The power of red: Ronchini's I Rossori Dell’Arte
The boundless possibilities of the colour red are showcased in this exhibition at London's Ronchini Gallery
By
Shin Hui Lee
March 21, 2023
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
I Rossori Dell’Arte is a formidable showcase of contemporary masterpieces that owe their inspiration to the enduring allure and mysticism of the colour red. As the first colour that we perceive after black and white, red is both a part of us and all around us. Primal, cardinal and eternal. For this reason, artists have long turned to red as a vessel for representing the frontiers of human experience. By amalgamating novel creations with seminal works from the past, I Rossori Dell’Arte unveils the myriad manifestations of redness in art.
This is an exhibition that can only be done justice in the flesh. Against the bright white and clean concrete of the gallery space, the reds of I Rossori Dell’Arte are given scope to come alive. The juxtaposing textures and materials play off the overarching commonality of colour, coaxing us into a mesmerising visual journey across more than a dozen paintings, sculptures and mixed-media works. From the hallucinatory swirls of Luigi Boille’s (1926-2015) Arabesco – rosso cosmico (1975), to the imposing monochrome of Paolo Serra’s (b. 1946) Untitled (2021), we are bathed in the richness of red, encouraged to contemplate our own associations with the much exalted colour. Is it the crimson blush that creeps upon our cheeks when we are touched by love, or perhaps the blood that pulses through our veins in moments of incandescent rage? The power of red, to make both true and possible at once, is why I Rossori Dell’Arte so deftly triumphs.
A particularly exciting work on display comes in the form of Alighiero Boetti’s (1940-1994) diptych Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi (1971). Belonging to the Arte Povera movement, Boetti spent much of his time in hardware stores, finding ways to incorporate ready-made colours and materials into his artistic critique of Italy’s increasingly commodified society. Through Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi, Boetti makes witty reference to the two iconic reds of the rival motorcycle companies Guzzi and Gilera- situating them for once in togetherness rather than opposition. Yet, the fact that their not-quite resemblance is so easily identifiable even outside the context of cars, seems to validate Boetti’s anxiety over the domination of corporate-driven branding and marketing. By not just appropriating these colours and names from the automobile industry, but also working with elements such as iron and industrial varnish integral to the manufacturing process, Boetti evidences how colour itself is made to be complicit in the fetishism of commodities. No corner of the world, certainly not art, seems able to escape this impending fate. Indeed, Rosso Gilera, Rosso Guzzi is one of Boetti’s most significant works as it encapsulates his career-long exploration into the synthesis of subject matter with means of production, as well as the struggle of language to compete with the rapidity and scale of industrial production.
Across the space, the quiet magnificence of Joshua Raz’s (b. 1993) Gloaming (2023) demands to be felt. Here, the red gradually bleeds outwards into shades of purple, blue and black, swathing the canvas like a stubborn bruise. Without a figure in sight, the hazy landscape takes over, evoking a sense of primordial dissociation, time and place untouched. That we grasp the landscape’s tenuous tether to reality, but fail to ascribe exactitudes to it, is central to Raz’s aim of exposing reality’s own process of atrophy. In Raz’s words: “In neglecting to question artificial narrative, artificial intelligence and our own increasingly artificial existence, the significance of reality is withering. We live vicariously through flat interfaces and thus they are treated as the primary sources of empirical truth.”. As we hurtle towards a future containing the likes of deep fake technology, these are questions that should concern all of us, that will require our collective interrogation to counter. Face-to-face with Gloaming, then, we are left to wonder whether this landscape is based on nature as existing in reality, or if it too is borne of an entirely fabricated essence, of nothingness. As we gaze into the open abyss of colour, the landscape takes on a somewhat dystopian undertone- “like an astronaut looking back on Earth and not recognizing it as the place that they came from.”.
Elsewhere, we encounter the marvel that is Gianpetro Carlesso’s (b. 1961) Corten steel sculpture Interazione 5 (2023). Long fascinated with the concept of infinity, Carlesso has worked closely with scientists in an attempt to envisage its movement and physicality. Dynamic, sinuous and tactile, his resulting abstract forms highlight the never-ending possibilities for the continuation of undisrupted lines and impulses. In Interazione 5, the red folds over and within itself, giving way to a constant, looping flow of energy with seemingly no beginning or end. A testament to the artist’s unparalleled manipulation of material and form.
Moving through the rest of the exhibition, there are an array of old and new works to discover. Stand-outs include Jacob Hashimoto’s (b. 1973) Japanese-inspired modular assemblage In the end, a new day (2023), Artan Shalsi’s (b. 1970) sculptural exercise in geometry P_FE_SR_10_84 (2010) and Emilia Momen’s (b. 2001) vibrant self-portrait 21 (2023).
A feat of curation, I Rossori Dell’Arte delves into the complex connotations of the colour red, emerging with a rigorous overview of the countless meanings and messages that artists have extracted from it over the years. It is to this end that the exhibition stands as a reverent ode to the redness of art.
I Rossori Dell’Arte (The Redness of Art) is on view at Ronchini until 28th April 2023.
Make sure to collect your Yamos on the gowithYamo app when you visit!
