Luciano Ventrone: Eternal Realm of Vision by Han Art Gallery

LUCIANO VENTRONE ETERNAL REALM OF VISION

HAN ART

luciano ventrone

LUCIANO VENTRONE ETERNAL REALM OF VISION paintings / tableaux

essays by / textes de

Edward Lucie-Smith Dorota Kozinska

This catalogue is published for the exhibition of Luciano Ventrone’s works at Han Art Gallery, Montreal, Canada. Ce catalogue est publié à l’occasion de l’exposition d’œuvres de Luciano Ventrone à la Galerie Han Art, Montréal, Canada.

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Luciano Ventrone and the Eternal Present Edward Lucie-Smith It was the great Italian connoisseur and art historian Frederico Zeri (1921-1998) who first compared Luciano Ventrone’s work to that of Caravaggio – a comparison, among other things, inspired by the artist himself in paraphrases of Caravaggio’s work. Two of these show Caravaggio’s Entombment and Conversion of St Paul, each apparently enclosed in an electric light bulb. There is also a paraphrase of the celebrated still life Basket of Fruit, now in the Ambrosiana in Milan, where the apples and other European fruit shown by Caravaggio are for the most part replaced by tropical exotica, not generally available in Europe before the time of air transport and electric refrigeration. Further variations on Caravaggio’s Basket can be found in the current exhibition. These “homages” with their slightly sardonic edge, offer more than a clue as to what Ventrone is about, as a virtuoso artist working in a climate that is now in general hostile to the idea of artistic virtuosity. Ventrone is often categorized as a “hyperrealist.” This implies that his work is somehow related to photography. As anyone who has looked at his paintings carefully will know, this is not the case. Far from offering us the somewhat flattened version of physical forms typical of the monocular vision of the camera, his paintings have an almost overwhelming solidity and physical presence, to the point where the nearest shapes seem ready to break through the plane of the canvas. Caravaggio’s Basket was unusual for its epoch in the centrality and simplicity of its compositional design. This pared down simplicity is not, however, completely unknown in slightly later Italian, French, and Spanish still life paintings. We find it, for instance, in certain works by Zurbaran, and in those of the French painter Louise Moillon (1610-1696), whose compositions are in many respects the closest Old Master equivalents to some of Ventrone’s work, though never quite so radically pared down to essentials. In these 17th – century still lifes, observers have often detected a sacramental quality. They have been linked to the quietist religious thinking of that time, for example, to the Jansenism, which had its headquarters at the convent of Port-Royal in Paris. While Ventrone’s still life work does not have any specific religious overtone, it does have a strongly contemplative feeling. The Catholic Encyclopedia, now available online, remarks of the teachers trained at Port-Royal: “Their educational principle was: that human knowledge, science itself, is not an end, but a means; it should serve only to open and develop the mind, and raise it above the matter of teaching.” In that statement, one recognizes a concept that can immediately be applied to many of Ventrone’s paintings. However, what one also recognizes is that, despite any comparisons that can be made to the art of the past, whether to Caravaggio or to any other artist, this kind of painting is intransigently modern, completely contemporary, perhaps, much more than the kind of activities that are labelled “avant-garde” – a category from which realist figurative painting is now routinely excluded. From a purely stylistic point of view, Ventrone’s compositions are modern in a very particular sense, since it was the 20th – century Modern Movement, in architecture and design as well as in the fine arts, which taught the creators of new forms to strip things down as much

