{"id":2122,"date":"2016-04-01T18:54:45","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T17:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/?p=2122"},"modified":"2016-04-01T18:54:45","modified_gmt":"2016-04-01T17:54:45","slug":"exhibition-piero-manai-luigi-presicce-autoritratto-con-maschere-1899","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artificialis.eu\/?p=2122","title":{"rendered":"Exhibition: Piero Manai – Luigi Presicce, Autoritratto con maschere 1899"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Self-portrait8\"<\/a>(Piero Manai \u2013 Luigi Presicce, Self-portrait with masks 1899)<\/p>\n

Galleria De\u2019Foscherari<\/strong>
\nVia Castiglione 2b, Bologna
\nwww.defoscherari.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

31 March 2016 – 31 May 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

Two artists, Piero Manai (1951 \u2013 1988) and Luigi Presicci (born 1976) were inspired by the same painting: \u201cSelf-portrait with masks\u201d by James Ensor from 1899. Between the executions of the works are decades. So it is not astonishing that the chosen media and results are different. Nevertheless, the connection is evident.<\/p>\n

\"Self-portrait7\"<\/a>Antonio Grulli, the curator of the exhibition \u201cPiero Manai – Luigi Presicce, Autoritratto con maschere 1899\u201d, has selected these two oeuvres with the same reference as starting point for a dialog between the works of the two artists. With that, he returned the Manai\u2019s \u201cAutoritratto con maschere\u201d to the gallery which showed it first in 1981. That time was as well a turning point in the creations of the young artist: after a period of hyperrealism he turned to a language of the body, the Eros and the Thanatos. He got more self-centred.<\/p>\n

Manai\u2019s over 50 masks are faces as over dimensioned charcoal drawings on canvas paper, partly fragmented. Often, the eyes are only black holes; the mouth is wide open; the facial features are distorted. By the technique and expression they are looking sinister.<\/p>\n

\"Self-portrait16\"<\/a>This installation is faced by Presicci\u2019s performance \u201cSanto Stefano, i coriandoli, le pietre\u201d, (St. Stephen, the confetti, the stones) from 2015, represented by a large-size photo taken by Dario Lasagni. It shows a group of people standing on a carriage without draft animal. They are wearing ancient looking dresses and masks. The disguise reminds Venetian and Alemannic carnival masquerades. In front of the group sits a man in black suite and hat. He seems to juggle with stones. Confetti lies on the ground. The scene is taken in the little St. Stephen\u2019s church (Chiesa di Santo Stefano Piccolo), Putignano, Bari, Italy, under its light arcs. In consequence, the impression is less sombre, even if the costumes are not really friendly. Both oeuvres refer clearly to James Ensor\u2019s self-portrait by the recitation of masked faces.<\/p>\n

Piero Manai created mostly drawings and paintings. Only at the end of his young life he experimented with Polaroids, for him, a form of photography which guides to its origins, without negative, so a unique piece. Whereas, Luigi Presicci works in various media. Besides collages and sculptures, he does photos and video installations which are more than a simple documentation of his tableau vivant performances. They are a new orchestration of the volatile moment.<\/p>\n

Antonio Grulli has chosen \u201cLa certifica delle mani\u201d (The certificate of the hands) from 2013. It is an on the wall projected series of performance images, more precise video sequences, interrupted by black screens. Each tableau vivant ends with a flash, followed by a sound reminding the noise of ancient photoflash. The pictures on view are showing people, often only parts of their bodies. In consequence the curator framed the installation with Manai\u2019s drawings of torsos. They are leading to a torso sculpture of the other artist.<\/p>\n

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