, sounds, languages, images and local sensations. Such impregnation of such heterogeneous elements has art as a privileged field and artists as principal actors, their essential practical and discursive formulators.
But Salvatore’s carioca artistic identity does not have the same nature as those derived from common sense. Economist, interested in philosophy, Lucio, after graduating, began to study photography and art as tools for the manifestation of thinking. Perhaps that is why his work shows us no iconic consecrated trace as a local feature of Rio de Janeiro. On the contrary, he has a universal (conceptual) breath that does not explicitly reveal his trans-carioca identity. In clarifying the rules set by the artist for his work, 13 manipulations, propositions that others will complete, Salvatore does not leave us any doubts: “This art work is part of the series of works that deal with the power relationship between the artist who creates a field of meaning and the users of the work that manipulate it, in this case gluing black squares into a grid drawn by him. The artist offers users a platform for creativity that is universal because of its language and possibilities that are accessible and equal for everybody participating in it“ (from Parque Lage and Fragment exhibitions' projects).
His projects do not have as visual evidence, formal and chromatic images of a presumed carioca brazilianess. Instead, they bring to light, from a poetic point of view, common problems in the art system, its public and private institutions, publications, experts, artworks authorship, public, collecting, the repertoires of taste ... We are brought on these issues through the schematic use of this game of games that reveals what lies under the surface of the art system and market: [...] "the games of meaning" that happen during the life of the work of art, from its creation and relationship with the public to the possession by the collector. Works raise a question of power among the people who participate in them.“ (from the Fragment exhibition project).
Lucio Salvatore's modus operandi therefore indicates another identity pattern. Being conscious of this model occurred in Rio de Janeiro, more precisely in the years when he attended the Parque Lage visual arts school. According to the artist, “The title is a tribute to EAV Parque Lage, a school and a place that has been fundamental to the growth of my thinking and work. [...] The experimental, open, transcultural environment of the school, the energy generated by the architecture of the palace immersed in the forest, were fundamental for my art and the words Parque Lage symbolize perfectly its brazilianness” (from Parque Lage exhibition's project).
The artist's statement is as uncommon as it reverses the usual flow of relations of his Euro-American colleagues with the precarious Brazilian art system, marked by ideas and attitudes that still show the old colonial rule. From this point of view, Lucio Salvatore’s carioca artistic identity passes away from that flow. Perhaps the conceptual content of his work has kept him from the expectations commonly sought by the foreign look: icons of tropical exoticism in which Brazilian art and culture are often confined.
However, we cannot place his projects in the opposite pole - universalist. Salvatore's brazilianness is the result of the poetic synthesis between intellectual freedom and thinking extracted from his carioca experience.
Source: https://www.luciosalvatore.com/filter/il-peso-del-pane/2017-PARQUE-LAGE-Palazzo-Pamphilj
Lucio Salvatore's exhibition Il Peso del Pane at Parque Lage, Sala Cortona of the Palazzo Pamphilj, Roma. Installation, wooden tables, white cloth, bread loaves containing stones
1000 x 90 x 90 cm
Lucio Salvatore's exhibition Il Peso del Pane at Parque Lage, Sala Cortona of the Palazzo Pamphilj, Roma. Installation, wooden tables, white cloth, bread loaves containing stones
1000 x 90 x 90 cm
Lucio Salvatore's exhibition Il Peso del Pane at Parque Lage, Sala Cortona of the Palazzo Pamphilj, Roma.
Lucio Salvatore Il peso del pane, 2016 Bread loaf containing stones, scale.
Lucio Salvatore | Parque Lage | Galleria Cortona
Roma, May 18th 2017, Palazzo Pamphilj,
Lucio Salvatore exhibition 'Parque Lage' filmed inside Galleria Cortona.
Other Artists:
Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis
Alessio Rigo de Righi (Jackson, USA, 1986) is an Italian-American film director. He studied Literature in Rome and film direction in New York where he has made several short films which were presented at numerous film festivals and earned various awards. He currently lives in Buenos Aires. Matteo Zoppis (b. Rome, 1986) is an Italian-American film director. After studying Law in Rome and Paris, he moved to New York and enrolled at New York University to study film direction. Also his films were screened at various film festivals worldwide. In 2014 Alessio and Matteo started a collaboration aiming at exploring the topic of the Italian countryside and oral tradition, with the medium length film Belva near that won best film at the prestigious Cinema du Reel festival and the Fresnes’ Prisoners Award. The collaboration continued with a documentary film, Il solengo, that won the City of Lisbon Award at the Doclisboa festival, best Italian documentary at the 33TFF Torino Film Festival 2015, best film at the Filmmaker festival in Milan, at the Bellaria Film Festival and in Margenes. The directors have also taken part in IFFR Rotterdam, Art of the Real in New York, Göteborg Biennial, São Paulo International Film Festival, Bafici in Buenos Aires, Rome Film Festival. The duo are currently working on their first feature film, Re Granchio: the story of an Italian man exiled in Argentina.