Ritornello / Refrain 2008-09 15.75â&#x20AC;? x 15.75â&#x20AC;? (40 x 40 cm) Oil on linen on panel

as possible. A small Chinese blue-and-white bowl filled to capacity with walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts, with one walnut split open to show the nut-meat, is both simple and intricate. That is, it has something surprisingly in common with celebrated examples of Modernist Minimalism such as Malevich’s Black Square, first exhibited in Moscow in 1915. At the same time, however, it offers the opportunity for a much more complex exploration of the power of sight. One of the questions it asks is “How is it possible to see this much, in a visual incident that amounts in fact to so little?” Ventrone is genuinely hyper-realist in the sense that he enables us to see more than we would unaided, if the real thing happened to be put in front of us. One characteristic of Ventrone’s work is its typical illumination. The still lifes included in the current show are placed against a white or very light grey ground, and the objects shown rest on a white surface. The shadows they cast in this surface indicate that they are lit from directly above, and, since the shadows overlap, that there are multiple sources of illumination. In other words the objects portrayed are seen with the aid of the kind of powerful, unwavering artificial illumination that 20th – century technology made available, and which was completely unknown in previous centuries. We are now so much accustomed to the availability of light of this kind that we are usually unconscious of the difference it has made, both to the way we live now, and the way in which we see what it is around us. Yet know instinctively, because of its system of lighting, that Ventrone’s work belongs to our own time and no other. One striking feature of this show is that it offers a series of beautiful female nudes, which are a less familiar aspect of Ventrone’s work. It is notorious that representations of the human figure are much more responsive to social and historical change than representations of inanimate objects. Where the female nude is concerned, art historians note that the naked body follows the canon established by bodies that are clothed. That is, Cranach’s nudes with their small bosoms, high waists, gently swelling stomachs and long legs, are templates for the female fashion of the early 16th century. Goya’s The Nude Maja is quite different physically. She has shorter legs, larger hips, a more pronounced waist and a larger bosom – which in fact behaves in a rather unrealistic way, as if pushed up by a strap, or bra that is not represented. When we see this painting in Museo del Prado, side by side with the clothed version, we understand how she too conforms physically to the clothes that were fashionable in her time. We also see how these clothes push up her breast to the very position shown in The Nude Maja. Ventrone’s models are essentially unthinkable in any time other than our own. The artist celebrates an ideal of beauty, but it is a 21st – century ideal, that of the modern, athletic young woman who belongs to a society where women, on many occasions, are less encumbered with clothing than at any time since Greek and Roman antiquity. If we feel that they are more natural, closer to genuine physical truth, than what was depicted by Cranach and Goya, we are almost certainly right. The miracle is that they, like the fruit and other objects in the still life paintings, are nevertheless held motionless in a zone where time is somehow suspended. The fascination of these paintings is that, while they are not, as I have said, religious, they preserve the image of an eternal, paradisiacal present. Happiness is contemplation, and contemplation is also happiness.

First published by SKIRA Editore, Milan, Italy, 2008

Protetto / Protected 2008 23.5” x 23.5” (60 x 60 cm) Oil on linen

REALITY CHECK The art of Luciano Ventrone transforms the viewer into a ravenous thing with insatiable eyes for a mouth, as his opulent fruit arrangements beguile the senses. A photorealist of the highest order, he is one of Italy’s most celebrated artists and a virtuoso of the genre. With echoes of pittura metafisica, his still lifes have the feel of antiquity, just as much in their superior execution as in the classical composition. Dense, meticulously assembled fruits and flowers, presented centre stage, seem excised from a Renaissance tableau. Their metaphysical aspect lies in the alchemy of which they are born. Like all artists of this style, Ventrone is a master illusionist, transforming photographic images into their identical, and beyond, painterly versions, redefining reality, confusing and transfixing the viewer. In a first exhibition of his works at Han Art gallery, the images seem to detach from the confines of the frames. His preferred subject matter – fruit – is exposed to the eye in detail that defies comprehension… and rightly so. For reality in Ventrone’s universe takes on another dimension, aided by the cold efficacy of technology. Probing the innards of melons and peaches with tiny camera lenses, he eviscerates the fruit as it were, reconfiguring the photograph numerous times before reassembling it on canvas with minute precision. The unspoken player in Ventrone’s theatrical compositions is light, surrounding the image, bathing it in clear, persistent sheen. Born in Rome in 1942, the artist draws inspiration from the great Caravaggio, and as odd as it may be to compare fruit with raw 6

