FRANCESCO ARENA
PASSAGGIO
Studio Trisorio – Naples
November 17, 2017 – 30 January, 2018
On Friday 17 November at 7 p.m. at Studio Trisorio in via Riviera di Chiaia 215, a solo exhibit by Francesco Arena entitled Passaggio will be inaugurated.
Four never-before-exhibited white bronze sculptures and a site-specific installation will be presented.
The white bronze sculptures, “divided and distanced”, are simple in form and of varying dimensions:
Block (city) has the same dimensions as a 25 Kg. block of clay.
Tube (wall) is 4 meters in length
Ball (house) is the size of a beach ball.
Slab (hand) is the same size as an A4 sheet of paper.
Each sculpture has been divided in half in different manner: the clay “slab” was divided by acting upon its thickness, the “ball” was sectioned into two parts, the “tube” was bent until breaking point and the “block” was divided by pulling its two extremities in the opposite directions.
The cut becomes a sculptural element and the two complementary parts of each work must be positioned at a precise distance which corresponds exactly to the proportions of the artist’s body, the space in which he lives, and the spatial and architectural context of the city hosting the exhibit.
Consequently, the two parts of the “slab” are exhibited at a distance of 20 cm. from each other, maintaining the same distance that there is between the tip of the artist’s right hand thumb and the tip of his little finger; there are 20.95 meters between the two halves of the “ball” which corresponds precisely to the diagonal of the two extreme corners of the artist’s house; the two sections of the “tube” are divided by a wall, and the two parts of the “block” are positioned at a distance of 1 km. in relation to the space of the city.
The installation entitled Passaggio lends its name to the title of the exhibit and has been specifically conceived for the Studio Trisorio gallery in dialogue with the history of this location which once housed carriages. The artist’s intercession re-dimensions the “passage” between the two areas of the gallery and brings into question the characteristic central perspective view. The space is, thus, literally re-modelled using classical sculptural materials such as clay.
Biography
Francesco Arena, born in Torre Santa Susanna, Brindisi, in 1978, lives and works in Cassano delle Murge, Bari. The starting point in creating his works is history, specifically political and social events which have marked the recent past. In the synthetic and metaphorical forms of his sculptures, episodes which are all too frequently kept hidden or are silenced thus acquire a new life. His works have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, in both public and private venues: Unlimited, ArtBasel, 2017; Sprovieri Gallery, London, 2015; Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, 2014; Nogueras Blanchard Gallery, Madrid, 2013; Frac Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, 2012; Museion, Bolzano, 2012; Monitor, Rome, 2011; Peep Hole, Milan, 2011; Art Statement ArtBasel, 2010. In 2013, he took part in the Vice Versa exhibition project for the Italian pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale. In 2014, his work entitled Posatoi became part of the Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu Italian Art Collection in Garrison, New York.
Cover image: Francesco Arena, Blocco (città), work in progress, 2017; Fonderia Battaglia, Milano. Photo: Santiago Torresagasti.
Press release courtesy: info@studiotrisorio.com
Studio Trisorio Riviera di Chiaia, 215 80121 Naples - Italy info@studiotrisorio.com www.studiotrisorio.com
