Ad infinitum exhibition catalogue in English

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Lust for Art 2016

Tablinum is proud to present its annual program of thematic exhibitions – LUST FOR ART – dedicated to the artists and promoted by our curatorial department.

Following the success of "Art Expo – FEED THE WORLD WITH ART”, which recorded a total of 42,590 visitors last year, this time we have decided to look at art through the eyes of those who both love it passionately and collect it. Art was an essential factor in the development of our society and the passion has been its motor.

As Flaubert wrote: "If there is something to worship on this earth and among all Nothingness, if there is something holy, pure, sublime, something that should support this huge desire of infinity and vagueness which is called the soul, then this is the art ".

That is why we wish to celebrate our LUST FOR ART through the works of a selected shortlist of contemporary artists from several European nations. We want to do this by being guided by the feelings we experience in works of art. In a century in which culture, and therefore also art is its lifeblood, too often brushed aside or subjected to an extraneous logic, we believe it is important to dwell upon this sensitive awareness. Art and aesthetic enjoyment: art possesses the power to reawaken the spiritual potential that lies dormant within each individual.

Art stimulates our desire and also our sense of aesthetics together with our lust for possession.

This perception embodies and implies not only the admiration of art but also the experience of an elaboration of feelings.

By means of these art exhibitions, we will investigate this aesthetic mechanism which art triggers within us by examining all our perceptions. At first glance, art attracts our attention and then deeply penetrates our inner reflection and our aesthetic enjoyment.

Artistic libido is a psychological and creative energy located within the mind: the brain and creativity resemble a puzzle whose pieces consist of language and perception.

We invite you to discover yourselves through art and its universal language.

Lust for Art 2016| © Tablinum Cultural Management

Ad Infinitum ”The history of evolution teaches us that the universe has never stopped being creative or inventive”.

Karl Popper e John Eccles, The Self and Its Brain, 1977

The sense of wonder fills us when we are faced with the beauty of the cosmos.

Ever since we were kids we stopped, looking upwards at the vault of heaven: bright stars from remote constellations, the moon, the planets and the sun.

Since its origins, the observation of the sky has always accompanied humanity: for thousands of years the cosmos has been an object of unattainable research, but also a reverie.

Star worship existed only among some ancient civilizations: the heavenly bodies were already represented in the petroglyphs, the Ancient Egyptians and the Babylonians created the first calendars thanks to a careful monitoring of the planets and the stars.

However, the observations made by Copernicus, Galileo Galilei and other scientists, from the sixteenth century, represented the first major steps towards modern science.

We can certainly say that this wonderful theater of the cosmos has always exercised its essential influence on the human being and, likewise, has shaped the entire heavens of art history: from the sparkling stars of the vault of Queen Nefertari’s Tomb to the starry sky of Van Gogh.

Since the suggestions of the first space missions and the great astronomical discoveries of the twentieth century have encountered the sensitivity of the artists of the “planet earth”, the fusion of science and art has become perfect and has also found its greatest expression in Art Space.

The artistic perception was able to capture on canvas the beauty of the cosmos, increasing its ties with the observation of the sky and it is not at all unusual for the artists themselves to be amateur astronomers experts and and that they collaborate actively with scientists.

Thanks to this comparison between scientists and artists, it has led to a strong and compelling message: convey to the public the dream of exploring the cosmos.

The main value of Art Space is to have been able to re-interpret and also disseminate, through the typical tools of art, scientific concepts of great importance and relevance.

They are well suited to be disclosed to the public and convey all the emotional charge of their artistic medium.

Ad Infinitum aims to persuade the audience to regain their contact with the universe: raise their eyes towards the starry sky that is too often obscured by the lights of our cities and no longer surprises us!

Art Space finds an essential and indispensable working instrument in astronomical technology: it is especially thanks to the shots of the Hubble Space Telescope that Giorgio Tardonato and Pierre Kuentz could transpose on canvas all the wonder of this authentic kaleidoscope of lights that embody the secret of the connection between man and the Cosmos.

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz An unusual role for a scientific instrument that becomes an exceptional co-author of these stunning works of art.

In order to safeguard the culture and beauty of the starry night many people have asked Unesco to declare the night sky a World Heritage Site, but for technical reasons this has never happened.

