29th November 2013 – 30th January 2014
Opening: Friday 29th November 2013, h: 7.00 pm
Two artists from different generations and education background, who make use of dissimilar means of expression, share, although, the same surname – Omar Galliani and Michelangelo Galliani, father and son. They will face each other in a vis-à-vis, in order to create an intriguing exhibition-blast among drawings and sculptures.
Vis-à-vis is, in fact, the title of the exhibition that Galleria Paola Verrengia devotes to the works of the two Gallianis, and with which the gallery opens its new exhibition season. A poetic face to face – “Proceeding from father to son, through germinations and mutations, sign by sign, dream by dream”, as Omar Galliani wrote. An exhibition in which the two artists look at each others’ works, mirroring one another.
Hence Omar Galliani, one of the most important and famous Italian artists, presents a series of pencil and charcoal drawings, some of those pertaining the “disegni siamesi” (Siamese drawings) series, in which doubled figures generate new identities. “A neat and absolute style”, as Lóránd Hegyi has defined it, “pure and conceptual, focused on the process of refining the form and on the clear relationships of objects in space. The same purity seems to inspire Michelangelo Galliani’s research. The artist creates classical sculptures of various dimensions. However his pieces appear to reject this “classical” label. In effect, in his sculptures Carrara Marble mingles with steel, lead and mercury. The exhibition will feature “Ogni notte Mercurio in sogno” (Every night Mercury in dreams), a small female head in marble (just 18 cm large), held in a case, which looks into a subtle mercury mirroring layer; “Sogni d’Oro” (Golden dreams, 2010 – 2011), another marble head lying on a soft lead pillow, or the trace of a skull – “Principio e destino” (Origin and destiny), carved out of a block of Bardoglio di Carrara marble.
“Glare, light, reflection, touch are the essential conditions of our works. Refining bronze, or marble, drawing on a sheet of paper or on wood are acts of subliming. We transform and “ennoble” the materials. As a matter of facts, Life constantly re-produces itself in becoming, thanks to slow and constant mutations of the original code, that consent evolution and transformation” declared the two artists.
Omar Galliani was born in 1954 in Montecchio Emilia, where he lives and works. After having experienced the creative wave of conceptual art during the ’70s, at the beginning of the ’80s he has been one of the leading figure of Anacronisti and Magico Primario groups, while participating in three editions of Venice Biennale (1982, 1984, 1986), and in biennial in São Paolo, Paris and Tokyo (1982), moreover he also took part in two editions of Quadriennale in Rome (1986, 1996). Being invited by many important museums and art institutions, he presented his works around the world. In 2006-2007, during his “Omar Galliani, Tra Oriente e Occidente, China Tour” (Omar Galliani, Between East and West, China Tour), eight of the most important Chinese museums of Contemporary Art displayed his pieces. Among his most recent exhibitions, it is worth to mention: “The Dream of Eurasia. 987 Testimonials. The Italian Attitude”, collateral event of the 55th Biennale d’arte, Venice (2013); “Face and Soul” Art Gallery K35, Mosca (2013). Moreover GAM, Turin, will host his solo show, curated by Danilo Eccher, in February 2014.
Michelangelo Galliani (Montecchio Emilia, 1975), started to work as a sculptor, when he was very young. Nowadays he also teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino. Among his most recent shows it is worth to mention: “Bestie Uomini e Dei” (Beasts, Men, Gods), a solo show curated by Gianluca Marziani, at Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Collicola Arti Visive, Spoleto (2012); “Quello che resta” (The remainings) , curated by di Elena Saccardi, at Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale, Genova (2012); “Inside Beauty. Beyond Classic”, Pistoia (2013); “7 Opere di Misericordia” (7 Pieces of Mercy), together with Massimiliano Galliani, Correggio (2013).
