Artist: Enzo Cucchi
Venue: Balice Hertling, Paris, France
Date: March 5 – June 13, 2020
Photography: Aurélien Mole / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Balice Hertling, Paris
For Enzo Cucchi’s second solo show at Balice Hertling, we decided to replace the traditional press release with a drawing by artist Xinyi Cheng. This drawing is the result of a curious encounter between Cheng, a horse and Cucchi, which occurred during her last trip to Rome. The animal, strangely adorned with a hat and blinders protecting the eyes, captivated Cheng’s attention. It was then that Enzo Cucchi appeared casually walking between the horse and Cheng. Struck by this coincidence, Xinyi Cheng decided to pay homage to the memory of this moment with a drawing which also testifies to the spiritual presence of Cucchi.
Born in Italy in 1949, Cucchi has presented numerous solo exhibitions in institutions such as MAXXI, Rome ; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam ; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York ; Musée National d’Art Moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris ; the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich ; Wiener Secession, Vienna ; Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg ; Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin ; Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo ; Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg ; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv ; Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici, Rome, amongst many others. Throughout his career, Cucchi also created several monumental sculptures for parks and public spaces and collaborated with architect Mario Botta between 1992 and 1994 for the design of the Church of Monte Tamaro, in Switzerland. He also worked together on exhibitions and publications with Ettore Sottsass. During the 1990’s he produced large permanent works for the Museum of Tel Aviv, the Termini Station in Rome and for a subway station in Naples in collaboration with the designer Alessandro Mendini. Enzo Cucchi’s artistic practice also extends to collaborations with writers and he has worked on scenography for theatres. Several monographs and catalogues have been dedicated to Enzo Cucchi’s work.
Cucchi’s work is part of many public collections such as MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA ; Tate Modern, London, UK ; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France ; Guggengeim Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain ; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA ; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, USA ; Art Gallery NSW, Sydney, Australia ; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia ; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel ; Sezon Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, amongst others.