human musculature, that light, maybe… Ventrone, who uses specially prepared pigments and fine brushes, is known for the calibre of his work and the detail in his oil on linen paintings is truly breathtaking. Whether it’s the coarse shell of a walnut or the fleshy crimson belly of a ripe melon, the execution is one of a master craftsman. In Ritornello, a perfectly balanced configuration of forms and textures, Ventrone sets smooth skinned apples, plums and grapes against the cool translucence of the onyx bowl that holds them. The unrelenting theatrical lighting hides no detail, and the way the dried leaves on the apple stem fold and rest on the fruit is remarkable. The brightly lit pomegranate in Regno Visivo is eerily otherworldly in its explicit depiction; spilling seeds from its rent body, it seems to be bleeding. There is tacit violence in the way Ventrone dissects his subject matter, probing it in a coldly clinical manner until it has conformed to his exacting eye. The fruit is not what interests him. Its potential as visual material does. The process of transforming the final image into its painted doppelganger is one of intensive and lengthy labour, and the result, an evocation of a new (still) life. Through the magic of art, and chiaroscuro, the viewer is presented with an altered state, or to use the artist’s words, a parallel universe. So much insistent reality, however, can be unnerving, and Ventrone’s nudes offer an unexpected respite. Unlike his hyper-realistic edible subjects, the languishing female forms are undeniably painterly. The smoothness of the blemish-less skin is impossible in its perfection, the lack of definition further hinting at a work of creation rather than re-creation. In Oltre il Velo Ventrone’s talent shines in the depiction of the model’s hair and turban, the texture of both standing out against the quiet classical pose and monochromatic background.

The art of Luciano Ventrone poses a particular dilemma, emerging as it were from two very different worlds – that of Old Masters and modern technology. The combination of the two in the Italian artist’s version produces a visual feast of high calibre. Dorota Kozinska Montreal September 2012

Pari OpportunitÀ / Equal Opportunities 2009 23.5” x 23.5” (60 x 60 cm) Oil on linen

UNE AUTRE RÉALITÉ Par son art, Luciano Ventrone transforme les spectateurs en êtres avides aux yeux insatiables devant ses opulents agencements de fruits qui séduisent les sens. Virtuose du photoréalisme ayant élevé ce genre à une dimension supérieure, il figure parmi les artistes les plus illustres d’Italie. Évoquant la pittura metafisica, les natures mortes de Ventrone incarnent des qualités de l’antiquité, autant par leur exécution minutieuse que par leur composition classique. Les denses montages méticuleux de fruits et de fleurs qui occupent le centre des tableaux semblent tout droit sortis de la Renaissance. L’aspect métaphysique qui les caractérise émane de l’alchimie à l’origine de leur création. À l’instar de tous les artistes de ce style, Ventrone est un maître de l’illusion qui transforme des images photographiques en une version peinte à l’identique et même au-delà, redéfinissant leur réalité qui confond le spectateur et le tient sous le charme. À l’occasion de cette première exposition des œuvres de Ventrone à la Galerie Han Art, les images semblent s’évader du contour des cadres. Les sujets de prédilection de cet artiste, les fruits, sont offerts aux yeux des spectateurs avec un raffinement du détail qui défie toute compréhension… et cela va de soi puisque dans l’univers de Ventrone, la réalité acquiert une dimension nouvelle grâce à la froide efficacité de la technologie. Sondant la chair de melons et de pêches au moyen de minuscules lentilles photographiques, il éviscère les fruits en quelque sorte et reconfigure les images maintes fois avant de les rassembler sur la toile avec une infinie précision.