Alessio Rigo de Righi & Matteo Zoppis
Antonio Girardi
When Antonio was a young boy, back in the 90’s, he used to spend summers and weekends on vast building sites with his father’s construction company, erecting structures from private villas to large institutions in and around Naples. There Antonio’s love of engineering and architecture was born, along with his expert eye for structure and design. Years later, as a new generation architect known for combining in-depth research and experimentation, Antonio founded Studio LabARK, a novel “laboratory” with a dedication to design research and a strong focus on new technologies, innovative materials, social responsibility, and environmental sustainability. Along with his handpicked team of architects, local artisans, and suppliers of fine materials, Antonio has developed and executed a number of projects that have been featured in the media from national tv reports and newspapers to the glossy pages of Italy’s Roma “Where”, “Vogue”,”Vanity Fair”, America’s and England’s “Architectural Digest” and “Condé Nast Traveller”, up to the sought after lists of “Departures” and “The Financial Times’ How to Spend It”. Antonio’s professional work comprises governmental facilities, corporate and public buildings, private homes and products of industrial design ranging from furniture to original lighting. The young Studio has built a name for themselves in Italy’s hospitality sector by recreating the same richly warm atmospheres of private residences, tailoring environments, and adapting materials, fabrics, and custom elements of design, as witnessed by a wide range of luxury suites, hotels, B&Bs and recently, the first acclaimed five star hotel. Antonio often shoulders the responsibilities of general contractor on many of his sites as well. Not only does he keep in mind the structural implications of a building when creating a project, he has the experience and know-how which allows him to quickly find and integrate solutions to technical issues.
Antonio Girardi
Cosima Bucarelli
Cosima studied art and design in London and graduated in Design Management in Berlin, all the while directing the multi-awarded art magazine on emerging creatives Horst und Edeltraut. Two years ago after a stint with Emilio Pucci, she decided to focus on her artistic ambitions. She currently lives out of Rome and Bangkok designing precious jewelry, colored accessories, made to measure garments inspired by the local culture and crafts of these two very different cities.
Cosima Bucarelli
Gaia Fradella and Federica Anne Ducoli
The G.A.N Gaia & Anne brand was created in Rome from a shared passion for craftsmanship. Following the traditional techniques and canons of Italian couture, Gaia Fredella and Federica Anne Ducoli kicked off their new project. A few months ago they opened their new studio at 112, via di Monserrato. Here, using a vast assortment of quality textiles, they create custom made garments, one-off pieces and limited edition collections.
Gaia & Anne, G.A.N.
Gianni Politi
Artist Gianni Politi was born in Rome in 1986. His pictorial practice revolves around his studio that is at the same time the shape and the holder of his paintings. Inside his studio the materials pertaining to traditional painting are transformed and turned into something different and become new works. His paintings feed on his studio experiences and are displayed in museums all over the world.
Gianni Politi
Julie Polidoro
Born in Rome, she moved to Paris where she graduated at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. She lived for a while between New York and Hong Kong, but then returned to Rome. She is now working on a large catalog of fantastic cartographies, a mapping of our planet, portraying with a deeply poetic approach her personal attempts to elaborate chaos and bring order into space.
Julie Polidoro
Andrea Lupo Lanzara
After completing hid studies in Rome, he moved to London to study International Business. In 2008 he succeeded to his grandmother Rosana Pistolese – who founded it in 1964 – in the direction of Accademia di Costume e Moda in Rome. Since his appointment the School has been playing a major role and was included among the world’s fifty leading fashion schools (Business of Fashion International Ranking 2016). For Lanzara teamwork, and not personal success, is key and his mission is to allow people to express their best assets in total freedom, conveying their own vision with determination. His aim through the Accademia is to train the young, also from a cultural point of view, besides providing them with technical skills, so that in the future they will be able to interpret with confidence and their own personal vision the codes of the fashion houses and companies they will work for. His hope for the future is “sharing” and not “competing”, “system” and not “individuality”, “identity” and not “imitation”.
