Melissa McGill, Red Regatta (Coppa del Presidente della Repubblica, San Giorgio Maggiore), 2019. Archival pigment print with pigment and matte gel medium, 142.2 x 213.4 cm. Courtesy of Mazzoleni, London/Turin
Mazzoleni will feature photography of Melissa McGill’s Red Regatta, a public art project presented during La Biennale di Venezia 2019, alongside an exhibition of works by Italian and international artists, including David Reimondo.
5—8 March 2020
Piers 90 & 94 | Booth 820
Artists Melissa McGill and David Reimondo will be available on-site for interviews.
With works by: Vincenzo Agnetti | Mel Bochner | Alighiero Boetti | Lucio Fontana | Jannis Kounellis | Melissa McGill | Rebecca Moccia | Gastone Novelli | David Reimondo | Mimmo Rotella | Salvo | Mario Schifano | Gianfranco Zappettini
February 25, 2020 – Mazzoleni is pleased to announce its participation in The Armory Show 2020, New York. The presentation will be twofold: one part of the booth will display photographic renderings of Red Regatta by Melissa McGill, while the main section will focus on MORE THAN WORDS…, a project based on the group show of the same title held at Mazzoleni London in 2018.
The presentation features works created from the 1950s to the present day, underlying the Dadaist and Futurist verbal and visual innovations, of which the latter were of particular relevance to certain Italian Post-War artists. Selected works by Italian and international artists whose practice is linked to the use of the “word” or to the invention of a new “code” or “language” will be highlighted: Vincenzo Agnetti (1926- 1981), Mel Bochner (1940), Alighiero Boetti (1940-1994), Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Jannis Kounellis (1936-2017), Rebecca Moccia (1992), Gastone Novelli (1925- 1968), David Reimondo (b.1973), Mimmo Rotella (1918-2006), Salvo (1947-2015), Mario Schifano (1934-1998), Gianfranco Zappettini (1939).
The artists on display are interconnected by keywords characterizing their own individual practice (concept – light – dictionary – pop – time – philosophy), identifying mutual affinities. Drawing inspiration from life itself and the kaleidoscope of verbal, literary, philosophical and poetic types of communication, each artist has been able to transcend words beyond their meaning – giving the exhibition its title, MORE THAN WORDS.
Similarities can also be found in the techniques and materials used: torn paper and collage characterize the works by young artist Rebecca Moccia (in the wake of her acclaimed exhibition presented at Museo Novecento in Florence, 2019-2020), as well as the significant “décollages” by Mimmo Rotella, and the seminal, multi-material works by Mario Schifano, who was active in Rome concurrently with Jannis Kounellis. Kounellis’s black letters on white backgrounds create a strong iconic and visual impact. These lines of research were developed within the context of the Italian economic boom and the explosion of mass culture and communication.
It is widely acknowledged that Lucio Fontana used to inscribe a variety of notes and phrases on the reverse of the canvas of his Concetti spaziali. Concerned with language and different cultures, Alighiero Boetti’s passionate interest motivated him to travel repeatedly to Afghanistan and Pakistan where he encountered highly skilled artisans whom he commissioned to realize his work. Boetti's “embroidered” verbal-visual compositions combine letters, sentences, colors, and the idea of “time” to achieve a unique form of "depersonalization" of the work; the concept of time is also prominent in his Calendari series.
Vincenzo Agnetti and Salvo share the “lapidary” power of words and sentences engraved on felt, marble, or neon, whereas the practice of David Reimondo represents a novelty on the American art scene. David Reimondo’s Etimografia is a macro-project embracing much of his latest research into “language.” The artist has created a synthesis sui generis (featuring ideograms, pictograms and glyphs among other elements) and produced new “graphemes” and new “phonemes.” Each of these “symbols” is the base element of a broader, more variegated project. This project came into being quite naturally as a perennial “work in progress”. One series of pieces is composed of “sculptures” (each around 40 x 40 x 6 cm) in wood colored with ink for professional printers; a choice of matter and materials that brings together past and present, conjugating different operational practices. Reimondo’s utopia is the development of a new language – in the most absolute sense of the term – that overcomes those predefined barriers.
A separate area of the booth will be dedicated to a series of large-scale hand-painted photographic renderings of Red Regatta by American artist Melissa McGill (born 1969), which Mazzoleni is proud to present at the Armory Show for the first time. This body of work is part of her major public art project Red Regatta, an unprecedented series of four large-scale site-specific performances on Venice’s waterways between May and September 2019: 52 traditional vela al terzo boats sailed in choreographed regattas, each with sails hand-painted by the artist in distinct shades of red. An innovative reflection on environmental issues and historical traditions, Red Regatta was presented in collaboration with Associazione Vela al Terzo Venezia, curated by Chiara Spangaro, with project manager Marcella Ferrari, co-organized by Magazzino Italian Art Foundation, with support from Mazzoleni. This presentation is intended as a prelude to the first exhibition that Mazzoleni London will dedicate to Melissa McGill from 29 April - 29 May 2020. Mazzoleni officially represents Melissa McGill in Europe and Asia.
A selection of press images can be found on the following link.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Mazzoleni (London | Turin)
Mazzoleni was founded in Turin in 1986 by Giovanni and Anna Pia Mazzoleni, as a natural evolution of their private collection started in the 1950s. The historic Turin space, which occupies three floors of Palazzo Panizza, overlooking the city-center Piazza Solferino, has since 2014 been flanked by the London gallery in Mayfair. Over the past three decades, Mazzoleni has organized solo and group exhibitions of more than 200 prominent Italian and international artists from across the 20th century with an exhibition program focused on museum-caliber Italian art from the post-war period and recently the contemporary panorama, working in close collaboration with artists’ estates and foundations.
www.mazzoleniart.com
The Armory Show | Booth 820
VIP Preview Day (by invitation only)
Wednesday, March 4, 2020, 11AM—8PM
Public Days
Thursday, March 5, 12—8PM
Friday, March 6, 12—8PM
Saturday, March 7, 12—7PM
Sunday, March 8, 12—6PM
Piers 90 & 94 | Booth 820
711 12th Avenue, New York, US
Upcoming exhibition | Mazzoleni London
In Venice, Melissa McGill
29 April – 29 May 2020
For additional details, please visit the artist’s page.