Perhaps this would be enough to force ourselves to establish a physical and creative contact with nature and the desire for the infinite that it conveys in us.

The creative vision of Ad Infinitum artists and curators, joined with the scientific competence of amateur astronomers and aerospace engineers, has found a successful combination thanks to the cooperation with the LAG and Skyward Experimental Rocketry.

A partnership that will result in a series of free events. An opportunity for the public to break down the barriers between art and science in the name of that endless yearning which urges us all to look up at our sky.

Tutto l’Universo in un solo scatto

Lust for Art 2016| © Tablinum Cultural Management

About Space Art and Space Artists ”Space art” (also “astronomical art”) is the term for a genre of modern artistic expression that strives to show the wonders of the Universe. Like other genres, Space Art has many facets and encompasses realism, impressionism, hardware art, sculpture, abstract imagery, even zoological art. Though artists have been making art with astronomical elements for a long time, the genre of Space Art itself is still in its infancy, having begun only when humanity gained the ability to look off our world and artistically depicted what we see out there. Whatever the stylistic path, the artist is generally attempting to communicate ideas somehow related to space, often including an appreciation of the infinite variety and vastness which surrounds us. In some cases, artists who consider themselves Space Artists use more than illustration and painting to communicate scientific discoveries or works depicting space, some have had the opportunity to work directly with space flight technology and scientists in attempts to expand the arts, humanities, and cultural expression relative to space exploration.

Practitioners of the visual arts have for many decades explored space in their imaginations using traditional painting media and many are now using digital media toward similar ends. Science fiction magazines and picture essay magazines were once a major outlet for Space Art, often featuring planets, space ships and dramatic alien landscapes. Chesley Bonestell, R. A. Smith, Lucien Rudaux, David A. Hardy and Ludek Pesek were some of the major artists in the early days of the genre actively involved in visualizing space exploration proposals with input from astronomers and experts in the infant rocketry field anxious to spread their ideas to a wider audience. A strength of Bonestell’s work in particular was the portrayal of exotic worlds with their own alien beauty, often giving a sense of destination as much as of the technological means of getting there.

Space artists may work closely with space scientists and engineers to help them to visualize and develop their scientific and technological concepts of making the dream of space exploration a reality. Other forms of pictorial Space Art bring the viewer to inner visions inspired directly or otherwise by the fruits of the expanding vision of Humanity. Some aspects of such art pay visual homage to outer space, popular ideas of life on other worlds including alien visitation visions, dream symbology, psychedelic imagery and other influences on contemporary visionary art.

Space Art genres: Descriptive Realism. The direct inheritor of the artistic standards of Chesley Bonestell, Descriptive Realism is an aspect of Astronomical Art whose primary emphasis is to show a viewer a scientifically accurate visual depiction of alien places in the Cosmos.

Cosmic Impressionism. Like works done in the impressionist era, Space Art works in the Cosmic Impressionism style use color and form to give a viewer the artist’s impression of the image subject matter without trying to be technically accurate, highly detailed, or adhering to known scientific principles. Despite being more loose, the subject matter is still clearly inspired by space.

Hardware Art. Hardware Art is usually similar to Descriptive Realism but focusses on the detailed depiction of the hardware of spaceships, probes, and equipment being used in a space setting.

Sculpture. Works of Space Art Sculpture are more difficult to recognize as such as they are usually more symbolic or abstract in nature, like a rocket shape, stained glass windows representing stellar objects, or a sculptured work designed specifically for zero gravity display. However, the prime inspiration for three dimensional works of Space Art is the same as other styles, space itself.

Cosmic Zoology. Though the question of other life in the universe has yet to be answered, artists can speculate about it and imagine the possibilities. Cosmic Zoology is the depiction of extraterrestrial life in extraterrestrial settings.

Other Endeavors. Works in other methods of artistic expression such as music composition and dance can also be inspired by space and are considered Space Art in their fields.

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Chelsey Bonestell, pioniere della Space Art “I have no doubt that Chesley Bonestell, with its wonderfully accurate representations of places to explore and instruments of the space age, has helped us create the scenario for what was certainly to come.

Without Bonestell and his works of art, the era of NASA could have been delayed for many years, or may not yet have occurred. “ Joseph Chamberlain, Director of Adler Planetarium

Chesley Knight Bonestell, Jr. (January 1, 1888 – June 11, 1986) was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings were a major influence on science fiction art and illustration, and he helped inspire the American space program.

