Antonio Biasiucci, Molti,
2009 polyptych, 72 photos (detail)
The Galleria Nicoletta Rusconi is pleased to present to
the public a solo exhibition of works by Antonio Biasiucci (b.
Dragoni, province of Caserta, 1961).
The title of the exhibition derives from the work entitled Molti (Many, 2009),
a polyptych comprising seventy-two black-and-white photographs taken in the
Museo di Antropologia in Naples showing plaster casts of faces with their eyes
closed.
The result is a composition expressing the artist’s interest in the
category of multitudes.
The exhibition opens with another series, entitled Pani (Breads), consisting of
sixty photographs depicting this type of food, seen, above all, with regard to
its function as a symbol of life.
The two works investigate contrasting concepts with regard to similar forms.
The human face, considered also from the point of view of its internal
structure, as well as with regard to the complex symbology it represents, is
associated with a reflection on death in contrast with life.
For example, the sphericity of the crown of the head is also found in the
circular forms of the bread depicted, but it is also clearly visible in the
faces of Molti.
Molti (2009), originally conceived as a floor installation of seventy-two
photographs, each contained in a metal basin, was presented at the Museo
d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina (MADRE) in Naples as part of the
exhibition ‘Barock’, curated by Eduardo Cicelyn and Mario Codognato.
Biasiucci’s work, which was subsequently purchased by the museum for its
collection, is now coming to Milan for this exhibition at the Galleria Nicoletta
Rusconi in a new version as a wall polyptych.
This is what the catalogue of the exhibition ‘Barock’ had to say
about Molti: ‘Through these limpid veils emerge details from the darkness,
fragments of identity without a name, apparently similar and yet different from
each other.
The silent custodians of obscure histories which are here redeemed from an
oblivion as black as the depths from which they now emerge by virtue of a
Caravaggesque chiaroscuro.’
With regard to Pani (2007–09), this comprises sixty photographs having as
their main subject bread, seen as a sort of placenta, which, by definition,
signifies what comes before birth.
These are forms coming into being in which the artist glimpses the origin of all
things or faces in the process of being defined.
In an interview published by the Naples newspaper Il Mattino on 17 September
2009, Biasiucci explained his work thus: ‘What I seek to promote is
anthropological photography aimed at describing the history of mankind: this is
a type of photography that endeavours to go beyond a specific context or place
so as to isolate the essential subjects.’
The exhibition, which is accompanied by a critical essay by the curator, Marco
Tagliafierro, will remain open until 28 July 2010.
Private view: Thursday 27 May 2010, 6.30 pm onwards
The artist will be present
Opening hours for the public: Tuesday to Saturday, from 11.00 am to 7 pm.
Closed Sunday and Monday.
Galleria NICOLETTA RUSCONI
Corso
Venezia
entrance through the street door before no.
22
20121 Milan - Italy
For information contact:
Press Office
Sara Zolla
tel.
+ 39 (0)2 784100
fax + 39 (0)2 77809369
press@nicolettarusconi.com
www.nicolettarusconi.com
