Lorenzo Vitturi : Jugalbandi
T293 is pleased to present Jugalbandi, an exhibition of new sculptural pieces by Lorenzo Vitturi (Venice, 1980), organized in collaboration with Jaipur Rugs Foundation, India. This will be his second solo exhibition with the gallery.
Mainly known as a photographer, Lorenzo Vitturi presents an unique project within his artistic practice: handmade tapestries, made with traditional looms by Indian artisans. Moreover, he investigates for the first time in depth the concept of collaborative practice in the creation of an artwork.
The show is entitled Jugalbandi, which in Indian means “entwined twins” and is a musical performance of two people who are neither sole soloist nor solely accompanying, alluding to the structure chosen for the creation of the works, fruit of an fascinating team-work between Lorenzo Vitturi and the Indian craftsmen.
While travelling through rural communities and meeting local weavers in the Indian region of Rajasthan, Vitturi was captivated by the sculptural assemblages that the village life unconsciously creates, as for example, a hay bale precariously balancing on a gate pillar, a pile of terracotta bowls or even a loom covered by a tarp. These arrangements, photographed by Vitturi during his research trip, stand as the genesis of the project.
The urban sculptures are then abstracted into a series of graphic fragments that carry in their outlines a reminiscence of their original shape. In a second moment, the abstract shapes are merged creating a composition of multilayered color fields. Ultimately, the abstract fragments, through the hands of the Indian artisans take real shape as impressive tapestries. As a result each tapestry embodies with its textured presence the richness and beauty of the village's life and its gentle spirit of becoming. Like in a map, lines and shapes tell a story where every outline has equal value. Surpassing their apparent abstractness the story narrated through the lines of each piece is one of authenticity and materiality .
For the first time in his career Vitturi delegates the final phase of the process to an external figure. The works, other than being purely Vitturi’s personal vision, carry also the artisan’s personal sphere, as on each composition the artist left some areas in which the weavers could intervene not only with their technique but also their own vision and ideas. By doing so, the artist consents the sculptures to be not only the result of his own personal research but broadens their significance by allowing each artisan to express their individuality on every piece. As the very last - but not least - passage of this intense process, the artist intervenes on the rugs by adding fragments of glass and wood, originated from his hometown, Venice. Shouldn't the lockdown had made travelling inconceivable during the last months, this final step would have happened alongside the weavers in India.
The result is a Jugalbandi, a digital performance between artist and artisan, in which Vitturi’s graphic impressions, inspired by the shapes and textures collected during the time spent in the village, cohabit and coexist with the world sketched by the weavers, becoming mental maps of a journey still ongoing.
Anna Park : On Tilt
For her first solo show in Europe Anna Park (South Korea, 1996) presents at T293 a new series of charcoal drawings that weaves in and out of representation to abstraction.
Anna Park - as she describes herself - is a natural people-watcher. In her childhood, by constantly moving from one city to another, she developed a voyeuristic approach to life that later became evident in her artistic practice. The careful observation of those contrasting experienced environments serves as an investigation of human and social behaviour, that the artist then translates into a personal level through her distinct style.
Park’s creative process begins with the selection from her own stock imagery of a photograph, usually of a crowded place. The artist uses the sharp lines and cutting shapes of the crowd as guiding elements to set up the architecture of the composition. After visualizing the image in black and white, Park initiates a second, more instinctive approach. The creative power flows now spontaneously from the charcoal through the paper, filling the space with a seductive rhythm. The result is an ever striking composition, orchestrated with a refined use of light and shadow.
The exhibition title On Tilt suggests being on the edge of an emotional breakdown. The highly elaborated scenes depicted on the drawings are claustrophobic compositions built on an undefined number of elements. Images are freezed in their most impactful moments, and time seems to have stopped at its most dramatic instant. By creating these ephemeral frames of ecstasy, the artist offers an opportunity to slowly unveil the powerful imagery that lies underneath them, instigating an absorbing discovery experience.
Through her black and white powerful lines, we can find noteworthy references that derive from sources as diverse as Hollywood productions of the Twenties, passing through comics language and culminating into interesting Futuristic mentions. The deformities that characterizes Anna Park’s works – though pervaded with distinct oldschool references – are a reflection of our own time. Unpretentiously, her paintings end up being precise observations of the sense of ecstasy and anxiety the last generation has been dealing with in a crescendo stream, standing as an always impeccable and often disturbing insight of contemporaneity.

Opening: Saturday, October 3rd 13-19h

mpefm ITALY art press release