An early pioneering creator of astronomical art, along with the French astronomer-artist Lucien Rudaux, Bonestell was dubbed the “Father of ModernSpace Art”.

Chelsey Knight Bonestell

Bonestell realized that he could combine what he had learned about camera angles, miniature modeling, and painting techniques with his lifelong interest in astronomy. The result was a series of paintings of Saturn as seen from several of its moons that was published in Life in 1944. Nothing like these had ever been seen before: they looked as though photographers had been sent into space. His painting of Saturn seen from the frosty moon Titan is perhaps the most famous astronomical landscape ever. It was constructed with a combination of clay models, photographic tricks and various painting techniques.

Bonestell followed up the sensation these paintings created by publishing more paintings in many leading national magazines. These and others were eventually collected in the best-selling book The Conquest of Space (1949), produced in collaboration with author Willy Ley. Bonestell’s last work in Hollywood was contributing special effects art and technical advice to the seminal science fiction films produced by George Pal, includingDestination Moon, When Worlds Collide, The War of the Worlds and Conquest of Space, as well as Cat-Women of the Moon. Beginning with the October 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, Bonestell painted more than 60 cover illustrations for science fiction magazines, primarily The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, in the 1950s through 1970s. He also illustrated many book covers.

When Wernher von Braun organized a space flight symposium for Collier’s, he invited Bonestell to illustrate his concepts for the future of spaceflight. For the first time, spaceflight was shown to be a matter of the near future.

During his lifetime, Bonestell was honored internationally for the contributions he made to the birth of modern astronautics, from a bronze medal awarded by the British Interplanetary Society

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

One of most inspirational paintings by Chelsey Bonestell: an ethereally beautiful image of Saturn seen from its giant moon Titan, has been called "the painting that launched a thousand careers."

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Space Artists: Giorgio Tardonato and Pierre Kuentz

Lust for Art 2016| © Tablinum Cultural Management

Space Art is the perfect expression of the link between science and art, capable of sucessfully transmitting to the public a strong, enthralling dream of exploring the cosmos.

Giorgio Tardonato’s paintings stand out for their scientific accuracy, blended with the desire to express on canvas the wonder of the stars and the distant galaxies thousands of light years away, without ever allowing the imagination to prevail over the paintings’ own realism. He says: “Our universe contains all the beauty and necessary wonder in itself and the artist could not render the representation of nature even more amazing.”

Pierre Kuentz has a more sensitive approach to the representation of the universe. “In my paintings,” he says, “I want to reveal the great astonishment of man facing and observing a millennial, ineffable spectacle.”

Giorgio Tardonato Giorgio Tadonato is an italian space artist since 1987. He lives and works in Eupilio, Italy.

The artist trained as an impressionistic. His kind of painting could be called “astronomical”. In his works, we find stars, galaxies, comets, star clouds but also fanciful galaxies of antimatter, negative skies and cosmic crystals.

Giorgio Tardonato in his atelier in Eupilio working to a sculpture

Past Exhibitions 1987: personal exhibit - Sella Gallery - Lecco - curator Mr. Sella (Gallerist) 1990: personal exhibit - Villa S. Giuseppe - Erba (CO) 1993: group exibition - Club Volta - Milan 1995: personal exhibit - Municipal Hall - Eupilio (CO) 1996: international group exibition - Tain L’Hermitage - Tournon (France - dép. Rhone Alpes - curator Municipalité Tain - Tournon) 1997: personal exhibit - Municipal Hall - Erba (CO)

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

1997:personal Exhibition Villa Zappa, Erba (CO) 2005: exhibit with a painter A. Zoppis - Municipal Hall - Canzo (CO) 2006: personal exhibit - Holiday Inn - Assago (MI) - curator Mr. Zanchin 2009: exhibit with a sculptor G. Melotti - Municipal Hall - Asso (CO) 2011: exhibit with a sculptor G. Melotti - Municipal Hall - Castelmarte (CO) 2013: exhibit Florence Biennale: Firenze - Tablinum Cultural Management 2014: April - personal exhibit - Studio Tablinum - Tablinum Cultural Management- Bellagio (CO) 2014: September - personal exhibit - New York City - Gallery ARTIFACT- Tablinum Cultural Management 2014: November - Art en capital - Grand Palais - Paris - Tablinum Cultural Management 2015: July - August - Spoleto Art (collective) - Palazzo Leti Sansi - Spoleto (PG) - directed by V. Sgarbi 2016: Lust for Art 2016 Ad Infinitum - exhibit with space artist Pierre Kuentz, officinacento5, Como

