Riccardo Previdi
01 May - 05 Jun 2010
installation view, Riccardo Previdi, Testsieger, Sommer & Kohl, Berlin, 2010
installation view, Riccardo Previdi, Testsieger, Sommer & Kohl, Berlin, 2010
Riccardo Previdi
Test (blaurosa), 2010
UV print on canvas
150 x 100 cm
unique
Test (blaurosa), 2010
UV print on canvas
150 x 100 cm
unique
Riccardo Previdi
Test (Transparent Ska), 2010
UV print on plastic
150 x 100 cm
unique
Test (Transparent Ska), 2010
UV print on plastic
150 x 100 cm
unique
Riccardo Previdi
T (Hello Kitty), 2010
wood, paper, self adhesive foil
91 x 63 cm
unique
T (Hello Kitty), 2010
wood, paper, self adhesive foil
91 x 63 cm
unique
"Testsieger"
opening 30 April 2010, 4–9 pm
Gallery Weekend opening hours Saturday and Sunday, 1 and 2 May 2010, 10 am – 7 pm
exhibition 1 May – 5 June 2010
Wednesday – Saturday, 11 am – 6 pm and by appointment
Sommer & Kohl are pleased to present the second solo exhibition with new works by Riccardo Previdi (*1974, Milan, I ).
“Testsieger” (test winner) is a typical German word that provokes Riccardo Previdi into an ironic commentary on our society, which is obsessed with defining the best products in different areas. A test winner is at the same time also a loser, since technical progress is so fast that the actuality of a test soon becomes short-lived, the quality of the product outdated with extraordinary rapidity. A test includes a great promise of modernity and progress and can therefore also lead to powerlessness, as we all constantly desire that which will have been outdated tomorrow.
When typing in the keyword “test” on internet search engines, Previdi finds test images for printer calibration, for demonstrating colour-luminosity of digital cameras, photos of weapon trials, diagrams of medical tests or lists of product tests. The artist prints out these images, crumples them up, photographs them and then prints them again. In an earlier set of these Tests Previdi printed the results onto wooden panels, in order to visualise the contrast between crumpled paper and inflexible wood. In the new series a change of format is added to the play with materials and their haptics. The crumpled A4 pages are printed in a much larger size using a UV printing process onto canvas and then stretched like paintings.
Another group of works is titled T. Here mass-produced pictures for interior decoration from furniture stores are the starting point. Cartoon characters from “The Simpsons” or “Hello Kitty” are dissected, deconstructed, partly covered up and erased. The title T refers to the emergence of the final shape of the works: an existing format is partitioned by two cuts and rearranged in such a way that the edges meet to form a “T”.
Riccardo Previdi’s works are on view until 31 August 2010 in the exhibition 21x21. 21 artisti per il 21° secolo, curated by Francesco Bonami at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin (I); until 31 October 2010 in the exhibition The Berlin Box, curated by Friederie Nymphius at the CCA Andratx Art Foundation in Mallorca (E); and until 26 February 2011 in the exhibition Quali cose siamo, curated by Alessandro Mendini at Triennale, Milan (I). In 2009, Previdi had a solo exhibition at de Vleeshal in Middleburg (NL), in 2008 he participated at Manifesta in Rovereto (I) and in the exhibition Wenn ein Reisender in einer Winternacht – Variationen über Max Bill at Marta, Herford (D).
opening 30 April 2010, 4–9 pm
Gallery Weekend opening hours Saturday and Sunday, 1 and 2 May 2010, 10 am – 7 pm
exhibition 1 May – 5 June 2010
Wednesday – Saturday, 11 am – 6 pm and by appointment
Sommer & Kohl are pleased to present the second solo exhibition with new works by Riccardo Previdi (*1974, Milan, I ).
“Testsieger” (test winner) is a typical German word that provokes Riccardo Previdi into an ironic commentary on our society, which is obsessed with defining the best products in different areas. A test winner is at the same time also a loser, since technical progress is so fast that the actuality of a test soon becomes short-lived, the quality of the product outdated with extraordinary rapidity. A test includes a great promise of modernity and progress and can therefore also lead to powerlessness, as we all constantly desire that which will have been outdated tomorrow.
When typing in the keyword “test” on internet search engines, Previdi finds test images for printer calibration, for demonstrating colour-luminosity of digital cameras, photos of weapon trials, diagrams of medical tests or lists of product tests. The artist prints out these images, crumples them up, photographs them and then prints them again. In an earlier set of these Tests Previdi printed the results onto wooden panels, in order to visualise the contrast between crumpled paper and inflexible wood. In the new series a change of format is added to the play with materials and their haptics. The crumpled A4 pages are printed in a much larger size using a UV printing process onto canvas and then stretched like paintings.
Another group of works is titled T. Here mass-produced pictures for interior decoration from furniture stores are the starting point. Cartoon characters from “The Simpsons” or “Hello Kitty” are dissected, deconstructed, partly covered up and erased. The title T refers to the emergence of the final shape of the works: an existing format is partitioned by two cuts and rearranged in such a way that the edges meet to form a “T”.
Riccardo Previdi’s works are on view until 31 August 2010 in the exhibition 21x21. 21 artisti per il 21° secolo, curated by Francesco Bonami at Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin (I); until 31 October 2010 in the exhibition The Berlin Box, curated by Friederie Nymphius at the CCA Andratx Art Foundation in Mallorca (E); and until 26 February 2011 in the exhibition Quali cose siamo, curated by Alessandro Mendini at Triennale, Milan (I). In 2009, Previdi had a solo exhibition at de Vleeshal in Middleburg (NL), in 2008 he participated at Manifesta in Rovereto (I) and in the exhibition Wenn ein Reisender in einer Winternacht – Variationen über Max Bill at Marta, Herford (D).