10/3/2001
Luigi Ontani
MoMA PS1, New York
This will be the first complete survey of Luigi Ontani's work presented in the United States. His elaborate installations and Tableaux vivants, made since the early 70s, constitute a major landmark in the history of performance art and photography.
Retrospective - 1969-2001.
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents the first U.S. retrospective of the work
of Italian artist Luigi Ontani (b. 1943, Vergato, Italy), which includes
works produced between 1969 and 2001. Curated by P.S.1 Senior Curator
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, this exhibition showcases the career of an
artist whose elaborate installations and tableaux vivants (living
paintings) constitute a landmark in the history of performance art and
photography.
Ontani's use of his own body and persona, of costumes and
masks, of references to folklore, art nouveau and exoticism, anticipates
much current work that deals with shifting or fictional identities and
neo-aestheticism.
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome and the Italian Cultural
Institute, New York. major support has been provided by Rosa and Gilberto Sandretto.
A press conference will be held at the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna,
Rome on February 13, 2001, scheduled at 12:00pm.
Additional funding is provided by Giulio di Gropello and Alice Bulgari.
Additional thanks to Paolo Riani, Director of the Italian Cultural
Institute, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, and the Galleria Civica
d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin.
P.S.1 - Contemporary Art Center - 22-25 Jackson Avenue - Long Island City - New York - Tel: 7187842084 - Fax: 7184829454