Through a rich selection of images, this artist's book, published in two editions—gold and silver—explores the birth, life and death of Francesco Gennari's work Vorrei perdermi e non trovarmi più, 2022, exhibited for the first time at the Ciaccia Levi Gallery in Paris.
Almost twenty kilos of melon-flavored ice cream mixed with gin fill a triangular bronze prism, flooding the room with a pungent aroma, almost saturating the air and enveloping anyone who approaches in a feeling of freshness and vitality. Slits at the ends of the triangle allow the ice cream to melt and flow beyond the confines of the stainless bronze structure, dispersing into space yet leaving tangible traces of its passage. Hidden in the midst of the ice cream, a multitude of bronze stars emerge little by little. The disintegration of organic matter thus reflects its ephemeral and changeable nature, evoking a sensation of fluidity and transformation—a metaphor for the artist's own approach to self-representation. By juxtaposing materials in unexpected and sometimes contradictory ways, Gennari generates a dialogue between form and concept that induces a profound sense of introspective reflection in the viewer.
Instinct, creativity, and loss of control also characterize the artist's book, in which the artist further develops his research into the concept of "identity" along with the sense of the boundary and dispersion in space. Like this volume, the work is created in two editions, one gold and one silver, and provides an escape from reality towards a broader and more mysterious experience, one in which the limits of human existence and the desire/need to go beyond them remain at the heart of the narrative.
Francesco Gennari (born 1973 in Pesaro, lives and works in Pesaro and Milan)
is one of the most important and representative Italian artist's of his generation. Since embarking on his career he has shown steadfast consistency in formalizing his thoughts in sculpture, creating a significant oeuvre. Gennari begins a work by observing the world: “I simply observe the world and synthesize it [...] it is always intuition that produces art and it is always reason that seeks to understand it.” But it is particularly from the analysis of invisible reality, of that which is denied to our eyes, that his sculptures come forth: self-portraits, works in glass, drawings. The void, absence, is Gennari's sphere of work, the realm of his quest. He shapes it and makes it material, objectified, tangible.
Gennari continually passes from one material to another, from one technique to another, from one medium to another, always in frenetic movement to give expression to the imagination, his tool for gaining knowledge. His is an imagination with scientific and philosophical traits, growing out of the Italian roots that we see in the artist's work, taking us directly into the non-metaphoric anthropomorphism of his works.
In 2009 Francesco Gennari won the Acacia Prize. His work has been displayed in various international museums and exhibitions including:
Plateau / Frac Ile-de-France, Paris, 2013; Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2012; Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, 2011; Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, 2011; IVAM, Valencia, 2011; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, 2011; Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, 2010;
Le Magasin, Grenoble, 2010; MuKA extra muros, Mechelen, 2009; MCA, Chicago, 2009; Manifesta 7, Trentino-Alto-Adige, 2008; Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2008; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, 2007; Bonner kunstverein, 2006. He has recently been featured in solo exhibitions at Musée d'art moderne de Saint Etienne Metropole, Saint Etienne, 2008; and Museum Dhondt–Dhaenens, Deurle, 2009.