Lust for Art 2016| © Tablinum Cultural Management “Among the many and various studies of lite-rature and arts, on which human minds feed, I estimate we should cultivate more importantly, it applies with great passion, those that relate to things more beautiful and worthy of being known.

And these are the ones that deal with the divine revolutions of the world and the course of the stars, of magnitudes, distances, and the rising and setting of the causes of the other celestial phenomena, and that, in the end, explain their sorting. And what on earth is more beautiful than the sky, which certainly contains all the beautiful things? The state of the sky and the very names of the world: this with the name of purity and ornament, that of artistic chisel.”

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres

The beauty of the cosmos takes on a particular value if it is enhanced by the work of someone who knows how to guess the union between the art form created by Man and another form of Art, mysterious flavor, made up of galaxies, remote solar systems and originated from the cosmos itself.

The wonder created by nature comes to intertwine in the infinite amazement that feeds the questions of the human being from its inception, pushing it in search of the mystery that gave rise to everything that surrounds us, it combines the creative force, thirst to discover ever new perspectives that is proper to the human and gives rise to a unique form of art that find in Tardonato a excellent demiurge.

The artistic movement of Space Art relies on a ancient and essential bond to science with art.

We can find one of its happiest expressions in the works of that artist and astronomer Giorgio Tardonato.

Thanks to a genuine insight that makes to coexist the artist with the passionate man of science, we are accompanied by Tardonato, in an amazing journey to the discovery of the Cosmos.

The universe is generated according to mysterious laws that Men from all Eras have tried to find out with hard study and understanding.

Probably it’s not enough to use the rational mind to fully understand why such beauty and perfection that regulate Universe have rules too amazing to be expressed only into mathematical equations.

The path marked by Tardonato following the suggestions of Space Art allowed him to build a consistent and culturally flawless career. Thanks to his mastery and spontaneity, he uses various pictorial techniques in order to be able to better shows the full bound with cosmic visions and knowledge related to the myth of creation. The spectator who admires his work is not alone in front of a beautiful work of art, but can also take advantage of a detailed astronomy lesson.

His operas offers to us an astronomical vision, icastic and true, without abstractions, that come from a real experience with a good telescope.

Started with the traditional technique of oil painting in the eighties, the beautiful galaxy NGC 1365, worked with brush and palette knife, it is one of the most sensational of his operas.

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz We can follow the evolution of his first technique to an unconventional shape, with the use of special cotton canvases and brushes, sometimes enriched by a skyllfull use of resins, gold foil, copper or aluminum.

All those special materials, allow us to create a three-dimensional effect that render his art unique.

One of the the most stunning works created by Tardonato it is Antennae: A magnificent polyptych in six parts, with, enrich with beautiful glazes of color, able to condense in itself all the wonder for the Beauty and the Perfection of the Universe.

Two galaxies, 60 million light-years away from us, come to clash in an event of exceptional durability, a billion years, during which the stars of NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 are mixed, but never come into collision.

Their arms develop spectacular star-formation processes in which vortices of dust and gas become the beating heart of a millenary creation, come to us already older than 60 million years, that cannot fail to fascinate and inspire in us great questions and dilemmas.

His pursuit of perfection become a strong interpretive key for a works such as the First Big Radio Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, the core of the Antennae and latest creation, the international space station ISS. The origins of Mankind himself with its thirst for knowledge will are revoked by the shapes of our Planet Earth: the starting point from which it emerges the perfect amount of ISS, a real promise for Mankind to overcome their own horizons.

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

Work of art by Giorgio Tardonato

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

M56 Globular Mass, 1994 cotton on canvas, acrylic,color dropper, air brush, 100x100 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

Globular Mass M56 1994 cm. 100x100x2,5, cotton canvas, acrylic worked with brush and airbrush The globular mass is the oldest group of stars: for there is limited, free hydrogen, to permit the birth of young stars. But the last telescopic observations record a more intense activity in comparison with the past. This is one of the most beautiful globular mass and this image is the result of a personal observation through a large telescope.

