Dear Shaded Viewers,
Giuseppe Penone is considered the Master of Arte Povera and Universal Gestures, curated by Francesco Stocchi and supported by Fendi, showcases over thirty works created between the 1970’s and the early 2000’s. Universal Gestures opens March 14th till May 28th at the Galleria Borghese and is a tribute to the sculpture of Arte Povera.
The exhibition proposes a new reading of the relationship between landscape and sculpture. It is a research on the relationship between Art and Nature that characterizes the directio of Francesca Cappelletti.The works are presented as a reflection with respect to the environment offering a “completion” of elements: characterised by a triumph of marbles, sculptures and decorations. Penone adds an organic graft of leaves, leather, wood that connects and defines the two universes. In the Gardens the integration looks to t he world of metals, with bronze sculptures that dialogue with the rich surrounding vegetation, enriched by around forty new potted plants to support some of the works.
Some of the works are not well known nor have they ever been exhibited . There are. thematic groups such as Breath of leaves and To breathe the shadow. The exhibition renews a dialogue between the landscape, nature and the sculpture showing the history and contemporary evolution.
“This exhibition is a dialogue between objects that express thoughts from different eras but which have as their common thread the relationship between man and the matter that surrounds him. This occurs in the action that produces the work and which unites the works of the Galleria Borghese with the reality of today. Only through a reflection with the materials and the spirit that developed those art forms can a dialogue be created that is not a confrontation but an attempt to draw attention to values that can be considered shared,” says Giuseppe Penone.
“The exhibition Universal Gestures presents a dialogue that takes the form of a graft between the mineral dimension, widely present in the Galleria Borghese, and the organic dimension that characterizes Penone’s work. A query on sculpture free from all sensationalism, aimed at investigating the representation of nature in relation to the time of a historical past. A dialogue of ideas and materials, in relation to a confrontation of forms and symbols, expressing all the vitality of human and plant nature,” says the curator of the exhibition, Francesco Stocchi.
“With Giuseppe Penone’s exhibition we conclude the series of exhibitions that for two years have been trying to communicate to the public of the Galleria Borghese the research on art and nature, on the artist’s creativity and natural elements. The itinerary unfolds significantly from some of the museum’s rooms to the outdoor space, allowing the visitor to focus on the relationship between matter and the artist’s gesture and rediscover the potential alliance between human beings and nature in the cycle of time,” says the Galleria Borghese director Francesca Cappelletti.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by Electa with an interview with the artist by Francesco Stocchi and an essay by Andrea Cortellessa. The volume offers images of the works set up in the four rooms of the museum and in the gardens, describing an osmotic flow between the organic matter and the interior rooms as well as between the bronze works and the botanical richness of the exteriors.
The exhibition was realized thanks to the support of FENDI, the official sponsor.
