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Ricomposizioni
Andrea Conte (Andreco)
Claire Chalet
Dina Danish
Angelo Filomeno
Carlo Guaita
Alexander Gutke
Jean-Baptiste Maitre
Elena Mazzi
Marzena Nowak
Giulia Parlato
Jasmine Pignatelli
Giuditta Vendrame
20th February - 14th March 2025
Artopia is delighted to present, on Thursday 20 February, the exhibition
Ricomposizioni, a special project that, for the first time in Milan, traces the three
editions of Nucré, the contemporary art exhibition in Puglia, through a detailed
selection of works
Nucré was born in 2022, from an idea of the two gallerists, Rita Urso and Arechi Invernizzi, who are emotionally linked to the region, with the aim of creating reflections on the places, landscapes and cultural and anthropological heritage of the Puglia region through the gaze of contemporary artists and a dialogue with history and collective memory.The event, consisting of two separate exhibitions and a residency, takes place in two characteristic locations in the municipality of Ceglie Messapica, the Castello Ducale and the Trullo Rubina, and is supported by the Regione Puglia, the Museo Pino Pascali a Polignano a Mare and the Municipality of Ceglie Messapica.
Ricomposizioni brings together in the gallery’s open volume some of the works that were exhibited in the six Nucré shows, thus illustrating the main thematic nuclei addressed by the exhibition, its premises and objectives. A large table at the entrance of the gallery collects the catalogues of the three editions, the materials that inspired the themes addressed by the exhibition and the graphic elements that shape the visual identity created by Marco Spinelli Studio (Lecce).
The idea of recomposition (ricomposizione) that gives the exhibition its title implies a mechanism of deconstruction and reconstruction. Combine, deconstruct and recompose, a dynamic inherent in every exhibition that configures and redefines a different narrative structure according to the specificity of the space and the exhibition layout. Even the works on display, in their fluid distribution and variety of languages, ranging from sculpture (Andrea Conte (Andreco), Alexander Gutke, Marzena Nowak, Jasmine Pignatelli) to photography (Carlo Guaita, Giulia Parlato), from drawing (Elena Mazzi, Giuditta Vendrame) to Angelo Filomeno’s embroidery mounted on a loom, and finally from painting (Claire Chalet, Jean-Baptiste Maître) to video (Dina Danish), reassemble a new narrative of the six exhibitions that made up the festival in the compact environment of the gallery, which acts as an architectural link.
With this exhibition, Artopia reconfirms its link and commitment to the Puglia region, exporting the works exhibited in the Nucré editions, transplanting them into the gallery context as if to create an imaginary bridge between the two realities.
• Photos by Michela Pedranti
Andreco
Starting from a scientific background, a PhD in Environmental Engineering, Andreco investigates the relationship between urban space and natural landscape, between man and environment, realising projects that compose a unique multidisciplinary research. His practice is characterised by a synthetic, symbolic and conceptual language, making use of numerous media such as installations, performance, video, wall painting, sculpture and public art projects.
He participates in exhibitions and festivals at an international level and his works have been exhibited in institutions and art events, including La Biennale di Architettura in Venice (2018), Fondazione Merz, Turin (2023), MAXXI, Rome (2022), La Triennale in Milan (2018), the Saatchi Gallery in London (2017), Centro per L'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci in Prato (2017), MACRO in Rome (2013). He won the Special Talent Prize 2017 at the MACRO Museum in Rome, in 2016 the Jazzi, a competition for rural regeneration projects and was selected for MIBAC's Grand Tour d'Italie 2019.
Dina Danish
Dina Danish (Paris, FR) is an Egyptian artist and educator living and working in Amsterdam. In her multi-media work, Danish focuses on language and structure, incorporating humour and misunderstanding. Awarded illy Present Future Prize and Barclay Simpson Award, Danish work was also shortlisted for Prix de Rome, Volkskrant Award and Abraaj Art Prize. Exhibitions include Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, De Appel Art Centre in Amsterdam, South London Gallery, Beirut in Cairo, MAMbo Bologna, and Kunsthall Oslo. Her work is held in several collections including De Nederlandsche Bank, Nomas Foundation, ABN Amro Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and MoMA. Galleries representing Danish are Stigter van Doesburg, Amsterdam, Barbara Seiler, Zurich and Rita Urso artopiagallery, Milan. Danish studied at the American University in Cairo and California College of the Arts. She was artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, PiST in Istanbul, The American Academy in Rome, Rose Residency Programme MAMbo in Bologna, A.I.R. Dubai, by Delfina Foundation and ResO Fondazione Spinola Banna per l’Arte in Poirino. Danish teaches at The Royal Academy in The Hague and at Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.
