À travers une riche sélection d'images, ce livre d'artiste, publié en deux éditions – or et argent –, explore la naissance, la vie et la mort de l'œuvre Vorrei perdermi e non trovarmi più (2022) de Francesco Gennari, exposée pour la première fois à la galerie Ciaccia Levi à 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.
Né en 1973 à Pesaro (Italie),
Francesco Gennari vit et travaille à Pesaro et Milan. Il a été lauréat de l'Acacia Prize en 2009. Son travail a été présenté dans de nombreuses institutions internationales :
Plateau / Frac Île-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... Des exposition monographiques lui ont été consacrées notamment au Musée d'art moderne de Saint Etienne Metropole en 2008 et au Museum Dhondt–Dhaenens, Deurle, en 2009.
