Pier Paolo Calzolari
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Curated by Art Historian David Anfam, Ronchini Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition by Pier Paolo Calzolari.
This is the first solo gallery presentation of this seminal artist in London and the first significant exhibition of Calzolari’s practice in the U.K. since his inclusion in the historic exhibition Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962-1972 at Tate Modern, London in 2001.
The exhibition will focus on drawings, studies and projects that will span the course of Calzolari’s career from the early 1960s to the present and give an overview of many of Calzolari’s signature concepts, offering insight into the artist’s ongoing interest in light, matter and time.
Born in 1943 in Bologna, and now living and working in Fossombrone, Italy, Calzolari is one of the most significant Italian artists of the post-war period and one of the still active original members of the Arte Povera movement. His 1969 text ‘La casa ideale’, and its realisation through a series of works, is considered one of the seminal statements of the movement. His work, concurrent to that of Conceptual art and Post-Minimalism, has rapidly evolved beyond the confines of a defined movement.
Indeed, Calzolari distinguished himself from other Arte Povera artists through his refusal of the avant-garde’s rejection of the past, his work seeking an equal and horizontal relationship between past, present and future. While his work shared similarities, it veered in a unique direction, bringing in elements of Renaissance painting and the Romantic movement. Calzolari’s sculptural installations are known for capturing ephemera and use elemental materials including frost, fire, salt, lead, water, copper, neon, moss, roses, feathers, eggs and tobacco leaves.
The work of Pier Paolo Calzolari is included in numerous museum collections and has been exhibited at Documenta, MoMA, Fondazione Prada and other prominent institutions. A major exhibition of his work was held at the Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna at Ca’ Pesaro, Venice during the 2011 Biennale. In 2012, Marianne Boesky and The Pace Galleries combined their Chelsea spaces to present ‘When the Dreamer Dies What Happens to the Dream’, the artist’s first solo exhibition in New York since 1988. In 2013 Calzolari had his most recent solo show Another at Galerie Kamel Mennour in Paris.
Exhibition: Pier Paolo Calzolari
Dates: 23 January – 7 March 2015
Opening Hours: Monday-Friday 10AM – 6PM, Saturday 11AM – 5PM
Location: 22 Dering Street, London, W1S 1AN
Tel: +44 (0)20 7629 9188
Ronchini Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Lorenzo Ronchini in 1992 in Umbria, Italy, which relocated to Mayfair, London in February 2012. The gallery aesthetic is defined by Minimalism, Spatialism, Conceptualism and Arte Povera and it retains an unblinking future-focus on progressive movements. Its exhibitions have explored pioneering movements across a broad spectrum of contemporary artistic practice. Working with acclaimed curators and scholars from across the world, the gallery provides a rigorous context in which its artists can be viewed. The gallery works with an international group of contemporary artists including Will Cotton, Jacob Hashimoto, Tameka Norris, Adeline de Monseignat, Berndnaut Smilde and Rebecca Ward. It aims to discover and rediscover exceptional artists and through its Post-War programme Ronchini Gallery’s objective is to inspire the next generation of young artists. Paterfamilias Adriano Ronchini was an early supporter of artists such as Alighiero Boetti, Daniel Buren, Joseph Kosuth, Frank Stella and Michelangelo Pistoletto and collected their work throughout the seventies; Ronchini Gallery evolved from these years of private collecting. The gallery maintains a successful publishing arm, which produces exhibition catalogues, monographs, critical texts and artist’s books.
For press information and images please contact:
Sophie Campos or Tefkros Christou at Pelham Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 208 969 3959
Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
Image: Pier Paolo Calzolari, Trenini [grande carta], 1972, paper glued on wood, wax pastel, oil pastel, tempera, iron, tracks, electric wire, feather, transformer, 150 x 232 x 15 cm, © Pier Paolo Calzolari, Photo: Paolo Semprucci, Courtesy Fondazione Calzolari.
