The name ONE OF indicates the plurality of experiences: a series of projects connected with the initiatives in Genoa city, according to Antonio Borghese, Director
ABC-ARTE – Promoting the languages of contemporary art
ABC-ARTE gallery began with the inauguration of the space in 2011. The goal of the Director Antonio Borghese is to create a space with an artistic programming of international scope, with established artists of the last decades, but also to later in time, towards the twentieth century neo-avant-gardes, with particular attention firstly to gestural or performative style paintings and then to abstract art.
The gallery has dedicated its itinerary to explore figures from the Neo-avant-garde season and consolidating long-lasting collaborations.
The artistic programming of ABC-ARTE is always innovative in the cultural panorama of Liguria and beyond. Working on two fronts: the gallery focuses on supporting young and emerging artists, valuing those who they engage and work with experimentation; secondly, it has chosen to devote itself to the study of international masters of the twentieth century. This ensures an ever-living dialogue between contemporaneity and a current reinterpretation of the Italian and non-Italian twentieth century.
The ABC-ARTE gallery opens ONE OF in Milan
The second location of the gallery takes the name of ABC-ARTE ONE OF. The new exhibition space is located in the pedestrian area of via Santa Croce 21, right next to the Basilica of Sant’Eustorgio and close to the Diocesan Museum and the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation, an artist with whom ABC-ARTE collaborated on the occasion of a solo show.
According to Antonio Borghese, Director of the gallery: «Milan is the city where I grew up; therefore I have never stopped cultivating a strong bond, maintaining ongoing relationships with the entire art circuit: collectors, curators, artists but above all friends of ABC-ARTE, who have always supported our project. The space in Milan is only 50 square meters compared to the 500 in Genoa. Such a small place was created to ensure that the exhibitions can be immediately visited. We wanted to enter the space of the city and not the other way around. In the case of Genoa we are on the arches of the Mercato Orientale, the oldest and most popular in the city; while for Milan, we are in Piazza Sant’Eustorgio, a few steps from the Navigli, an area also dominated by water and therefore open to trade. Both galleries are located near relevant institutions, thus aiming at the development of a circuit of spaces».
At least throughout the current year, the two projects will be closely connected with each other.
The name ONE OF indicates the plurality of experiences to which the gallery will be dedicated from now on, a series of projects connected with the Genoese initiatives. This involves site-specific exhibitions: the walls of ABC-ARTE ONE OF have been conceived and designed to accommodate one single work per room, selected by the curators and the artists themselves.
The first Milanese project: ‘How to Paint’ by Jerry Zeniuk
The first edition makes space for one of the founding fathers of analytic painting, Jerry Zeniuk, curated by Flaminio Gualdoni. The event coincides with his first Italian retrospective, hosted in the parallel gallery in Genoa. With the title ‘How to Paint’, the show opens a window onto Zeniuk’s recent reflection on color and its physical and mental capacity to generate spaces at a high qualitative level.
It is inspired by the series of works presented under the same title in 2017 in the Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop, and the fundamental monograph edited by Henz Liesbrock.
Approaching the multiverse and NTF’s world
On occasion of the Milanese opening, ABC-ARTE: ONE OF will host experimental artistic productions, thanks to the collaboration with the Art Innovation Gallery in via Santa Croce that organizes events within the digital industry gathering talented and emerging artists.
This gallery will offer a possibility of expanding the rooms of ABC-ARTE within the multiverse, with an opening to the world of NFTs.
Director Borghese spoke about his interest to bring the traditional public and collectors closer to this new technical form of expression. «As for our historical period, it allows a much lower risk in terms of artistic choices. It is a world that has already fully entered our sector and must be taken into consideration».
The publishing house – ABC-ARTE extends collaboration with the artists
The gallery has one peculiarity. Each cultural project is always accompanied by the publication of a volume of the ABC-ARTE series, in collaboration with the artists themselves, international critics and curators. In 2007 the ABC-ARTE publishing house made its debut with the book Shozo Shimamoto: Samurai, acrobata dello sguardo, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva.
The Director explained that the books, other than documenting the exhibitions that take place in the gallery, they want to leave something that will stay on, that is different from a web page. «The book is more difficult to destroy and can be more easily passed on. When we started, the only fundamental tool for documenting our work was the book. We are interested in offering a service that is dedicated to workers in the sector but also to collectors. We want to stay true to the mission of the gallery that is to give critical reading of the greatest artists».
Among the artists represented, Giorgio Griffa, Yang Maoyuan, Tomas Rajlich, Michele Zaza, Hermann Nitsch, Shozo Shimamoto, Nanni Valentini and Nanda Vigo.
The future of ABC-ARTE’s curatorial line
In the future of ABC-ARTE’s Milan headquarters, the desire to keep on the dialogue that ONE OF have to establish with the city. Precisely for this reason, among the artists that will be presented in the coming months, appear the names of Italian masters who have the strongest connection with Milan, such as Ugo La Pietra and Mario Schifano.
ABC-ARTE
Via Santa Croce, 21, 20122 Milano MI, Italy. ABC-ARTE is a contemporary art gallery founded in Genoa dedicated to celebrate Italian and non-Italian artists of the Twentieth century scenario. In 2023 ABC-ARTE inaugurated ONE OF, a new gallery in Milan.
Martina Tondo
The writer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article.