L’élément muet des compositions théâtrales de Ventrone est la lumière qui s’introduit dans les tableaux et les imprègne d’un lustre transparent et immanent. Cet artiste, né à Rome en 1942, s’inspire fortement du grand Caravage, si l’on peut se permettre, aussi bizarre que cela puisse paraître, de comparer des fruits à la musculature humaine à nu. La lumière y joue probablement un rôle… Reconnu pour l’envergure de son œuvre, Ventrone se sert de pigments spécialement préparés et de pinceaux fins, et les détails de ses huiles sur toile sont réellement saisissants. La création sur la toile d’une rugueuse coquille de noix ou de la chair rouge d’un melon à sa pleine maturité est exécutée de main de maître. Pour composer Ritornello, une configuration parfaitement équilibrée de formes et de textures, Ventrone a agencé pommes, pêches et raisins à pelure lisse contre la fraîche translucidité du bol en onyx qui les contient. L’impitoyable éclairage théâtral révèle tous les détails, et l’on ne peut qu’admirer la façon dont les feuilles sèches rattachées au pédoncule d’une pomme se replient et reposent sur les fruits. La grenade qui figure sous une lumière éclatante dans Regno Visivo semble transposée d’un autre monde par l’étrangeté qui se dégage de sa représentation explicite; laissant les graines rouges se répandre de son enveloppe déchirée, littéralement, elle saigne. La manière dont Ventrone dissèque ses thèmes est teintée d’une violence tacite : il les explore d’un regard clinique objectif jusqu’à ce qu’ils se plient aux exigences de son œil rigoureux. Ce n’est pas le fruit en lui-même qui interpelle l’artiste, mais son potentiel visuel. La transformation de l’image finale à son équivalent sur la toile constitue un processus laborieux, intense, qui redonne une autre vie à une « nature morte ». Le spectateur devient le témoin d’un état métamorphosé, ou d’un univers parallèle — pour citer l’artiste lui-même —, par la magie de l’art et du clair-obscur. Un réalisme si insistant peut toutefois devenir déconcertant,

et les nus de Ventrone offrent alors un répit inattendu. À l’opposé des natures mortes hyperréalistes, ces formes féminines langoureuses appartiennent indéniablement à l’univers de la peinture. La peau si lisse, sans imperfection aucune, n’est pas de ce monde, et l’absence de définition suggère de façon plus appuyée qu’il s’agit d’une œuvre de création plutôt que de représentation. Le talent de Ventrone s’illustre entre autres dans le détail de la chevelure et du turban du modèle du tableau intitulé Oltre il Velo, dont la texture se démarque de la pose classique tranquille et de l’arrière-plan monochrome. Issu de deux mondes extrêmement différents, celui des Grands Maîtres et de la technologie moderne, l’art de Luciano Ventrone pose un dilemme particulier, mais la fusion de ces deux approches présente aux spectateurs une fête visuelle magistrale. Dorota Kozinska Montréal Septembre 2012 Le Rosse / The Red Ones 2011 19.5” x 19.5” (50 x 50 cm) Oil on linen 9

Senza Tempo / Timeless 2010 19.5” x 19.5” (50 x 50 cm) Oil on linen

Note Bianche / White Notes 2011 19.5” x 23.5” (50 x 60 cm) Oil on linen 13

Verso le Cinque / Around Five 2008-09 23.5” x 27.5” (60 x 70 cm) Oil on linen

Intrattenimento / Entertainment 2008-10 23.5â&#x20AC;? x 35.5â&#x20AC;? (60 x 90 cm) Oil on linen 17

Notte Estiva / Summer Night 2010 19.5” x 27.5” (50 x 70 cm) Oil on linen 19

Luna Nuova / New Moon 2009 13.75” x 35.5” (35 x 90 cm) Oil on linen

Oltre il Velo / Beyond the Veil 2009 31.5” x 23.5” (80 x 60 cm) Oil on linen

Arabesco / Arabesque 2009-10 19.5” x 23.5” (50 x 60 cm) Oil on linen 25

Diverse Opinioni / Different opinions 2011 19.5” x 27.5” (50 x 70 cm) Oil on linen 27

