La scultura italiana del XXI secolo

curated by Marco Meneguzzo
October 20, 2010 - March 30, 2011
Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Via Solari 35, Milano

Five years after the exhibition Italian Sculpture of the 20th Century, which inaugurated the exhibition venue at Via Solari 35 in Milan, the Foundation presents a new major exhibition to provide a first overview of the latest Italian trends in the field of plastic arts.

Curated by Marco Meneguzzo, Italian Sculpture of the 21st Century presents works by 80 artists, all born in the second half of the last century, ranging from the now established Nunzio and Dessì to representatives of more recent generations such as Cattelan, Bartolini, Dynys, Esposito, Arienti, Moro, Beecroft, and even younger artists like Cecchini, Sissi, Demetz, up to the very latest figures such as Sassolino, Simeti, Previdi, and Gennari, all part of a project examining the ongoing transformation of the linguistic boundaries of sculpture.

The exhibition showcases the most diverse expressions of what is emerging as a “new trend in sculpture”, today the discipline most difficult to define: languages have definitively hybridized, traditional codes have been rapidly abandoned over the last thirty years, and what was once the artistic discipline most “certain” in its definitions has effectively become the most uncertain. Sculpture now belongs to the realm of the transient, so much so that the traditional claim of permanence—marked by the use of nearly eternal materials like bronze and marble—risks being perceived as anachronistic not only by the artist but also by their audience.

“When five years ago – states Marco Meneguzzo – we exhibited in these very same spaces La scultura italiana del XX secolo, the disciplinary homogeneity still had the color and texture of bronze and marble, and what deviated from that still appeared as a substitute, an imitation of those; today, the presence of those materials in an exhibition that is above all colorful and “soft” immediately takes on the character of a quotation. Certainly, it is not the chromatic or tactile quality, however different, that can determine the question of sculpture’s continued existence as an independent discipline (after all, all ancient sculpture was very colorful), but on the other hand, the comparison between what was “before” and “now” must begin somewhere, and beginning with the evident is nonetheless a good practice.”

Attempt a new definition? Accept everything indiscriminately? Let sculpture dissolve into the so-called “installations” or even into architecture? This is the challenge posed by the Foundation’s exhibition, which in its first five years of activity has been distinguished precisely by its work in promoting and researching sculpture internationally, both in its historical meanings and more contemporary ones. This is the programmatic line within which the event fits, with the critical, scientific, and historical intent to support Italian artistic production, making it known internationally, with artists belonging to very diverse trends, without exclusions except for quality and the curriculum of each artist, even if very young.

A bilingual catalog – Italian and English – published by the Foundation accompanies the exhibition, featuring texts by Marco Meneguzzo, Roberto Pinto, and Simone Menegoi, and entries curated by Arianna Baldoni, Paola Boccaletti, Rossella Farinotti, and Lorenzo Respi.