Pirelli HangarBicocca presents "NOw/here" by Gian Maria Tosatti from 23 February to 30 July 2023

From 23 February to 30 July 2023, #pirellihangarbicocca presents "NOw/here," the solo exhibition by #gianmariatosatti (Rome, 1980; lives and works in Naples), one of the most interesting Italian artists in recent years.

Two impressive painting cycles: with these new textured, abstract, large-format works, the artist who represented Italy in 2022 at the 59th Venice Biennale, offers the public a "sentimental retrospective," revealing his painting practice for the first time.

The exhibition "NOw/here," curated by #vicentetodoli, consists of two cycles of paintings presented for the first time at #pirellihangarbicocca, Portraits (2022) and NOw/here (2023). These large-scale works are set up in close relationship with the architecture of #pirellihangarbicocca, creating moments of interaction and contrasting situations. Portraits comprises four gold and rust paintings on iron panels, assembled and installed on tube and clamp structures. The processes of corrosion and oxidation of metal, which physically restore a sense of the passing of time, become painterly "matter." By using gold, the artist draws on the Western painting tradition, from Byzantine mosaics and the gold backgrounds of 13th- and 14th-century panel painting, to the more recent experimental practices of Italian artists of the 1970s, such as Jannis Kounellis, Gino De Dominicis, and Luciano Fabro. With Portraits, Tosatti dematerializes the twodimensionality of the surface to create a symbolic elsewhere world, producing, as he explains, "a surface that separates the realm of things from that of the soul." On the other hand, the NOw/here series takes the form of ten large fields of graphite and white charcoal on canvas suspended from the ceiling. Thanks to the nuances obtained with the material—used as a large-scale painting technique—, Tosatti moves from the real to the imaginative dimension. The result is a series of depictions of horizons studded with enigmatic white spheres that, like glowing dots, evoke the idea of light, a recurring metaphor in his practice.

This new body of work condenses several recurring concepts of Gian Maria Tosatti's research over the past two decades and embodies a dialogue with the Zeitgeist (Spirit of the time), resonating with the feelings, characteristic of the artist’s generation. For Tosatti, the exhibition becomes an opportunity to address aspects of current events as well as the human condition at such a difficult moment in time, in a society poised between catastrophe and evolution. These works are also conceived as "mirrors," open questions that directly confront the visitor. In the words of the artist: “Right from the title, whose pronunciation differs depending on the perspective chosen by the reader, the exhibition is an invitation to delve into an environment that seems to pose an open, simple, intimate question to those who cross its threshold: ‘how do you feel?”

Through their material qualities, the paintings reconnect with the very moment when reality reveals
itself, as evoked by the exhibition title "NOw/here," whose elements can be read individually, as "now" and "here," or sequentially, as in "nowhere." This project is a coherent continuation of the artist's poetic journey, showing extensive references to many of his past works, from Testamento – devozioni X (2011), to the more recent Episode of Odesa (2020) and History of Night and Destiny of Comets (2022). In "NOw/here" Tosatti seems to confront History, interpreting it not as a chain of events, but as a feeling, while trying to capture the moment to which we belong.

The lighting of the exhibition “Now/here” has been conceived by Pasquale Mari, a renowned light designer and director of photography who works in cinema, theatre and art.

Further information in the press release to download