Nuova Vita / New Life 2010 23.5” x 27.5” (60 x 70 cm) Oil on linen

Luciano Ventrone in his studio / Luciano Ventrone dans son atelier, 2012

Luciano Ventrone Luciano Ventrone is regarded by the Italian art establishment, museums, curators and critics as one of the leading exponents of his genre, and is widely celebrated as the best Italian hyper-realist painter and successor of pittura metafisica. Luciano Ventrone was born in Rome in 1942, and currently lives and works in Rome and Collelongo (L’Aquila), Italy. His biography gives us great insight to his artistic practice and influence in his work. Ventrone was born during the “great carnage,” and his childhood was marked by the tragedy of war. Separated from his home at the age of five, he was sent to live in Denmark with Lady Metha Peterson, who gave him his first toy; a box of paints, and his first impression of art. He later returned to Italy to support his family, but followed his passion for painting by attending L’Academia Belle Arti Di Roma in 1960, and studying architecture in 1968. As a member of the student protests he left school and dedicated his life to painting. He dabbled in almost all artistic currents and styles, as a means for nourishing and developing his own artistic language. Ventrone took his influence from Caravaggio, and Giorgio Morandi, and was a direct student of Giuseppe Capogrossi. His solitary approach and artistic vocation attributes to this extremely rigorous discipline, and thoroughness in his study of colour and form. His life drawings were published in the Academic book Human Anatomy – the central nervous system, by Prof Gastone Lambertini. Living in Italy between the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the artist spends twelve hours a day in his studio working on his compositions. The turning point in Ventrone’s art career was when Frederico Zeri, the great art scholar, knocked on his studio door in 1983. Ventrone had already exhibited in the most prestigious London art gallery, Wildenstein, and after Zeri’s visit, he was presented in Tokyo as well. With the support of the most prolific art historians and critics, Achille Bonito Oliva, and Edward Lucie-Smith, Ventrone

became established as a significant contemporary artist of his generation. From 1991 to the present, there have been many solo and group exhibitions of this artist, both in private and public galleries and collections. Ventrone is widely established in Italy as well as internationally, from Europe to Asia to the United States and Canada: being represented in London with Albemarle Gallery, Galleria Mucciaccia in Rome, Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York, and Han Art Gallery in Montreal. Selected Solo Exhibitions 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008

Luciano Ventrone, Eternal Realm of Vision, Han Art Gallery, Montreal (Canada) Sui generi/s, Casino dei Principi, Musei di Villa Torlonia, Roma Albemarle Gallery, London Le stanze dell’Arte , Museo Civico di San Francesco, Montefalco , Perugia La perfezione dell’immagine, Cartiere Vannucci-Magazzini dell’Arte Milano Il velo di Maya, Albemarle Gallery, London Palazzo del Broletto, Como Luciano Ventrone, Marble Palace – Ludwig Museum in Russia Museum, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg L’Inverosimile Verosimiglianza, curated by Beatrice Buscaroli, Fondazione Bandera, Busto Arsizio Studio Forni, Milano Simposio, Albemarle Gallery, London Luciano Ventrone e l’eterno presente, Galleria Forni, Bologna Luciano Ventrone, Le verità dipinte, Palazzo Luigi Einaudi, Chivasso –Turin Bernarducci & Meisel Gallery, New York Luciano Ventrone, Albemarle Gallery, Londonz 31

2006 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1992 1993 1991 1990 1989 1986 1985 1982 32

Luciano Ventrone and the Eternal Present, curated by Edward Lucie-Smith, Albemarle Gallery, London Luciano Ventrone, Correggio – Reggio Emilia Studio Forni, Milan Xenia, Ossia Il gioco degli occhi, Studio Forni, Milan Studio Forni, Milan Portraits of Nicola Mancino and Marcello Pera, Presidents of the Senate of the Italian Republic, Rome Two commissioned paintings for the bouvette of the Senate of the Italian Republic, Rome Galleria Il Tempietto, Brindisi Studio Forni, Milan Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona Galleria Forni, Bologna International Art Fair, Shanghai Museo Civico, Chiusa – Bolzano Galleria Marieschi, Monza Galleria Forni, Bologna E.S. Lawrence Gallery, Aspen Galleria L’Incontro, Ancona Galleria Bergamini, Milan E.S. Lawrence Gallery, Aspen Galleria dello Scudo, Verona Galleria il Tempietto, Brindisi Galleria Forni, Bologna Galleria Forni Tendenze, Bologna Galleria Forni, Tokyo Galleria Apollodoro, Rome Galleria Wildenstein, London Galleria Il Gabbiano, Rome Galleria Consigli Arte, Parma Galleria Davico, Turin Hall Galleries Inc., Dallas Elac, Lyon

