A new artistic project is born in Pisogne for the Mirad’Or Museum and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve. A season of great events is underway. The direction is entrusted to Flaminio Gualdoni and Marco Lagorio.
A new season of major artistic events is unfolding in Pisogne, on Lake Iseo. The Municipality is promoting a new project that will see the Mirad’Or Art Gallery and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve as unique and exciting settings for national and international exhibitions. The project is led by art historian Flaminio Gualdoni and gallery owner Marco Lagorio, who have respectively been entrusted with the scientific direction and artistic direction of the Mirad’Or and the Church by the Pisogne administration. The new artistic direction follows that of Massimo Minini, who has curated the gallery's exhibitions until now. The project brings together Pisogne's two most important cultural centers: the Mirad’Or, a striking installation on the lake created in 2021 as a belvedere and exhibition space for contemporary art exhibitions, and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve, considered one of the highest points of Romanino's poetry, thereby making the latter itself a museum. The goal is to make Pisogne a reference point for contemporary art internationally. The project will unfold through "itinerant" exhibitions, allowing two important areas of the town to interact: the more touristy lakeside area, where the Mirad’Or is located, and the historical and religious area outside the center, which houses the church. The project is fully supported by private sponsorships. The first part of the museum project will continue until September, with the hope of further growth through collaborations and synergies with the most important art venues around the lake - Lovere, Iseo, and Sarnico - as well as nationally and internationally. The new exhibition season in Pisogne will open at the Mirad’Or and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve on Saturday, May 11, 2024, with the exhibition "Tomas Rajlich: Paintings of Light", dedicated to the Czech-born Dutch artist Tomas Rajlich, internationally recognized as one of the most influential figures in European painting. The exhibition, open until June 22, is curated by art historian Flaminio Gualdoni with the supervision and coordination of Marco Lagorio. It is promoted by the Municipality of Pisogne and the Mirad’Or gallery with the patronage of Visit Lake Iseo and in collaboration with the ABC-ARTE gallery in Genoa | Milan and the Art High School "Decio Celeri" in Lovere: a dozen students, after being prepared by their teachers about the two cultural sites and exhibitions, will welcome and accompany visitors on the exhibition tour. The inauguration will take place on Saturday, May 11, at 6 pm at the Church and will continue at the Mirad’Or gallery later the same evening. From July 6 to August 8, the two exhibition spaces in Pisogne will host "Correspondences", a solo exhibition by Bruno Zoppetti, a Bergamo artist who has exhibited in important Italian and European galleries and museums. A third exhibition project featuring an internationally important artist is currently being defined for the autumn season.
Federico Laini, Mayor of the Municipality of Pisogne
"It is a very important project for Pisogne because it establishes a dialogue between the Mirad’Or art gallery, a modern water installation in the most frequented place in our town, and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve, the most significant historical and religious place in Pisogne. It was an idea we had had for a long time. Now it is being realized thanks to the artistic project of Professor Flaminio Gualdoni and Marco Lagorio. We hope it can be an opportunity to bring more visitors to the area and to make known these valuable places and the beauty not only in Pisogne but also on Lake Iseo and in the Valle Camonica. I would like to thank Flaminio Gualdoni and Marco Lagorio for believing in the artistic potential of Pisogne and for realizing this project, and Massimo Minini for the excellent artistic collaboration over the past two years at the Mirad’Or."
Giovanni Bettoni, Councilor Delegate for Culture, Tourism, and Sport
"We have always sought broad-ranging projects that would leave something on the territory. The initiative of Flaminio Gualdoni and Marco Lagorio goes in this direction: it will offer the opportunity for those who live in Pisogne and in our territory to engage with international artists and will increase Pisogne's attractiveness, but also that of neighboring towns. Thanks to Professor Gualdoni, Director Lagorio, and to all who have supported the project with their resources and time."