Andrea Lupo Lanzara
Marco Schifano
Since his childhood his ‘toys’ have been film and photo cameras and he grew experimenting with his communicative skills. He practiced “in-camera editing” to obtain clips where he blended his research on meaning and rhythm: plenty of hours of footage and a great number of shots to achieve a personal aesthetic representation of the world. His recent photographic work is based on a complex process that entails a long preliminary study of elements that are connoted, assembled and then shot to create highly formalized iconographies. The still-life technique is used to revisit pictorial tradition through images halfway between reality and fiction.
Marco Schifano
Marco Schifano
Matteo Parenti
I am a designer and artisan and I was raised between Rome and Venice, I have always been passionate about art, design and sailboats. I studied art for a long time all the while exploring materials and relevant techniques; for several years I designed components for sailboats that raced in international competitions and this enabled me to travel all around the world. When I came back I channeled my experience again into art, designing one-off pieces and handcrafting them. Many found my designs interesting, so people started asking me more and more to design pieces for private homes or clubs. Today I am taking up a new challenge: I started a brand (Union-e) to create interior design items.
Matteo Parenti
Michele Am Russo
Handcraft tailor, designer and CEO of Bomba. Born in New York, he cut his teeth in the Bomba atelier then worked and studied aesthetics in London and Seville. Currently in Rome, on the first floor of Via dell’Oca 42, he offers a fully handcrafted bespoke tailoring service. He personally measures, outlines, cuts, fits and completes all garments in house by hand, for each of his customers. His method is traditional, his style is pleasantly influenced by the house where he was raised. Concurrently, together with his sister Caterina Nelli and mother Cristina Bomba, he carries on his commitment to the family brand Bomba, for which he also designs and curates a limited series rtw men’s line.
Michele Am Russo, Bomba
Carlo Lavagna, Tommaso Bertani and Pietro Daviddi
Walking around the Domus Aurea evoking Seneca and Agrippina’s conspiracies and hoping to locate the gold hidden underneath the Serapide road is the aim of these shots that portray the three key people of Ring Film, the Rome and Turin-based film production company with a special penchant for adventure novels.
Carlo Lavagna, Tommaso Bertani e Pietro Daviddi; Ring Film
Carlo Lavagna, Tommaso Bertani e Pietro Daviddi; Ring Film
Alessandro Cicoria and Valeria Giampietro
Studioli is a project held in the spaces where Alessandro and Valeria live and work: in Rome, close to the Tiber river in the Tor di Quinto/Ponte Milvio area. Old Seventies garçonnières located inside a courtyard covered with ivy, that in the early 1900s were used as horse stables. The studies have remained intact since the Seventies and were furnished with pieces and lamps from Magistretti, colored carpets, mirrored walls and wood paneling. We then decided to share the spaces, inviting various artists to revisit them creatively. Studioli kicked out in 2015 with the exhibition Peonie set up inside a few rooms of the building. On show a series of works on pornography from the Sixties to present day, mostly from private collections, by Schifano, Desiato, Otto Mühl, Timm Ulrichs, but also by younger artists like Aurel Schmidt, Daniele Puppi. We dedicated ample space to Luigi Ontani who displayed a great number of never-seen-before works, especially from the Seventies (masks, water colored photos and drawings). The exhibition was accompanied by an art book, Peonie, released in 100 copies, that we presented in July.
Alessandro Cicoria & Valeria Giampietro, Studioli
Umberto Mantineo
I was born in Rome, I worked as a photographer, I am an architect (I graduated at Rome’s La Sapienza), I design and produce furnishings (lamps, tables, sofas, chairs) and a ceramics range. All items are numbered and in limited edition. After collaborating with two architect studios in Los Angeles and Rome, last year I started a studio/showroom at 103, via dei Banchi Vecchi, in Rome. In my space, besides carrying out design activities (restoration, interior design, furnishings), I have vintage designer pieces (Ponti, Fornasetti, Albini Prouve, Parisi, Schifano, LeWitt, Morellet, Consagra, Angeli, Paolini, Cocteau) all handpicked by me.
Umberto Mantineo
Zazie Gnecchi Ruscone
She hand-paints textiles and she is an interior designer. “I can say I am a self-taught artist. I never attended any design or painting courses and I started using colors and brushes on fabric when I was about 7 years old, turning a great passion into my job. After graduating in Science Communication in Paris, at 21 I came back to Rome to establish my brand, Zazielab, my personal creative workshop where I work with colors and textiles, in a very special place in Trastevere, where I still have my atelier. I only use organic materials like pure linen, cotton or silk, and create only geometric motifs, my trademark, alongside a vast array of tones and nuances, I obtain all the colors I want by mixing primary colors and inventing hundreds of hues”.
Zazie Gnecchi Ruscone, Zazielab
Zazie Gnecchi Ruscone, Zazielab