The dropper technique has been used for the first time in this canvas, with the brush and the airbrush, to create the effects of the light. It is situated in Lyra’s constellation, with a distance of 3300 light-years.

Image credit: Giorgio Tardonato

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

ISS (International Space Station) (polyptich in 4 parts)2014 Linen canvas, acrylic worked brush, aluminum, copper, steel, resin crystal, tot. 120 x 120 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

The International Space Station is a unique laboratory for a lot of sciences. It completes an orbit around the Earth in 1,5 hours, it is as big as a football or rugby pitch and is inhabited by 3 astronauts. Astronomy is the most important science that is studied here but other medical, chemical, electrical, biological studies are also carried out together with physical experiments. More possibilities are offered by the external environment to Earth in microgravity. Here, future human interplanetary missions will be planned and in the canvas appears the last mission of the Shuttle Atlantis in berthing phase (2011).

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Seahorse in Orion, 2016

cotton canvas, acrylic paint, resin, colored by brush and spatula, cm. 80 x 80

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

The Horsehead Nebula is reminiscent of a Seahorse; It appears a little further south of the first star in Orion's belt. This constellation is represented in all the world's cultures as a warrior or a hunter, in the act of striking, he has a belt and hanging weapon. The constellation is very large, with an easily recognizable design. In the northern hemisphere, it is visible in the fall, winter and spring. The Horsehead appears only in telescopes and looks like a seahorse or a horse in profile. The effect is that of a shadow against a light curtain.

In fact the shade is a dark cloud of dust and cold gas, while the bright background is hot hydrogen, illuminated by large stars of the belt and where small stars were born. This cloud, like others in this area, is a place conducive to the birth of new stars. It is located about 1500 light-years away, in the Orion constellation.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Space telescope, 2013 cotton canvas, acrylic paint worked with a brush, paper and aluminum mesh, stainless steel and copper, crystal resin, 120x30 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management The work is a tribute to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) which is the only optical telescope in orbit around the Earth. Launched in 1990 with the Challeger shuttle, it is still in service today. Modifications and replacements of optical and electronic parts are needed, with a work space as has never been done before. The scientific results and photographs are exceptional: we had also never seen the universe in such a high image quality. Technically it is a telescope Ritchey-Chretien reflector, with a mirror diameter of 2.4 m and a focal length of 57.6 meters.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Cometa P67 Rosetta - Philae cotton canvas, acrylic paint worked with a brush, paper and aluminum mesh, stainless steel and copper, crystal resin, 120x36 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

The work is a tribute to the Rosetta mission, the first capable of placing a comet and a space probe in orbit to land on the surface of another small probe for on-site analysis. Scientists try a lot of data, including confirmation or denial cometary origin of Earth’s oceans. The answers are not definitive ... Mission end in September 2016. The painting depicts the release of the small secondary probe Philae (which was successful, despite the fear of losing it). At the same time, the P67 comet represented at a later stage, that of the first development of the tail vapors. Both the comet and the evaporation are made of silver powder, to obtain the necessary brightness.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Spring Wind Galaxy, 2016 cotton canvas, acrylic paint, resin, colorful brush, 80 x 80 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management This painting is a reconstruction, with scientific basis, of a barred spiral galaxy structure, the center of which is a Supermassive Black Hole, with typical polar jets, seen as visible light, to convey the idea of the tremendous force present. Most of the galaxies have proved to contain a seemingly large Black Hole, necessary for the stability of the system. It is a great collapsed star, which has grown increasingly attracting other stars and gas, continuously increasing its force of gravity. However, very large blacks holes have now cleaned up their area, so they rarely "eat" stars. On the contrary, this activity must have been very intense in the early stages of growth, revealing itself with the energy exchange at the poles, from which hydrogen is emitted at relativistic speeds, i.e. close to the speed of light. Today we can observe similar phenomena in distant and therefore ancient galaxies, called "active" or Quasar. These images however are not very detailed.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Creation Pillars cotton canvas, acrylic paint, resin, colorful brush. 2016 cm, 80x80 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management The Pillars of Creation are rich in clouds of hydrogen and dust. An incubator region of very active stars, with each protuberance, a small dark shadow on the luminous background of bright, warm gas, can hide a rising star. They were created by the action of the stellar wind of giant stars central open storage.

