Gian Maria Tosatti‘s “NOw/here,” a new solo exhibition of large-scale, immersive artworks opened last week at Milan’s Pirelli HangarBicocca. The Italian artist who represented Italy in last year’s 59th Venice Biennale, welcomes the public into a “sentimental retrospective” of his elusive painting process and a profound journey into now, here, and nowhere.
Curated by Vicente Todolí, alongside dramatic lighting design from the skilled mind of Pasquale Mari, “NOw/here” brilliantly combines two bodies of work: “Portraits” (2022) and “NOw/here” (2023), for a bold and lustrous juxtaposition of meanings and materials. The “Portraits” series is made up of four paintings uniting rust and gold in an energetic fusion of oxidation and corrosion. Presented on iron panels atop powerful tube and clamp structures, the works evoke an inciting of violence, an explosion, and a searing, everlasting burn. Tosatti expertly layers the traditions of Byzantine mosaics, the gold backdrops of 13th and 14th-century panel works, and cutting-edge Italian artists of the 1970s—such as Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, and Gino De Dominicis—with the fiery, complex spirit of modern civilization.
Installation view of Gian Maria Tosatti’s “NOw/here,” photo by Ela Bialkowska/OKNOstudio, courtesy of the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan.
Within the quiet eye of the storm, the ten “NOw/here” artworks of white charcoal and graphite are suspended from the ceiling, creating an ephemeral, silver-toned landscape where tiny bright spheres offer hope and the promise of rebirth and renewal. Tosatti’s ongoing research of the human condition and expression throughout evolution, framed in the wake of prominent current events, produces a compelling, artistic view of our zeitgeist, and warmly encourages visitor participation.
Throughout the show, which places the audience at the intersection of the historical, the industrial, and the emotional, the artist poses a challenging investigation of mind, body, and soul: “Right from the title, whose pronunciation differs depending on the perspective chosen by the reader, the exhibition is an invitation to delve into an environment that seems to pose an open, simple, intimate question to those who cross its threshold: ‘how do you feel?’”
Installation view of Gian Maria Tosatti’s “NOw/here,” photo by Ela Bialkowska/OKNOstudio, courtesy of the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan.
Installation view of Gian Maria Tosatti’s “NOw/here,” photo by Ela Bialkowska/OKNOstudio, courtesy of the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan.
Installation view of Gian Maria Tosatti’s “NOw/here,” photo by Ela Bialkowska/OKNOstudio, courtesy of the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan.
