5/2/2008
Pantani-Surace
Madder139, London
An exhibition of new work by contemporary Italian duo. The architecture of the gallery space has inspired them to produce 3 site-specific installations that play with the given area. Spectators discover the subtle and ever-changing interventions as the gallery is transformed into an innovative, exposed space.
Curated by Laura Culpan, Artwise Curators
MADDER139 is delighted to present an exhibition of new work by contemporary Italian duo, Pantani-Surace. The architecture of the gallery space has inspired the artists to produce three site-specific installations that play with the given area. Spectators will discover the subtle and ever-changing interventions as the gallery is transformed into an innovative, exposed space.
The entrance to the gallery; a mirrored façade, distorts the space and light whilst encapsulating a ‘living’ element with the trapped air, warping the viewer’s bodies and ascertaining a physical interaction with the piece itself. The mirror, an object which is routinely seen as displaying a true picture, now becomes buckled, reflecting different shapes and shadows with each and every nuance of movement. Pantani-Surace are interested in seizing this ‘in between’ moment of time, by physically transforming everyday objects into elusive, intangible subjects of substance.
Built in the rear gallery, words are spelt out by the strategic seeping of water through pores in a fabricated wall. From a distance the spectator solely sees the ethereal words bleed through; on closer inspection, the tubes conclude the outcome. The realisation of the technology against the backdrop of such emotive, poetical words ‘Ti Amo’, ‘I love you’ creates a frictional state of doubting; jesting the viewer’s vision of sincerity. Yet like graffiti on a wall, the disappearance and reappearance of the act whispers with Proustian sentiment, ushering the audience to stop, think and remember.
Pantani-Surace’s work flows, evaporates and evolves like the tentative voice of poetry. Their concentration on the ‘change of state’, neither focusing upon the past nor the present forms a celestial embodiment around the work, where time momentarily pauses. Downstairs the space is governed by four crystal chandeliers hanging and diffidently dripping water onto a clay-powdered covered floor. Over time the waterdrops will clean away the clay and penetrate through to a vivid, exuberant hue of orange, eradicating the purity of the white space and piercing the quiet void with a dash of colour. Normally revered for their fixed permanence as objects, Pantani-Surace’s chandeliers are devoid of their sole purpose as a light structure and liquidated into temporary evolving subjects.
Pantani-Surace’s installations consistently shift and occur, reflecting upon the prising apart of space and time. They muse upon memory and end expanding in metaphorical space. In ‘The Poetics of Space’, Bachelard recounts that “images have both a history and a prehistory; they are always a blend of memory and legend, with the result that we never experience an image directly”. Pantani-Surace’s work poignantly captures the essence of memory, by exploring the perimeters of space in a sensory manner. Reverberating in a transparent, contemplative way the objects become fluid and existent subjects, oozing with an impalpable awareness. Renowned visual images such as The Lascaux Caves, Giotto’s frescoes, The Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, The Berlin Wall and many more, echo and fill the space, like the defiant whispering of enthralled voices.
Lia Pantani was born in Florence, 1966 and Giovanni Surace in Vibo Valentia in 1964. They live and work in Calenzano, Florence, Italy. Pantani-Surace have exhibited extensively throughout Italy, including the new Nosadella Due Foundation in Bologna, as part of a new residency base for established Italian artists and at the 2005 ARTissima in Turin. The exhibition at MADDER139 will be their first UK solo show.
Private View: Wednesday 6 February 6-9pm
Madder139
137/139 Whitecross St, London
Open Wednesday Thursday Friday 12–6 Saturday
Free admission