The Italian Open at Rolando Anselmi

Artists: Bea Bonafini, Guglielmo Castelli, Andrea De Stefani, Diego Gualandris, Ornaghi & Prestinari, Alice Ronchi, Vincenzo Schillaci, Alice Visentin

Exhibition title: The Italian Open

Venue: Rolando Anselmi, Berlin, Germany

Date: June 22 – July 27, 2019

Photography: Riccardo Malberti / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Rolando Anselmi, Berlin/Rome

Rolando Anselmi is pleased to present The Italian Open, an exhibition joining a selection of young Italian artists coming from different paths, studies and experiences. The show aims to enhance the trajectory of a generation testing different roads and reaching unexpected destinations, gathered up on the occasion of this show.

In the creative process of the London based Bea Bonafini, painting, sculpture, drawing and textiles are generated by a vocabulary formed from fragments repetition and missing sections of images. The configuration of elaborate paths makes the viewer’s gaze dwell on the detailed twine of colors and figures resounding long-gone myths and tales. Coming from a former career as an illustrator, Guglielmo Castelli creates paintings pervaded by a melancholic and suspended atmosphere. Within uncertainty an indeterminacy his characters interact with sinuous backgrounds, and seems to experiment the ups and downs of every human being. Andrea De Stefani investigates the relation between subject and otherness, sensibility and perception of time, dealing with the influence of the landscape on bodies. His strong commitment to materiality makes his works embrace natural and artificial elements, emphasizing the hybrid-blended feature of reality. Different aim is the one of Diego Gualandris, whose imaginary originates from fairy tales, mythology, as well as medieval and Christian tradition. In his works, the research of the human essence is carried out by investigating its imagination while creating new narrative dimensions, unveiling the mechanism that rules willingness, belief and self-determination. Since 2009, Ornaghi & Prestinari duo works between Milan and Venice. The use of different media is employed to investigate the concept of transformation, care and repair. Both the accurate refining process and their aesthetic attention allows them to create works capable to communicate with the most intimate and fragile dimension of the personality. On the other side, Alice Ronchi’s work examines the unknown enfolding the metaphysical sphere, translating in sculpture archetypal volumes that recall monumental architecture. Shapes and refined materials bring the viewer to wonder between a solemn dimension of inwardness and his physicality. In his paintings, Vincenzo Schillaci uses a technique based on stratifications, whose result is an overlap of layers with a visible interposition of colors and signs. Layer by layer his works become metaphors of the individual related to the sedimentation of the past facing the irruption of the future. Strongly influenced by nature, Alice Visentin’s oil on canvas are painted en plain air. Her subjects are man an woman, often giants whose size is linked to their inner knowledge and wisdom. Some experiences happiness, other suffering, but each character living in her painting emanates a penetrating sense of silent awareness.

Bea Bonafini (b. 1990, Bonn, Germany) Lives and works in London, she studied for her BA at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, 2010–14 and an MA Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. Andrea De Stefani (b. 1982, Arzignano, Italy) Lives and works between Venice and Milan. He graduated from the department of Visual and Performing Arts at IUAV University of Venice. Guglielmo Castelli (b.1987, Turin) Lives and works in Turin. He studied scenography at Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin. He was recently artist in residence at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. Diego Gualandris (b. 1993, Alzano Lombardo) Lives and works in Albino. He studied at Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti in Bergamo. Valentina Ornaghi (b. 1986) and Claudio Prestinari (b. 1984) live and work in Rho. They began their university education at the Polytechnic of Milan, graduating respectively in Industrial Design and Architecture. They both continued to study at the IUAV in Venice. Alice Ronchi (b. 1989, Milano, IT, based in Milano) graduated in 2012 from Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA), Milan IT, and in 2015 from the master program of the Rietveld Academie, the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam. Vincenzo Schillaci (b. 1984, Palermo) Lives and works in Rome. He studied at Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo. He is the founder in 2011 of the independent space L’A Project, in Palermo. Alice Visentin (b. 1993, Turin) Lives and works in Turin. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts at Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin.