Luca Trevisani
dal 8/3/2013 al 19/4/2013
Segnalato da
8/3/2013
Luca Trevisani
Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin
To the tips of your fingers. The artist presents sculptures and paintings made between 2012 and 2013. Interested in the transformation of materials through natural and chemical processes, Trevisani scans objects of mostly organic origin. His work deals with transformation, fragility and transience.
The work of Italian artist Luca Trevisani (*1979 in Verona) deals with transformation, fragility and
transience. For his third exhibition at Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, the artist presents sculptures and
paintings made between 2012 and 2013.
"No artwork is a descriptive process, but an act of foundation", explains Trevisani, outlining his view on
art. This outlook is based on the idea that the world is understood through experience. By confronting
matter directly–as opposed to accumulating abstract knowledge–we experience external reality, which
is understood in the form of experiences. Paradigmatic for this understanding are the chemist, the
cook, and the hunter. It is only through their activity that they experience external reality, generate
new experiences, and bring forth the new.
In the work Marmomarmalade, Luca Trevisani combines fragile material such as egg shells with marble.
The broken eggshells give the impression of something new breaking forth, which in turn emphasizes a
senstaion of the marble‘s unbreakability. Trevisani simulates the interaction between these culturally
charged materials by laying a thin plastic film with a crystalline structure over the fragile eggs. In
addition to the conflicting notions of fragility and transience versus permanence and indestructibility,
the work also touches upon concepts of the organic versus the artificially created.
Interested in the transformation of materials through natural and chemical processes, Trevisani scans
objects of mostly organic origin. Translated from three dimensional objects to flat images on the
coarse aluminum surface, the images take on abstract proportions. The light breaks across the rough
aluminum surface of the resulting print in many ways, allowing the viewer to experience new works as
they shift perspective throughout the room. placet experiri flogisto reads the title of the work, which is
to be understood as an invitation to initiate experiments as a means of gaining experience.
The light and airy suspended work Wrapping lesson n. 20 refers to the japanese art of packaging. Sea
urchin shells – intact, opened, and painted – are brought together with nylon string in a finely balanced
composition. While the shells themselves are natural casings, the cords supporting them allude to
culturally manufactured packing techniques.
Simple, random materials such as as branches, feathers, dried plants as well as string, metal bars, and
plexiglass are put to use by Trevisani to create objects that resemble archaic weapons. In Trevisani‘s
understanding, the use of weapons as tools represent the connection between man and nature. In his
2010 Series >, Trevisani uses this bricolage of materials such as drillbits, metal, and plastic vanes to
create bow and arrow like objects that represent the four basic elements– earth, wind, water, and fire.
The artist‘s work was last seen in Berlin in the 2012 show „Wie kommt das Neue in die Welt?“ at the
Haus am Waldsee. Trevisani‘s work is also currently represented in an exhibiton of the Daimler Art
Collection at the Museo di Santa Giulia in Brescia, while another solo exhibition featuring Trevisani will
be held at in the Marino Marini Museum, Florence (2014).
An exhibition catalogue will be published.
Image: Placet experiri flogisto (banana) 2012. UV ray print on aluminium and resin 253,4 x 147,4 x 6,5 cm. Unique piece
Opening March 9th from 6:00 pm
Galerie Mehdi Chouakri
Edison Höfe Invalidenstraße 117 — Entrance Schlegelstraße 26 10115 Berlin
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11 am - 6 pm