Italics: Italian Art Between Tradition and Revolution 1968-2008
November 14, 2009 – February 14, 2010
Guest curated by Francesco Bonami, curator of the upcoming Whitney Biennial
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611
Contemporary Italian art is full of contradictions and dualities: the past and the present; tradition and revolution; religion and sensuality; ancient ruins and high design. While the term “Italian art” conjures iconic frescoes, romantic human forms, and gilded richness, Italy is also a source of new creativity and innovation. From Arte Povera to minimalism, from post-pop to the neo avant-garde, contemporary Italian art forges new identities and offers fresh perspectives on its changing culture. Francesco Bonami says, “This country, blessed with so many exceptional talents, has trapped them in an invisible box. Italics does not pretend to rewrite 40 years of art history, but rather to tell a different tale in a new way.”
Italics is the first major exhibition to substantially address the vast transformation in Italian art since the Guggenheim Museum shot Italian Metamorphosis, which focused on Italian art from 1943 to 1967. Italics begins in 1968, the year that marked the end of the post-war boom in the rebuilding of Italy after World War II, and the eruption of a global cultural revolution that radically challenged social foundations.
The exhibition opens in the fourth-floor atrium with a spectacular new sculptural work by Maurizio Cattelan, titled All (2008). Nine shrouded corpses, sculpted from white marble, symbolically lay to rest the ghosts of the Italian Renaissance and Baroque past, while offering commentary on the tensions of the present moment. Italics looks through the landscape of history to view the past not as a burden but as a source of endless inspiration. Immersed in the weight of Italy’s history and tradition, Italics attempts to excavate a great, ancient, and contemporary civilization that is split between a glorious past and an uncertain future. Italics presents a close-up examination of artistic expression that grapples with an understanding of both local and international cultural transformations.
Italics also examines the revolutionary art production and experimentation of artists whose work spans all visual media to create thought-provoking dialogues across generations and cultures. Presented in arrangements loosely structured around themes of family, self, politics, and design, Italics connects the work of internationally known Italian artists from an earlier generation including two of the leading exponents of Arte Povera — Mario Merz and Alighiero Boetti, along with Lucio Fontana — to the Transavanguardia artists — Francesco Clemente and Enzo Cucchi — with a younger generation of artists such as Maurizio Cattelan, Stefano Arienti, Paola Pivi, Giuseppe Gabellone, and Luisa Lambri. Yet at the same time, Italics questions the desire to reduce Italian art to its well known artistic movements, as well as challenges stereotypical notions of Italy.
Italics: Italian Art between Tradition and Revolution 1968-2008 is a ground-breaking exhibition devoted to contemporary Italian art and creativity, co-presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, and the Palazzo Grassi, Venice, on view at the MCA from November 14, 2009-February 14, 2010. Guest curated by Francesco Bonami, curator of the upcoming Whitney Biennial, Italics presents more than 80 Italian artists active during the past four decades whose work offers a deep sense of originality and vitality, whether embracing their classical roots, breaking away from traditions, or reflecting the social transformation of Italy.
Call 312.280.2660 or visit www.mcachicago.org for more information.
