THE FIRST LUCA FRESCHI’S GALLERY
This is the first personal gallery of Luca Franceschi, an artist who conducts research concerning the alterity of the human being and personal and collective memory through the technical use of cast, assembly and creation in ceramic. The exhibited works – Breviari Cariatidi Ampolle – are an artist’s reflection related to the topic of vanitas. The exhibition – curated by Niccolò Bonechi – is part of the project “If I close my eyes, the dark will not see me”, a double single-subject which is divided between the rooms of the L’Ariete artecontemporaea Gallery and spaces of Raccolta Lercaro (Lercaro Collection), in
conceptual and temporal continuity. The Act I of exhibited project is presented from the 30th November in the headquarters of L’Ariete artecontemporanea Gallery, the Act II will be part of the Project Room planning of the Institute curated by Giovanni Gardini, Raccolta Lercaro Executive Director, from January 2025.
FROM THE NICCOLÒ BONECHI’S WRITTEN WORK
…A project in two acts of broad scope, that highlights his research heterogeneity, standing out for a deep link between past and present, tradition and modernity, in a continuous exploration of contrast between perfection and fragmentation.
ACT I
Vanitas is a very present topic in Luca Freschi’s research, but in the always punctual selection of artists by L’Ariete artecontemporanea Gallery as well.
Strictly linked to the iconographical tradition of memento mori, it is one of the most complex and fascinating subjects of art history and offers a deep reflection about the relationship between man and the afterlife, time and life transience. Vanitas is not only a mortality reminder, but it is also an exhortation to think about the ephemeral nature of all that we consider precious: the power, the beauty, the youth, the material goods. In this context, it is possible to say that Luca Freschi explores an updated vanitas, which is not only focused on physical death, but also about the symbolic and cultural end in a world governed from the image and fugacity; and he does this in an ironic way as well, through elements and colours that he borrows from pop reminiscence.
In line with these topics, his works are suspended between charm and apprehension, between attraction for beauty and the recall to his temporariness. In this way, Freschi can transfer the vanitas concept to the contemporary context, suggesting that, also in our era of digital immortalization and cult of youth, we remain trapped into the natural cycle of life and death, and that the real beauty is inseparable from the end awareness. That is what overall in the Caryatids and in the works under ampoule like San Giovannino, Santa Eulalia or even more evident in Bananas Vanitas, the typical elements of this tradition are present: the skull and the owl that make good show of themselves in the two exhibited Caryatids are in this sense emblematic, just like cut flowers or broken fragments in the works previously mentioned.
WHO IS LUCA FRESCHI
Luca Freschi (1982) – graduated in Painting at Fine Arts Academy of Bologna – held several personal exhibitions in institutional and private headquarters as Contemporary Art European Museum of Barcelona, the Jewish Museum of Bologna, the National Museum of Ravenna, the Diocesan Museum of Faenza. In 2015, he was selected as a finalist of the 59° edition of the Ceramic International Prize of Faenza and in 2017 he was invited to South Korea at the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennial. He got an honorable mention at the 39° edition of the Exhibition International Contest of Ceramic Art Town of Gualdo Tadino (PG). His works have been winners of national prizes and acquired in Italian and Spanish public collections.
Information
LUCA FRESCHI
If I close my eyes, the dark will not see me. Act I.
In collaboration with Lercaro Bologna Collection
Opening on Saturday 30th November at 6pm.
Where: L’ariete Artecontemporanea, Via Marsilli 7, Bologna
When: 30.11.2024 – 08.01.2025
From Monday to Saturday 5pm – 7.30pm
Days closed: 31/12 and 06/01