MIART 2023

ABC-ARTE presents a representative selection from the recent exhibitions held by the gallery in its venues in Genoa and Milan, with strong ties to Milanese culture.

ABC-ARTE dedicates its presentation to the city of Milan. In various ways and for diverse reasons, the capital of Lombardy has been a protagonist in the explorations conducted by the artists exhibited. These four prominents artists are presented in pairs in dialogue with one another.

Arnaldo Pomodoro and Ugo La Pietra: Monumentalism

One of the participants in this dialogue is the celebrated artist of the impressive bronze sculptures that are situated in public spaces in the world and form an integral part of their urban fabric. He has often worked in the Milanese territory, which is also where his Foundation is located. Pomodoro works on space, cancelling it, concealing it and transferring its complexity inside his sculptures. The other is Ugo La Pietra, currently showing in the venues in Genoa and Milan with the solo exhibition ‘The Artist and the City’. Formally trained in architecture and urbanism, the artist focuses critically on these themes as he investigates Milan, analysing and describing the city in a synaesthesia of the arts.

Nanni Valentini and Jerry Zeniuk: in dialogue on material

The ABC-ARTE Gallery has been working on Nanni Valentini for some time. It proposes the work ‘Dialogo’ (I Capitelli, 1982-83), which was previously shown in Genoa in the exhibition ‘Verso l’Annunciazione’ [Towards the Annunciation] in 2022. The installation, representative of the artist’s mastery, strongly evokes the city of Milan, where his last public exhibition was held in the P.A.C. in 1984. Finally, Jerry Zeniuk is the artist through whom ABC-ARTE has opened its space ONE OF in Milan. He too is a conceptual artist, recognised as a leading member of the Fundamental Painting movement. He develops his works on a monochrome surface: the material is the colour applied to it and the painting itself.