Mariella Bettineschi
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
To found libraries is like to continue building public granaries, to stock supplies for the winter of the spirit which, from many clues, I unfortunately see coming. Marguerite Yourcenar
I have been working on The next era since the beginning of the credit crunch in 2008; an historic crisis that is subverting all parameters, criteria and comparisons, marking a deep and final change from the past. Images of woods, ponds and landscapes, made evanescent by breaths of void or inhabited by mysterious presences, are thus born. Precious libraries are captured by a gaseous dilatation that floods and confuses the architectonic boundaries. An obvious metaphor of the risk of their destruction. Together with these images, as possible means of protection towards the transition to the next era, I put female portraits, great icons of art history with their gaze doubled up. This means that I entrust to women, who are capable of looking forward, the difficult passage that awaits us.
Francesca Pasini, author of my latest monography “Mariella Bettineschi, a mobile archipelago”, writes: “As in the woods, ponds, libraries, where the breath of void indicates a gesture to be made inside us, so in these double gaze is the metaphor of an encounter between the self and the other, that concerns both history and present. The cut doubling their eyes warns us that the integrity captured by the person who painted them comes, above all, from someone who has her own gaze. It’s a cut that has completely changed the relationships between both living subjects and the observed and painted ones.”
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
September October 2015, exhibition view at Nuova Galleria Morone, Milan
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
September October 2015, exhibition view at Nuova Galleria Morone, Milan
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2010, (Leonardo, The Lady with an Ermine), direct print on plexiglass, cm. 120x80x2
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2010, (Raffaello, Fornarina), direct print on plexiglass, cm. 120x80x2
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2015, (Caravaggio, Giuditta), direct print on plexiglass, cm. 120x80x2
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2016, (Ingres, Grande Odalisque), direct print on plexiglass, cm. 120x80x2
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2016, (School of Fontainebleau, The Duchess of Villars), direct print on plexiglass, cm. 120x80x2
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2016, (School of Fontainebleau, Gabrielle d’Estrées), direct print on plexiglass, cm. 120x80x2
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2015, (Casanatense Library, Rome), direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 150x200x4
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2015, (Marcian Library, Venice), direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 150x200x4
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2015, (Trinity College Library, Dublin), direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 200x130x4
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2015, (Apostolic Library, Vatican), direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 200x130x4
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2010, (Black woods), direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 150x200x4
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2012, (Ice) direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 60x80x4
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2012, (Woods) direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 60x80x4
Mariella Bettineschi L’era successiva
2012, (Snow) direct print on plexiglass, mirror, cm. 60x80x4
Mariella Bettineschi Born in Brescia in 1948, the artist investigates the possible relations with reality using a multi-disciplinary approach: painting, sculpture and architecture, with photography and digital imaging playing a crucial role in her work because of the possibilities of their manipulation, comparable to art’s traditional tools.
Her work was selected for the 43rd Venice Biennale, the exhibition Aspekte der Biennale Venedig at the Art Forum in Munich (curated by Jacob Wenzel), Blau: Farbe der Ferne (curated by Hans Gercke) at the Heidelberg Kunstverein. She worked with Galleria Mazzoli, Modena, from 1987 to 1993. In 1989 she moved to Berlin, where she had a studio until 1995. Her first monograph, edited by Achille Bonito Oliva, was published in 1990.
In 1992 she had the solo show Black Landscape, curated by Paolo Biscottini and Giorgio Verzotti, at Monza’s Villa Reale. In 1994, Amnon Barzel and Päivi Kiiski summon Bettineschi for an intervention at European Sculpture City in Turku, Finland, where she installed the sculpture Celestial Coach in front of the Wäinö Altonen Museum of Art. Several solo shows include: The dressing of the angel at Brahen Galeria in Turku, (1996); Stolen from time, curated by Elio Grazioli, at Galleria Continua, San Gimignano (1998); The dressing of the bride, curated by Hans Gercke, Giorgio Verzotti and Gianni Romano, at Kunstverein Heidelberg (1999). In 2002, Bettineschi created the installation N.Y.C. Grounzero, curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio and shown at the Museum of New Art of Detroit and the IIC in New York.
In 2006 she had the major solo exhibition Voyager, curated by Giacinto di Pietrantonio and Sid Sachs. The show travelled to Dorfman Projects, New York and New York University; Philadelphia University of Arts; Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles IIC; Detroit Museum of New Art; Jean Albano Gallery in Chicago, San Francisco IIC and then it concluded its tour at the GAMEC, Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bergamo, and Sanpellegrino Space, Milan. In 2013 the Italian editor Corraini published the book Mariella Bettineschi, a mobile archipelago, with an essay by curator Francesca Pasini. The book includes a selection of works from 1980 to 2013. In 2014 the show Mariella Bettineschi, Works from 1980 to 1986 is held at Piper Gallery, London. In 2015 she had another solo show, The next era (homage to Palma), at Bergamo’s Fondazione Credito Bergamasco. During the same year, Francesca Pasini invited her to the group show Zoom – Italian photography at Remotti Foundation in Camogli. Pasini also curated the solo show The next era at Galleria Nuova Morone in Milan. In 2016, Giacinto Di Pietrantonio and Cristina Rodeschini invited Bettineschi to be included in the group show Images and forms atlas at the GAMEC, Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Bergamo.
Mariella Bettineschi
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Graphic design: Studio Temp
Translation: Susanna Bianchini