Their cataloging follows the growing Roman numerals, so the individual structures are thus called Column I, Column II and Column III, proceeding from northeast to southwest. The property is well known thanks to the advent of space telescopes: The radiation coming from the stars compresses the gas cloud, increasing its surface pressure, while generating a material evaporating flow in the opposite direction to the source of the stellar wind; this phenomenon is the responsibility of the pillar structure of the clouds. The matter towards the lower density is the first to be wiped out, while the dense core, compressed because of the shock wave front, survived thus resisting the force. However, the images in the infrared footage show that the first two columns have a less dense structure, focused as much more dense cores that are defended by the disintegrating wind. The total mass of the dense areas of the three pillars is estimated to be about 200 solar masses. They are located approximately 7000 light-years away in the constellation of the Serpent’s Tail. They are catalogued as IC 4703. They are part of the more complex Eagle nebula, known as M16.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Globular mass NGC 290, 2016 cotton canvas, acrylic paint worked with a brush, resin, 50 x50 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management NGC 290, an open cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud, its width is 65 light years and 200,000 light years away from us. It was painted by reducing the number of stars in the field belonging to our own Milky Way. Star clusters are a subject of research, as they allow us to understand the evolution of the relationship among the stars born in the same area.

The stars are the main source of information concerning the universe. The light allows us to analyze, at great distances, the substances which compose the bodies that transmit to us the rays of light. In this case, you will be located in one of our small satellite.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Antennae, 2014 linen canvas, acrylic worked brush, resin crystal, polyptic in six parts, tot. 120 x 180 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

This work belongs to the scientific period and represents a collision between two galaxies placed at 60 million light-years away in the constellation of the Raven (southern hemisphere). The name derives from the gravitational deformation which the two original spiral arms possess, similar to an insect’s antennae. During the long event (1 billion years), the stars of the two galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039 do not collide, instead their clouds of gas and dust frequently trigger the processes of star formation, especially in the central area, which is represented in this work. This canvas has been modified in comparison with the images we received which are already more than 60 million years old. It is a free artistic interpretation.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

Pierre Kuentz Fifty years lived as an artist. Pierre Kuentz, has joined with his early works,at only 18 years of age, with the art collections of the French amateurs.

Following a profound study of art history, Kuentz travels abroad and the suggestions therein obtained inspire him.

Pierre Kuentz, in his atelier in Aubagne, France

From his African period spent in Gabon and in the Ivory Coast, he obtained a palette with predominant primary colors, shadows and reflections.)

During his career, he has participated in numerous artistic events. He has attended international museums and galleries where he was able to learn more about the contemporary, artistic world at the highest levels.

He develops a very personal painting technique based on the mixture of color pigments and sand.

He has worked for many years next to Master Gustave Tiffoche Breton, painter and ceramist of international fame which enabled him access to the collections of major European and American buyers.

In recent years, he has switched from terrestrial landscapes to astronomical ones thereby fusing a thorough scientific precision with his inimitable style of painting, revealing a delicate sensitivity for the enigma that the cosmos represents in humans.

For decades, his paintings have only been accessible to major collectors, and are now accessible to the wider public due to his participation in international events such as the Carousel du Louvre, the Grand Palais and international exhibitions such as Ad Infinitum in collaboration with Cultural Tablinum management.

A voyage trough the stars with Pierre Kuentz When we are faced with the spectacle of the cosmos, it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by a feeling of wonder and alienation.

The Universe images that elicit so much admiration in us are not visible to the naked eye but only through the great Hubble technological eye.

Shapes and sublime colors act on an artist’s sensitivity thus providing a great evocative and emotional impact: During the long, artistic career of Pierre Kuentz, his paintings have always distinguished themselves not only for their evident technical excellence, but aboveall for their extraordinary sensitivity to color and the emotions that they convey to the human soul.

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz His artistic techniques developed under the influence of the great masters of the twentieth century avant-garde from which he has borrowed the uncommon sensitivity to the use of color : you might guess the appeal of a mature Cezanne in which the line study introduces the concepts of Cubism of Braque and Picasso. Also evident are the strong color contrasts that evoke Matisse and there are also references to the style of the Italian genius, Parisian by adoption, Amedeo Modigliani.

