By Roberta Giaconi
While popping, on 8th of February, into the opening of Rachael Barraclough’s Modernground gallery and, afterwards, into Mathieu Knippenbergh’s exhibit at the gallery Spectrum London, the first impression is that contemporary art is getting ever odder, sectional, difficult to understand. Indeed, it is turning towards essentialism full of meanings often hard to make out without explanations.
The small and stylish Modernground’s rectangular hall is dominated in the middle by a large wooden sculpture made by undulate wrinkles. In a corner a chandelier made of glasses is reflected into a trapezoidal mirror, close to a chair made of wooden sticks while, not far-off, a coffee cup – made by Pet Stockmans, one of the most famous Belgian ceramicists, – rises up on a pedestal, beneath a blue picture crossed by a staircase of wires, made by Mariske De Gogy. This is the eccentric kingdom of contemporary art, where enthusiastic subjects wander, following the tracks of a queen – the gallery manager Rachael Barraclough – who seems honestly charmed by the displayed works. “It is simply wonderful” a gentleman commented on, closing ecstatically his eyes in front of a Leopoldo de’ Medici made of glazed terracotta by Giuseppe Ducrot, one of the four Italian artists who have found room into the exhibit.
Rachael, black-dressed, with her big, light eyes turning endlessly around the hall, looks delighted at the impressive work of Ducrot, at the heavy red frame, at the strict and prominent white bust. “I have taken a chance on joining such different works in an exhibit. Let’s take Ducrot, for example, with his baroque and sculptural art. In Italy people don’t look at him as a contemporary artist, whilst in London was a success with critics”. Rachel is very enthusiastic also for Cristiano Bianchin, another italian artist [his videointerview at the London Art Fair is accessible on our website – Author’s Note], whose work is displayed in a corner of the gallery. It is a nest, occupied by small glass-made cylinders. “It is called crochette and is Bianchin’s favourite work. It represents life and the waiting for growth” the gallery manager explains. On the remaining corners of the hall the works of other two Italian artists are displayed: glass cushions made by Laura de Santillana and a blue vase made by Massimo Micheluzzi. “Both artists are experts on glasswork: Laura De Santillana makes big pieces of glass, moulding works which appear essential, but which also are endowed with very intense colours, whilst the vase by Micheluzzi is part of my private collection and it attracted me for its beautiful colour” Rachel concludes.
Mathieu Knippenbergh’s exhibit Stranger among strangers welcomed by Spectrum London, a gallery directed by the Italian Laura Petrillo, is very different from the Modernground’s exhibition. The long entrance, occupied by an impressive composition made of bones, brings into a paradise lost, condemned by the misery of contemporary life. On the walls pictures of men covered by flies frame the sculptures exhibited on the hall and composed chiefly by bones and mud. These works have a strong impact on the visitors and drive them to reflection. For instance, the intense and almost macabre portrait, which evokes The Thinker made by Rodin, is meaningful. In it a naked man, covered by flies, sits thoughtfully, his face leaning on his hand. “My works speak about the transitory and the vanity of the earthly life” the artist says, artist who has been impressed by a stay in New Guinea. “I lived several months among the Asmat [a people who live in Papua Ovest and is famous for his craft production made of carven wood. Thanks to the protection of the mountains and the sea they were reached not long ago by modern civilization –Author’s Note] and I could see and witness the daily struggle of a primitive people, which is still connected with the fascinating rites of a mythological ad spiritual world”.
Hence, between condemnation of the present and mystic interpretation of daily objects, contemporary art finds its space in London in these new exhibitions, surrounded by the joy and the ecstatic adoration of art lovers.
Copyright 2007 GIORGIOSTUDIO – All rights reserved |