Flaminio Gualdoni, Art Historian and Scientific Director of the Mirad’Or Museum and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve in Pisogne
The Lake, Contemporary Art, History
"I am very pleased with this assignment because the activities carried out by the Mirad’Or and the Municipality of Pisogne have always been of the highest quality. The project we have conceived will propose events of contemporary art in the two most significant cultural venues in Pisogne, the Mirad’Or, with its exciting windows overlooking the lake, and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve. The intention is not to exploit the ancient, but to engage contemporary works with the Romanino frescoes with respect and love. To inaugurate the project, we have invited an internationally important artist: Tomas Rajlich, a master of fundamental Dutch painting and still a leading name in color research to this day. The exhibition dedicated to him is not a homage to an aged artist, but a silent and evocative exhibition dedicated to an artist with a still very lively and necessary painting, who continues his research and evolves from painting to painting. Rajlich's monochromes, after investigating white and black, have opened up to the ineffable beauty of gold, to the breezes of a distant blue, and to a matte and chaste red, to arrive at beautiful pinks and metaphysical blues in his recent works where the theme of light dominates, or rather, the appearance of color in light. It is an honor for us that an artist of such level and international fame has chosen to exhibit in Pisogne. The exhibition will give the public the unique and precious opportunity to know his delicate and magnetic abstraction."
Marco Lagorio - Gallery Owner and Artistic Director of the Mirad’Or Museum and the Church of Santa Maria della Neve in Pisogne
The new exhibition season, featuring international guests and prominent Italian artists
"I am happy to work on this project for Pisogne, which can enhance the artistic vocation and cultural tourism of Lake Iseo, in continuation with the Christo event. The Mirad’Or is a hidden gem, a small museum that can become an international jewel. We want to show lovers of contemporary art a unique historical reality like the Church of Romanino, making it a cultural hub. Sacred spaces are often lent to modern art with great success. I hope it will also happen in Pisogne. The intention is to give an international dimension to the proposals of these two important places and to involve the territory: artists of recognized quality and market value abroad, but also schools, companies, libraries, cultural associations, and other major art venues around the lake. Lovere, Iseo, and Sarnico harbor important cultural realities that, if enhanced, can make Sebino an international center of contemporary art. I thank the administration, especially Mayor Laini and Councilor Bettoni, for welcoming and supporting this project and for entrusting me with the artistic direction, Professor Flaminio Gualdoni, who will oversee the scientific direction of the projects as well as the exhibitions, the Artistic High School Celeri of Lovere, the headmistress Monica Sirtoli, and her students. And finally, the partner-sponsors who with their support have allowed us to realize this project."
Antonio Borghese - Director of the ABC-ARTE Gallery Genoa, Milan Tomas Rajlich, a Central European artist loved by critics and collectors "The long-standing collaboration between ABC-ARTE and Tomas Rajlich has had a considerable impact on the artist's market, which is now highly esteemed by professionals and collectors. His exhibitions involve an increasingly wide audience both in Europe and in the United States. The prices of his works have more than doubled in the last five years, while remaining significantly accessible given the importance of the artist in art history. Rajlich represents the deepest essence of Fundamental Painting thanks also to his constant travels between Paris, Amsterdam, Prague, and Italy. He is among the most significant living artists of the post-war period and one of the most important contemporary painters of his generation; it is an honor to bring him to Pisogne for this project. The exhibition will be a synthesis of his work and will testify to over half a century of painting research, from works of the 1970s to the most recent paintings, with variations in intensity and luminosity. Visitors will see a series of unconventional paintings and sculptures as per the artist's aesthetics. The works on display have been chosen by Rajlich himself, in relation to the exhibition spaces of Mirad’Or and the Church, and come from his personal collection and private collections."
Caterina Iannicelli, Professor of Literature, and Amedea Pecora, Professor of Art History - Decio Celeri Art High School in Lovere
The contribution of students as cultural volunteers
"The Decio Celeri Art High School in Lovere has entered into an agreement with the Municipality of Pisogne and the Mirad’Or, the so-called PCTO (formerly school-work alternation). With this agreement, interested students assist visitors to the Church of Santa Maria della Neve and the Mirad’Or. This project aims to guide the students, give them greater awareness of what the territory offers in terms of art, and offer an experience strongly connected to their studies."