In subsequent years, the meeting with the colors and authenticity of African landscapes can only donate to his works that inimitable touch of colors and material inserts, especially the desert sands, which capture the spectator in a hot whirlpool of earthly colors that remind us of zenithal sunsets and scorched deserts interspersed with savannas.

Finally: the artist’s emotional eye switches from earth to heaven and begins to investigate the wonders of the cosmos; the colors that Hubble offers us from distant galaxies millions of light years away, provoke in him an irresistible fascination, impossible not to direct it toward an artistic inspiration.

Pierre Kuentz through his art invites us to free ourselves from our everyday life in order to let the beauty of the Universe attract us and then to allow us to participate in the excitement of being part of its wonderful mechanism.

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

Work of art by Pierre Kuentz

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Montagnes Mystic oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 40 x 70 cm

Lust for Art 2016| © Tablinum Cultural Management

The image was taken by Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen using the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 greatly improved scientific understanding of processes inside the nebula. One of these photographs became famous as the “Pillars of Creation”, depicting a large region of star formation.

The small dark areas in the photograph are believed to be protostars (Bok globules). The pillar structure of the region resembles that of a much larger star formation region in the Soul Nebula of Cassiopeia, imaged with the Spitzer Space Telescope in 2005 and characterized as “Pillars of Star Creation”. or “Pillars of Star Formation”.

These columns – which resemblestalagmites protruding from the floor of a cavern – are composed of interstellar hydrogen gas and dust, which act as incubators for new stars. Inside the columns and on their surface astronomers have found knots or globules of denser gas, called EGGs (“Evaporating Gaseous Globules”). Stars are being formed inside some of these EGGs.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Galaxy M106 oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 100 x 100 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management It is one of the largest and brightest nearby galaxies, similar in size and luminosity to the Andromeda Galaxy.

M106 has also played an important role in calibrating the cosmic distance ladder. Before, Cepheid variables from other galaxies cannot be used to measure distances since they cover ranges of metallicities different from the Milky Way's. M106 contains Cepheid variables similar to both of the metallicities of the Milky Way and other galaxies' Cepheids. By measuring the distance of the Cepheids with metallicities similar to our galaxy, astronomers are able to recalibrate the other Cepheids with different metallicities, a key fundamental step in improving the distances to other galaxies in the universe

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

La nébuleuse d’Orion oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 80 x 100 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky.

The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely studied celestial features. The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust.

Astronomers have directly observed protoplanetary disks, brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

NĂŠbuleuse du Cygne oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 130 x 160 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management Cygnus is a northern constellation lying on the plane of the Milky Way, deriving its name from the Latinized Greek word for swan. The swan is one of the most recognizable constellations of the northern summer and autumn, it features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross (in contrast to the Southern Cross). Cygnus was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Nébuleuse du coeur et de l’âme oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 100 x 100 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management The Heart Nebula, IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, lies some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. This is an emission nebula showing glowing gas and darker dust lanes. The nebula is formed by plasma of ionized hydrogen and free electrons.

The very brightest part of this nebula (the knot at the right) is separately classified as NGC 896, because it was the first part of this nebula to be discovered.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Nébuleuse tête de cheval oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 100 x 130 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management The Horsehead Nebula (also known as Barnard 33) is a dark nebula in the constellation Orion.The nebula is located just to the south of the star Alnitak, which is farthest east on Orion's Belt, and is part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The nebula was first recorded in 1888 by Scottish astronomer Williamina Fleming on photographic plate B2312 taken at the Harvard College Observatory. The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1500 light years from Earth. It is one of the most identifiable nebulae because of the shape of its swirling cloud of dark dust and gases, which bears some resemblance to a horse's head when viewed from Earth.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

L’oeil du Dieu oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 100 x 100 cm

Lust for Art 2016| © Tablinum Cultural Management The Helix Nebula NGC 7293, also known as God’s Eye Nebula, is a large planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae.

The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs (700 light-years). It is similar in appearance to the Cat’s Eye Nebula and the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle.

