AMBIGUITY OF THE OBJECTS
THORSTEN BRINKMANN, GIUSEPPE UNCINI, PETER WUETHRICH
19 May - 29 July, 2022
AMBIGUITY OF THE OBJECTS
THORSTEN BRINKMANN, GIUSEPPE UNCINI, PETER WUETHRICH
19 May - 29 July, 2022
Text
One year after the launch of the exhibition program MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity, conceived and curated by critic Lóránd Hegyi, Galleria Fumagalli presents the fifth show entitled Ambiguity of the Objects, which brings together works by Thorsten Brinkmann (Herne, Germany, 1971), Giuseppe Uncini (Fabriano, 1929 – Trevi, 2008) and Peter Wuethrich (Bern, Switzerland, 1962).
Devised as a moment of celebration of the 30-year career of Annamaria Maggi at the helm of the gallery, as well as an occasion to highlight some common trends and themes in contemporary art, the program consists of eight exhibitions, each one jointly presenting the works of three artists, represented or followed by Galleria Fumagalli and coming from different contexts and experiences. For each triad, Lóránd Hegyi identified topics and common aspects capable of creating an unprecedented conceptual and aesthetic dialogue.
Such is the case of Ambiguity of the Objects, an exhibition that brings together three artists of different generations and poetics, whose selected works showcase common purposes. As stated by the title itself, in spite of an appearance of immediate reading, the surprisingly combined forms and objects engender an ambiguous poetical imaginary and manifest the emotional power of uncertainty.
In his plastic and spatial research, after experimenting with the typical materials of modern construction (iron and concrete), Giuseppe Uncini also approached brick. He considered its modular feature to create walls with no functionality, but capable of evoking traditional building practices, also developing a reflection on the entity of the shadow that led him to concretize it into sculpture. With the following series “Dimore” he initiated a further investigation into shadow and some characteristics of classical architecture such as the arch and the perspective. In these architectures, the volumes remain only outlined by their contours and open onto spaces that are not really habitable.
In Peter Wuethrich’s oeuvre the “bricks” are, instead, books. The wall piece L’arte di fare bouquet (2005) creates a sense of ambiguity through the transformation of the function of the object-book, whose pictorial and sensual qualities are emphasized. This ready-made, connected with no earlier artistical achievements but exclusively with the individual imaginary, is no coincidence: it reveals that latent emotionality present in every book which, despite being a material, concrete and fragile entity, is a bearer of ideas, intangible concepts and emotions.
Thorsten Brinkmann presents a large assemblage of photographic works and objects from the past, with a reference to the Dadaist and Surrealist tradition, to create new meanings through connecting and redefining objects from different contexts. If assemblage, by its very definition, may evoke a chaotic accumulation of things, for Brinkmann it is also an accumulation of meanings with which he can question the potential intelligible connections between very different elements.
The program MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity continues until 2023. Midway through the series, on the occasion of the opening of this fifth exhibition, Galleria Fumagalli presents to the public the first book (of two) that documents the first four exhibitions. The publication is edited by Silvana Editoriale.
Text
One year after the launch of the exhibition program MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity, conceived and curated by critic Lóránd Hegyi, Galleria Fumagalli presents the fifth show entitled Ambiguity of the Objects, which brings together works by Thorsten Brinkmann (Herne, Germany, 1971), Giuseppe Uncini (Fabriano, 1929 – Trevi, 2008) and Peter Wuethrich (Bern, Switzerland, 1962).
Devised as a moment of celebration of the 30-year career of Annamaria Maggi at the helm of the gallery, as well as an occasion to highlight some common trends and themes in contemporary art, the program consists of eight exhibitions, each one jointly presenting the works of three artists, represented or followed by Galleria Fumagalli and coming from different contexts and experiences. For each triad, Lóránd Hegyi identified topics and common aspects capable of creating an unprecedented conceptual and aesthetic dialogue.
Such is the case of Ambiguity of the Objects, an exhibition that brings together three artists of different generations and poetics, whose selected works showcase common purposes. As stated by the title itself, in spite of an appearance of immediate reading, the surprisingly combined forms and objects engender an ambiguous poetical imaginary and manifest the emotional power of uncertainty.
In his plastic and spatial research, after experimenting with the typical materials of modern construction (iron and concrete), Giuseppe Uncini also approached brick. He considered its modular feature to create walls with no functionality, but capable of evoking traditional building practices, also developing a reflection on the entity of the shadow that led him to concretize it into sculpture. With the following series “Dimore” he initiated a further investigation into shadow and some characteristics of classical architecture such as the arch and the perspective. In these architectures, the volumes remain only outlined by their contours and open onto spaces that are not really habitable.
In Peter Wuethrich’s oeuvre the “bricks” are, instead, books. The wall piece L’arte di fare bouquet (2005) creates a sense of ambiguity through the transformation of the function of the object-book, whose pictorial and sensual qualities are emphasized. This ready-made, connected with no earlier artistical achievements but exclusively with the individual imaginary, is no coincidence: it reveals that latent emotionality present in every book which, despite being a material, concrete and fragile entity, is a bearer of ideas, intangible concepts and emotions.
Thorsten Brinkmann presents a large assemblage of photographic works and objects from the past, with a reference to the Dadaist and Surrealist tradition, to create new meanings through connecting and redefining objects from different contexts. If assemblage, by its very definition, may evoke a chaotic accumulation of things, for Brinkmann it is also an accumulation of meanings with which he can question the potential intelligible connections between very different elements.
The program MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity continues until 2023. Midway through the series, on the occasion of the opening of this fifth exhibition, Galleria Fumagalli presents to the public the first book (of two) that documents the first four exhibitions. The publication is edited by Silvana Editoriale.
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