1981 Palazzo Cenci, Rome 1979 Galleria Bottega dell’arte San Marco, Porto Santo Stefano 1978 Centro Cultural Bella Vista Porlamar, Isla de Margarita (Venezuela) 1977 M.J.C. Maison pour Tous, Chambery Galleria L’œil ecouter, Lyon Galleria Kohm, Saint-Etienne Galleria Arti Visive, Rome 1976 Palazzo Kursaal, Pallanza - Verbania M.J.C. Maison pour Tous, Annemasse M.J.C. Maison pour Tous, Rumilly Maison des Arts et Loisirs, Thonon-Les-Bains 1975 Galleria La Parete, Naples 1974 Affresco, Aula della Corte d’Assise del Palazzo di Giustizia, Cassino Galleria Isola Verde, Casalpalocco - Rome 1972 Galleria L’Aventiniana, Rome Galleria 818, Pescara 1971 Galleria Interni, L’Aquila Galleria Arti Visive, Rome 1970 Sala comunale di Esposizione, Aosta 1969 Galleria Il Buchetto, Rome 1966 Facolta di Architettura, Rome 1964 Galleria Il Ferro di Cavallo, Rome 1963 Galleria Il Fanale, Rome Selected Group Exhibitions 2012

Art Toronto, Han Art Gallery, Toronto Fine Art Asia, Albemarle Gallery, Hong Kong Houston Fine Art, Hollis Taggart Galleries, Houston, USA Art Southampton, Hollis Taggart Galleries, NY, USA From Picasso to the new roman school the never-ending cult of beauty in contemporary art, Partners & Mucciaccia, Gillman

2011 2010 2009 2008 2007

Barracks, Singapore Aqueous, Albemarle Gallery, London Nel segno dell’immagine, Museo Palazzo de’ Mayo, Chieti(Italy) La via dei fiori, Galleria Stefano Forni, Bologna The Nude, Albemarle Gallery, London Art Wywood International Contemporary Art Fair, Miami What Kind of “real”, Albemarle Gallery, London Nature redivive, Palzzo Guidobono, Tortona 54° Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italia , Venezia CIGE, Galleria Chiari, Beijing London Art Fair, Albemarle Gallery, London Art Chicago, Chicago Contemporary Realism, Albemarle Gallery London Carta, Benedicenti, Ventrone, Galleria Stefano Forni, Bologna 12 passi sulle orme di Caravaggio, Galleria dello Scudo, Roma Pensare Caravaggio, Fondazione Bottari Lattes, Monforte D’Alba Arte Fiera, Bologna Donne di Roma, Auditorium Musica per Roma, Rome Figure, Bernaducci Meisel Gallery, New York, Contemplazioni, Castello Sismondo, Rimini Art London, London Natura morta, Il Chiostro Saronno Scope, New York Arte Fiera, Bologna Face to Face, Bernaducci Meisel Gallery, New York Colori di Roma, Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome Oltre la realta, Galleria Chiari, Rome Figurae, Villa Genoese Zerbi de Reggio Calabria Oltre la realta, Galleria 44, Turin Spazio Forni, Ragusa Art London, Albemarle Gallery, London Arte Fiera, Bologna MiArt, Milan