The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the “Eye of God” in pop culture, as well as the “Eye of Sauron”. elix, NGC 7293, is a large planetary nebula (PN) located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae. The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs (700 light-years). It is similar in appearance to the Cat's Eye Nebula and the Ring Nebula, whose size, age, and physical characteristics are similar to the Dumbbell Nebula, varying only in its relative proximity and the appearance from the equatorial viewing angle. The Helix Nebula has sometimes been referred to as the "Eye of God" in pop culture, as well as the "Eye of Sauron".

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Nebulose planetaire oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 100 x 130 cm

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

NGC 2818 is a planetary nebula located in the southern constellation Pyxis (The Compass). This spectacular nebula consists largely of glowing gases from the star’s outer layers ejected during the final stages of its life when it had run out of the fuel necessary to sustain its core fusion processes.

The remnants of its core will remain as a white dwarf.

It is often cited as a member of the open cluster NGC 2818A framing it, however, radial velocity differences between the planetary nebula and open cluster suggest a chance alignment.

The case is an example of a superimposed pair, similar to NGC 2438 and M46.

Partly because of their small total mass, open clusters have relatively poor gravitational cohesion.

Consequently, open clusters tend to disperse after a relatively short time, typically some 10 million years, because of external gravitational influences amid other factors. Under exceptional conditions, open clusters can remain intact for up to 100 million years.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Trou Noir en espansion oil and acrylic on canvas mixed with sand, 100 x 100 cm

Lust for Art 2016| © Tablinum Cultural Management A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting such strong gravitational effects that nothing—including particles and electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from inside it.

The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole.

The boundary of the region from which no escape is possible is called the event horizon. Although crossing the event horizon has enormous effect on the fate of the object crossing it, it appears to have no locally detectable features. In many ways a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light.

Moreover, quantum field theory in curved spacetime predicts that event horizons emit Hawking radiation, with the same spectrum as a black body of a temperature inversely proportional to its mass. This temperature is on the order of billionths of a kelvin for black holes of stellar mass, making it essentially impossible to observe.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Hubble: an eye opened on the Cosmos

a reproduction of a Hubble Space Telescope at the Kennedy Space Center

For more than quarter of a century the Hubble Space Telescope has been taking incredible images of deep space and opening our eyes to new wonders of the universe. The space telescope had a bumpy start when one of its mirrors meant pictures were out of focus, but in 1993 the problem was solved and Hubble continues to take breath-taking photos and will do for decades to come. A fitting tribute to Edwin Hubble, one of the most important cosmologists of the 20th Century.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, and remains in operation. Although not the first space telescope, Hubble is one of the largest and most versatile, and is well known as both a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble, and is one of NASA's Great Observatories, along with the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

With a 2.4-meter (7.9 ft) mirror, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra. Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely high-resolution images, with substantially lower background light than ground-based telescopes. Hubble has recorded some of the most detailed visible-light images ever, allowing a deep view into space and time. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

The HST was built by the United States space agency NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) selects Hubble's targets and processes the resulting data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center controls the spacecraft.

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

The Hubble Space Telescope celebrated its 20th anniversary in space on April 24, 2010. To commemorate the occasion, NASA, ESA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) released an image from the Carina Nebula.

To commemorate Hubble's 25th anniversary in space on April 24, 2015, STScI released images of the Westerlund 2 cluster, located about 20,000 light-years (6,100 pc) away in the constellation Carina, through its Hubble 25 website. The European Space Agency created a dedicated 25th anniversary page on its website

Ad Infinitum | Giorgio Tardonato - Pierre Kuentz

Catalog published in May 2016 on the occasion of the exhibition event

Ad Infinitum part of the exhibition program

Lust for Art 2016

A curatorial project by:

Tablinum Cultural Management Dr.ssa Elisa Larese | Curatorial Department Dr.ssa Giulia Pavoni | Curatorial Department Dr. Alessandro Cerioli | Project Manager Artists: Giorgio Tardonato and Pierre Kuentz Exhibtion Space:

officinacento5, Viale Lecco 105, 22010 Como, Italia Arch. Giorgio Botta | Owner

Lust for Art 2016| Š Tablinum Cultural Management

We thank the project partners who have worked with Tablinum, in order to make this exhibition unforgettable:

Gruppo Astrofili Lariani

Skyward Experimental Rocketry

Klasta Architectural Soul

Christian Poggioni Special thanks to: Marina Catalano McVey and Edward McVey