Nico Vascellari
29 Nov 2012 - 21 Feb 2013
NICO VASCELLARI
29 November 2012 - 21 February 2013
For his second solo exhibition at the gallery, Nico VASCELLARI continues his experimental work between installation, sculpture and performance.
The starting point is a mysterious place located in the forest of Cansiglio in northern Italy, a place that fascinated him since childhood: the "Bus of Lum", a natural cavity 158 meters deep, surrounded by macabre and satanic legends. Its name "hole of light" comes from natural gas releases due to the decomposition of animals that fell to the bottom and it was interpreted in the Middle-Ages as a place of sorcery rituals. These legends have become sadly true at the time of the World War II, when two opposing parties have used this place to throw their enemies often still alive.
The artist connects this fascinating place to a second one, also related to Hell: Darvaza or "The Gate of Hell" in Turkmenistan. It is in this case a crater fifty meters large, that's been burning continuously since 1971. In a Soviet mining exploration in 1970, a team of geologists, drilling the ground in search of a deposit, accidentally pierced an underground cavity that caused the collapse of the rig, leaving a gaping hole in the ground. To avoid any risk, the authorities decided to set fire to the gas emanating from the well. Geologists had hoped the fire would go out in a few weeks but it has been burning ever since.
These two places with similar forms but with very different histories, are explored by the artist, one can represent the entrance and the other one the exit of a kind of evil and flamboyant hose. Both entities have been filmed, one from the bottom up, the other vertically, and the result is an overlap of the two videos.
The resulting video is projected onto a forest of structures, half sculptures half screen, reflecting back into space forms alternating between light and shadow, accompanied by a chorus of voices suggesting the nature of Nico Vascellari in collaboration with Ghedalia TAZARTES, a musician of Turkish origin (born in Paris in 1947).
The exhibition is crossed by an unstable light device creating a chiaroscuro environment and almost mystical sensations specific to the areas where the artist was inspired. Collages made from magazine pages that passed through acid and removed with scotch tape; punctuate the space as well as other abstract landscapes from the occult world.
Nico VASCELLARI was born in 1976 in Vittorio Veneto, Italy, where he lives and works. He has numerous personal exhibitions, at Macro (Rome), at the Marina Abramovic Institute (San FIrancisco) and at the Museion (Bolzano). His work has also been shown among others in the following group exhibitions: at the Pinchuck Art Centre (Kiev), at the Magasin (Grenoble), at the Tate Modern (London), at the Kunsthaus Graz, and also at the 52nd Venice Biennale.
29 November 2012 - 21 February 2013
For his second solo exhibition at the gallery, Nico VASCELLARI continues his experimental work between installation, sculpture and performance.
The starting point is a mysterious place located in the forest of Cansiglio in northern Italy, a place that fascinated him since childhood: the "Bus of Lum", a natural cavity 158 meters deep, surrounded by macabre and satanic legends. Its name "hole of light" comes from natural gas releases due to the decomposition of animals that fell to the bottom and it was interpreted in the Middle-Ages as a place of sorcery rituals. These legends have become sadly true at the time of the World War II, when two opposing parties have used this place to throw their enemies often still alive.
The artist connects this fascinating place to a second one, also related to Hell: Darvaza or "The Gate of Hell" in Turkmenistan. It is in this case a crater fifty meters large, that's been burning continuously since 1971. In a Soviet mining exploration in 1970, a team of geologists, drilling the ground in search of a deposit, accidentally pierced an underground cavity that caused the collapse of the rig, leaving a gaping hole in the ground. To avoid any risk, the authorities decided to set fire to the gas emanating from the well. Geologists had hoped the fire would go out in a few weeks but it has been burning ever since.
These two places with similar forms but with very different histories, are explored by the artist, one can represent the entrance and the other one the exit of a kind of evil and flamboyant hose. Both entities have been filmed, one from the bottom up, the other vertically, and the result is an overlap of the two videos.
The resulting video is projected onto a forest of structures, half sculptures half screen, reflecting back into space forms alternating between light and shadow, accompanied by a chorus of voices suggesting the nature of Nico Vascellari in collaboration with Ghedalia TAZARTES, a musician of Turkish origin (born in Paris in 1947).
The exhibition is crossed by an unstable light device creating a chiaroscuro environment and almost mystical sensations specific to the areas where the artist was inspired. Collages made from magazine pages that passed through acid and removed with scotch tape; punctuate the space as well as other abstract landscapes from the occult world.
Nico VASCELLARI was born in 1976 in Vittorio Veneto, Italy, where he lives and works. He has numerous personal exhibitions, at Macro (Rome), at the Marina Abramovic Institute (San FIrancisco) and at the Museion (Bolzano). His work has also been shown among others in the following group exhibitions: at the Pinchuck Art Centre (Kiev), at the Magasin (Grenoble), at the Tate Modern (London), at the Kunsthaus Graz, and also at the 52nd Venice Biennale.