Visioni e illusioni, Castello Cinquecentesco, L’Aquila LVII Premio Michetti, Francavilla al Mare – Chieti Arte Italiana 1968-2007, Pittura, curated by V. Sgarbi, Palazzo Reale, Milan Nuovi realismi, PAC, Milan Scope, New York L‘alibi dell’oggetto. Morandi e gli sviluppi della natura morta in Italia, curated by M. Pasquali, Fondazione Ragghianti,Lucca Arte Fiera, Abu Dhabi Art London, Albemarle Gallery, London 2006 Arte Fiera, Bologna Scope, New York L’Italia della Repubblica, Complesso Monumentale del Vittoriano, Rome Antologia della figurazione contemporanea, Italia: le ultime generazioni 1, curated by G. Algranti, Galleria Figurae, Milan Sui Generi, Figure in posa, Centro di Promozione Culturale “Le Muse”, Andria Figurae, Galleria Factory, Modena Flowers, Palazzo Ducale, Pavullo nel Frignano Primer concurso de pintura figurativa, Barcelona 10th Anniversary Show, Albemarle Gallery 2005 Terra, Galleria Marieschi, Milan Il ritratto interiore. Da Lotto a Pirandello, curated by V. Sgarbi, Museo archeologico, Aosta L’inquietudine del volto, Da Lotto a Freud, da Tiziano a De Chirico, curated by V. Sgarbi, Lodi Sui Generi, Paesaggi in posa, Centro di Promozione Culturale “Le Muse”, Andria 2004 Arte Fiera, Bologna Sui Generi, Nature in posa, Centro di Promozione Cultura le “Le Muse”, Andria MiArt, Milan Nudo, Galleria Forni, Bologna 33

St’Art, Strasbourg ArtParis, Paris Fortino Napoleonico, Ancona La ricerca dell’Identita, Da Tiziano a de Chirico, curated by V. Sgarbi, Polo Culturale Sant’Agostino, Ascoli Piceno 2003 Arte Fiera, Bologna MiArt, Milan St’Art, Strasbourg ArtParis, Paris Art Miami, Miami 2002 Italian Still Life Painting from the Silvano Lodi Collection, Yamagata Museum of Art, Yamagata 2001 Arte Fiera, Bologna MiArt, Milan Travelling exhibition: Italian Still Life Painting from the Silvano Lodi Collection, Seiji Togo Memorial Yasuda Kasai Museum of Art, Shinjuku; Niigata City Art Museum, Niigata; Hako date Museum of Art, Hokkaido; Toyama Shimin Plaza Art Gallery, Toyama; Ashikaga Museum of Art, Ashikaga 1999 Art Miami, Miami Arte Fiera, Bologna MiArt, Milan XIII Quadriennale, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome Immagine d’impegno-Impegno d’immagine, Galleria Civica “Ex-mattatoio”, Rome Da Boccioni a Bacon alla contemporaneità, Galleria Forni, Bologna 1997 Continuità dell’immagine, Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona Ancora calda è l’erba sui miei prati, Studio Forni, Milan 1996 Arte Fiera, Bologna MiArt, Milan 1995 Continuità del talento, Galleria Forni Tendenze, Bologna Arte Expo, Bari Art Chicago, Chicago Artissima, Turin 34

W il cinema, Galleria Il Gabbiano, Rome I grandi Mercanti: Tiziano Forni, curated by C. Malberti, Galleria Marieschi, Monza 1993 Arte Fiera, Bologna Arte Expo, Bari Artissima, Turin Frutti del pennello: quattrocento anni di natura morta italiana dalla collezione Silvano Lodi, Israel Museum, Jerusalem 1992 Arte Fiera, Bologna Ma è calda l’erba sui miei prati, Galleria Forni Tendenze, Bologna 1991 Arte Fiera, Bologna 1990 Expo C.T., Milan Sogo Esposizione d’arte italiana, Tokyo Arte Europea in Giappone, Museum Laforet, Tokyo 1987 Arte segreta, curated by V. Sgarbi, Galleria Forni, Bologna International Art Exposition, Chicago Parola Italia, Galleria Apollodoro, Rome La natura morta nell’arte italiana del ‘900, curated by V. Sgarbi, Castello Estense, Mesola FIAC, Paris 1986 Artexpo, Galleria Forni, New York FIAC, Paris Lo studiolo di Francesco I de’ Medici e il suo doppio, Galleria Apollodoro, Rome 1985 International Art Fair, London Expo Arte, Bologna Expo Arte C.T., Milan FIAC, Paris 1984 I Riflessivi, Narciso Arte, Fabriano 1983 Expo Arte, Bari Italian Trade Centre, London 1977 M. J. C. Maison Pour Tous, Rumilly 1976 M. J. C. Maison Pour Tous, Annemasse

