At the Dialoghi Incantati exhibition, in Verona, 8-20 oct. 2013, with the Cangrande brooch [yep, I still have to finish it]. Here the organization. Here image and words from the press release:
The exhibition "Enchanted Dialogues: Brooches in Tribute of
Verona" will be held in the deconsecrated church of San Pietro in
Archivolto next to Verona’s Cathedral, from October 8, 2013 to October 20,
2013.
Curated by Nunzia De Feo and organized by associazioneNurò under the
patronage of Verona’s Town Council and Verona’s Province with CantinaCastelnuovo
del Garda’s contribution, it has been set-up thanks to the foresight and
generosity of Verona’s Cathedral. Given the pressing economic stagnation,
Monsignor Antonio Finardi, Verona’s Cathedral Parish Priest, aware that having
a job is inseparable from a human being’s dignity, asserts: "It is important to encourage and be
close to those who are actively involved in experimenting and exploring new
possibilities and solutions".
As the title suggests, the show invites visitors to engage with the
artifacts displayed in intimate and spontaneous conversations inside of which
old memories, disjointed emotions and forgotten anecdotes can emerge.
The exhibited works evoke Verona's yesterdays and todays along with its
territory, open windows on its future in an all-round vision that embraces the
enviable artistic and cultural heritage by virtue of which, Verona has been
declared World Heritage Site by Unesco. Moreover, thanks to their mixing
painting, architecture, sculpture, poetry, technical expertise and design, they
easily pose themselves into a genre of goldsmith research called
"sensitized jewelry" (Bernabei, 2011, p. 37).
The event, indeed, focuses on ornaments for the body within conventional or reduced sizes, showing a
renewed interest in color, a clear crossing of two-dimensionality, a strong and
indomitable attractiveness for alternative materials without disdaining the
recycled ones and finally a re-evaluation of the wearability premise.
These pieces seem to remind us of the precious teachings of Bauhaus
professor Johannes Itten. In his 1961
treatise, he shows that color in painting, as well as disclosing the author’s
chromatic DNA, can carry out three different values, one inseparable from the
other: conventional-symbolic, able to impart a meaning preconceived a
priori inside a group identity, expressive,
committed to effectively enhance the subject which it refers to, or realistic,
stretched out to transfer tangible elements accurately. To cite an example, the
expressive use of pure color that reininvigorates shapes by Corrado De Meo
matches either the symbolic one of Martha Pachon or the realistic one of Vicky
Ambery-Smith.
In addition, their combinations and assemblies of different flat
surfaces and rounded forms, clearly reveal their debt to Avant-Garde sculpture
and architecture thanks to which they can master space with increasing
security and distinctly conquer three-dimensionality.
Maybe due to the costly price of precious metals and of an inventiveness
devoid from the oppression of having to satisfy status symbol needs, the
protagonists are ceramic and glass beads next to enamels and cameos without
neglecting resins, silicone, semi-precious stones, natural yarns, fabrics and
feathers as well as brass, copper and thickly coated silver, colored or even
lacquered in the Japanese way, and lastly residues from recycling.
Final consignee of these brooches, although mediated by the garment,
which it will inevitably be based on, is
the human body since jewels, as is now widely recognized (Bernabei 2011), lose
their identity and their value when separated from it.
The essence of these brooches is similar to poetry, vivid and concrete
evidence of their makers’ workmanship, able to combine the legacy of never died
down manual skills, of craft traditions and / or technological virtuosity
derived from the design world with a free mind and a generous heart. Indeed, if
a design can be projected with the rationality of the human mind then passion
and personal insight will guide its execution.
THE EXHIBITION SET-UP
Three are the thematic areas that constitute the main focus of the
event:
-architecture of Verona: monuments and dynamism
- Verona in the past: customs and cultural traditions
- paths: growing in "Hope"
THE PARTECIPANTS
Invited to deal with the ambitious project are some leading figures in
the international contemporary jewelry world next to young talents from
different countries outside of Europe, too. They are joined by the artist Anna
Galtarossa, arising to world attention thanks to the Moroso Award in 2011, who,
for the first time, confronts herself with a jewel.
LUIS ACOSTA (AR/NL), VICKY AMBERY-SMITH (UK), LUIGI BARATO (IT), LEAH
BECKER (USA), ALICA JANE BOSWELL (USA), LILIA BREYTER (AR), PAULA BREYTER (AR),
PAULA BRUNO (AR), ISABELLE BUSNELL (UK), MARIANO CONTIN (IT), CINZIA
COSTANTINI/STEFANIA GERBO (IT), PATRICIA CRUZ (IT), NUNZIA DE FEO (IT), CORRADO DE MEO (IT),
PIERALBA DE ROSA (IT), LUISA DE SANTI
(IT), CLARA DEL PAPA (IT), SUZANNE ESSER (NL), ANNA GALTAROSSA (IT), LUCIA
GIGENA (UY), SUZANNE GOLDEN (USA), MARIANNA HADASS (UK), JOANNE HAYWOOD (UK),
ROBERTA HIBBERD (UK), AGNIESZKA KIERSZTAN (IT), RITA MARTINES (IT), MIKIKO
MINEWAKI (JP), MARIA ROSA MONGELLI (AR), VIKTORIA MUNZKER (AT), MARTHA PACHON
(IT), MABEL PENA (AR), PAOLA PEREZ (BO), PATRIZIA POLESE
(IT), ZOE ROBERTSON (UK), NIKI STYLIANOU (GR), DAVINIA TORIJA (ES), JULIE USEL
(UK), STELLA VALENCIA (CR), DAVIDE ZAMBON (IT), MELANIA ZUCCHI (IT).
ASSOCIAZIONE NUR0’
AssociazioneNurò, born in Verona in January 2013, aims to be a driving
force to promote knowledge of contemporary jewelry and reinvigorate its
credibility inside the general public. Through the organization of exhibitions,
workshops and conferences encourages a deepening of matters that engage in the
world of ethics, law, fashion and wellness. In its mission hopes collaborations
with public and private institutions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bernabei, R., 2011. Contemporary Jewellers. London:
Bloomsbury Academic.
Itten, J., 2002. Arte del colore. Milano, 3°
ed. : il Saggiatore.
Curator: Nunzia De Feo,
August 2013