Claire Chalet
She studies at ENSAPC in Paris Cergy, France. A dreamlike wandering through the places, situations and people that have marked and shaped her life is what inspires her work. Using different media, such as painting, drawing and various printing techniques, she creates imaginary worlds that invite contemplation.
She was chosen by MAM for a solo exhibition at the Forum St Eustache gallery in '93, and collaborated for several years with Galerie Samy Kinge and Artopia di Rita Urso. During a seminar on “Art and Madness”, she met Anne Marie Dubois (psychiatrist at the Hôpital Ste Anne), who runs art therapy workshops and the Musée d'Art et Histoire de l'Hôpital Ste Anne. This meeting intensified her interest in art outside the cultural circuit and her questions about treatment, leading her to undergo training in art therapy at the Centre des Maladies Mentales et de l'Encéphale (CMME) of the Hôpital Ste Anne in Paris.
Angelo Filomeno
After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Lecce, moved to New York where he currently lives and works. The artist's work is characterized by a harsh dichotomy: the preciousness of materials, the refinement of the execution technique, and the high cultural references of his works, contrast with the horrific subjects represented: skulls, insects, representations of death. The artist's investigation, which often starts from metaphors or personal memories, speaks about fears, superstitions and vanitas, precisely by feeding on this polarization between an often macabre iconography yet almost concealed by the immediate fascination due to the refinement of the surfaces and fabrics.
The artist has exhibited on numerous occasions, including: Villa Medici, Academie de France à Rome, Rome (2000); Italian Cultural Institute of New York, New York (2011); Museum Bellerive, Zurich, Switzerland (2011); Museo Pino Pascali, Polignano a Mare (2014); Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), New York (2007, 2014); Bass Art Museum, Miami (2014); Wood One Museum of Art, Hiroshima (2017); Spazio46/Palazzo Ducale, Genoa (2017); Fundacion Casa Wabi, Puerto Escondido (2022); MART Museum of Contemporary Art of Rovereto and Trento, Trento (2022), MUST, Lecce (2023).
Carlo Guaita
Ranging between sculture (concrete, stone or cardboard),
painting, and literature, he uses a lexical grammar that relates to the titles his series (such as Dagherrotipi, Orizzonte, I Colassi, Invece di poesia, / Vuoti, Enciclopedia Incerta, Fantasmi, Pozzi, Immersi). His research deals with monochromatic painting and landscape, which are understood as both antagonists and generating substrates. These aspects are treated by the artist in a continuous layering, almost reminiscent of an archival work aimed at the completion of a painting. Guaita is represented by Galerie Bernard Bouche in Paris and Rita Urso artopiagallery in Milan. He took part in numerous exhibitions both in galleries and Italian public institutions such as Fondazione Ado Furlan, Pordenone (2016); XVI Quadriennale di Roma, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (2016); Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno (2015);
MART, Rovereto (2014); Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence (2001); Museo Pecci, Prato (1994). In 1988 he participated in the Venice Biennale (Aperto 88) and in 1998 also in the collective Due o tre cose che so di loro, PAC, Milan.
Alexander Gutke
Graduated from the Academy of Art in Malmö, Sweden. His research explores a wide range of themes, ranging from narrative reflexivity, measurement, space, light, shadow and darkness. Analog devices such as cameras, film and slide projectors are some of the main components of his artistic practice. Gutke investigates these technical elements as mechanical objects and devices and uses them as tools in his works, in the creation of an illusory visual narrative and a poetic and mystical materialism. His solo exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, USA; Kunsthaus Baselland and Kunsthalle Winterthur, Switzerland; Malmö Konsthall, Sweden; Culturgest, Portugal.
His works are part of public collections such as the Frac Lorraine, Metz, France; the Frac Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France; the Institut d'Art Contemporain (IAC), Villeurbanne, France; the Kunsthaus Baselland, Muttenz/Basel, Switzerland; the Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden; the Museu de Arte do Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada.
Jean-Baptiste Maitre
Jean-Baptiste Maitre (1978, France. Lives and works in France).
The production of animated movies is characterized by the use of elements of pictorial abstraction in motion, structured with narratives of political events. In the painting works he experiments modes of representation with strong sign gestures and the exchange / inclusion of digital media.
Recent solo shows: Martin van Zomeren & Stigter van Doesburg, Amsterdam (NL) (2020); Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Bologna (IT) (2018); Gallery Martin van Zomeren, Amsterdam (NL) (2018); Rita Urso Artopiagallery, Milan (IT) (2018); PuntWG (2017), Amsterdam (NL); TYSON art space, Cologne (2015); Palazzo dell’Arte dei Giudici e Notai, Florence (IT) (2014).