1974 1966 1965 1964

Aspetti dell’arte contemporanea in Italia, Castello Sammarzano, Regello, Florence Premio Avezzano, Avezzano V Rassegna di Arti Figurative di Roma e del Lazio, Rome I Mostra di Arte Sacra, Il Ferro di Cavallo, Rome

Fondazione Frederico Zeri, Bologna Fondazione Moravia, Rome Selected Corporate Collections: Barilla Collection Ente Fiera Bologna Collection Fabbri Editore Collection Fontana – Fontana Group Collection Andrea Mascagni – Mascagni Group SPA Barclays Bank Collection, UK Selected Private Collections:

Selected Public Collections: National Gallery of Art, Washington Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg Museu Europeu d’Art Modern de Barcelona, Barcelona Museo Civico Archeologico, Ancona Palazzo Madama, Rome Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Quadriennale di Roma, Rome Palazzo Aula della Corte d’Assise, di Giustizia, Cassino

Umberto Agnelli - former president and owner of the FIAT auto and Juventus Football club Carlo De Benedetti - former president of OLIVETTI, current president of CIR Group Silvio Scaglia - president of Fastweb Telecommunication Luca Montezemolo - president of Ferrari Romano Prodi – former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema – former Italian Foreign Minister Ottaviano Del Turco – former Governor of the Abruzzo Region Luigi Cremonini - president of Cremonini Group S.PA. Carlo Edoardo Valli – president of Valli&Valli Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan – president of the Arab Emirates Marcus Agius – former chairman of Barclays Bank, UK Public Commission: The Italian Senate Collection of Modern Art (portraits of the last 3 presidents of the Italian senate) Fresco mural. Corte d’Assise, Palazzo di Giustizia, Cassino

Biography / Notes biographiques - Dorota Kozinska

Production HAN ART Essays / Textes Edward Lucie-Smith Dorota Kozinska Biography / Notes biographiques - Edward Lucie-Smith Edward Lucie-Smith was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1933. He moved to Britain in 1946, and was educated at King’s school, Canterbury, and Merton College, Oxford, where he read history. Subsequently, he was an Education Officer in the R.A.F.; then, he worked in the field of advertising for ten years before becoming a freelance author. He is internationally known as an art critic and historian, and is also a published poet (member of the Académie Européenne de Poésie, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize), and an anthologist. He has published more than a hundred books in all, including a biography of Joan of Arc, a historical novel, and more than sixty books about art, chiefly but not exclusively about contemporary work. Movements in Art since 1945, Visual Arts of the 20th Century, A Dictionary of Art Terms, and most notably Art Today are publications that are ingrained in our understanding of art, and received as fundamental texts throughout the world. Edward Lucie-Smith is regarded as one of the most prolific writers on art, and his works are continuously in print, and translated in many languages. He has followed and supported the careers of Judy Chicago, Alex Katz, David Hockney, Joseph Beuys, and Wilfredo Lam, just to name a few.

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Dorota Kozinska is a writer, art critic, and editor based in Montreal. Her art reviews and articles have been published extensively in Vie des Arts, MagazinArt, Art Forum, and The Gazette, as well as broadcast internationally on CBC Radio. She is the author of numerous artists’ catalogues, and an independent curator. Translation / Traduction Marie Lenkiewicz Photography / Photographie Miranda Ventrone Graphic Design / Graphisme Chloe Ng Legal Deposit / Dépôt légal Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 2012 Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, 2012 ISBN 978-2-9813373-1-3 All rights reserved / Tous droits réservés © Luciano Ventrone, Han Art Printed in Hong Kong / Imprimé à Hong Kong Special Thanks to Edward Lucie-Smith, Tony Pontone, and Alessandro Lorenzetti

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