Main group shows: Centre Pompidou, Paris (FR) (2020); American Academy in Rome, Rome (IT) (2020); Manifesta Foundation, Amsterdam (NL) (2014); Guggenheim Museum, New York (USA) (2010).
Elena Mazzi
Starting from the examination of specific territories, in her works, she revisits the cultural and natural heritage of the places intertwining stories, facts, and fantasies transmitted by local communities, in order to suggest possible resolutions to the human-nature-culture conflict. The artist participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, in institutions such as Luleåbiennalen, PAV – Parco Arte Vivente in Turin, der TANK in Basel (CH), BIENALSUR, MADRE in Naples (IT), Ar/ge Kunst in Bolzano (IT), Södertälje Konsthall in Stockholm (SE), Whitechapel Gallery in London (UK), BOZAR in Brussels (BE), Museo del Novecento of Florence (IT), MAGA of Gallarate (IT), GAMeC in Bergamo (IT), MAMbo in Bologna (IT), Sonje Art Center in Seoul (KOR), Palazzo Fortuny in Venice (IT), Fondazione Golinelli in Bologna (IT), 16. Quadriennale in Rome (IT), GAM in Turin (IT), 14 Istanbul Biennale (TR), 17. BJCEM Biennale del Mediterraneo, COP17 in Durban (ZA), Istituto Italiano di Cultura in New York (USA), Bruxelles (BE), Stockholm (SE), Johannesburg (ZA) and Cape Town (ZA), Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa of Venice (IT). She is the winner, among others, of Cantica21 promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, and of the 7th edition of the Italian Council promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage. Elena Mazzi is currently pursuing a PhD at Villa Arson in Nice (FR).
Marzena Nowak
Her artistic research focuses mainly on the relationship between memory and imagination, between autobiography and the dream world. Nowak’s works, contextualised in the historical-social context of the political changes of the 1980s, play with the forms of sensory perception and the intertwining between the tasks of everyday life and the desire to take refuge in fantasy. She has exhibited in numerous international galleries and museums including Gregor Podnar, Wien; Galerie Mezzanin, Wien; COCA Center of Contemporary Art, Torun (2011); Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg (2011); Künstlerhaus, Salzburg (2011); MUMOK - Museum Moderner Kunst, Wien (2012); Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2014); CAC - Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius (2015); Pori Art Museum, Pori (2016); Neuer Kunstverein, Wien (2018); Stiftung Ludwig, Wien (2021); Artopia Gallery, Milan (2023).
Giulia Parlato
In her works, the artist challenges the belief that drives us to associate photographic images with truth, creating new spaces that highlight a sense of staging. Parlato is particularly attentive to the study of the past and the impossibility of capturing it in its entirety. This interest drives her to investigate history, mythology, and cultural heritage through the use of photographs and videos.
Among her recent exhibitions: Royal College of Art, London (2019); Palazzo Rasponi 2, Ravenna (2020); Royal College of Art, London (2021); Villa Bardini, Florence (2022); Triennale Milano, Milan (2023). The artist has also recently been awarded the Luigi Ghirri Prize (2022).
Jasmine Pignatelli
After her artistic studies and a degree in architecture, she focuses on sculptural production, especially on conceptual geometry and analytical and programmed art. The artist's research impinges on conveying essential forms in space, constructing a humanistic geometry capable of investigating existence.
In addition to numerous public commissions, the artist has exhibited her works on several occasions, including Pio Monte della Misericordia Museum, Naples (2017); Viterbo Biennale, 5th edition, Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo (2018); Vallicelliana Library, Rome (2018); Arcos Museum of Contemporary Art Sannio, Benevento (2019); XVII Architecture Biennale, Italian Pavilion, Venice (2021); Musma Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, Matera (2022). The artist has also won Memorie Prize from the Floridi Doria Pamphilj Trust (2016-2017).
Giuditta Vendrame
Vendrame studied at the Politecnico di Milano, Tongji University of Shanghai and the Design Academy in Eindhoven. Inhabiting a variety of media - such as spatial interventions, video, performances and installations - her research investigates space and mobility on different scales. Part of her practice is political in nature and combines the study of the circulation of the (public) selves and the control of movement with performative moments and symbolic gestures. For several years, Vendrame has been studying water bodies as interconnected spaces to reshape the perception of borders, territories and movement.
Her works have been exhibited in major international exhibitions such as at the Venice Biennale (2023,2021), SPARK, Malmö (2023), Garage, Rotterdam (2022), Alcova, Milan (2022), Dutch Pavilion at the Dubai World Expo (2022), MK&G, Hamburg (2021), Philadelphia Museum of Art (2019).