Pennacchio Argentato
29 Oct - 18 Dec 2010
PENNACCHIO ARGENTATO
Five o’clock shadows
29 October - 18 Decemebr, 2010
With Five o’clock shadows a solo show by Pennacchio Argentato, T293 opens its new exhibition space in Rome, in via dei Leutari 32, just a few steps away from Piazza Navona. In this way, the gallery located in Naples aims to widen its contacts and to work in two places that are characterized by different peculiarities, though not being very distant. The space is a former repair shop, which will be readapted from time to time according to the formal and conceptual needs of Italian and international artists.
For the exhibition that will be on until December 18, Pennacchio Argentato presents a series of sculptures that furthers the project started at Midway Contemporary Art in Minneapolis with the exhibition ‘The New Boring’.
The starting point is the analysis of elements that bring together Minimalism and Pop Art, such as serial forms and techniques of production and consumption, as well as insistence upon the externality of experience and meaning in the contemporary expression.
Through the exhibited pieces, Pennacchio Argentato makes reference to the affinities between Donald Judd and Andy Warhol that seem to give an answer to a world where it is difficult to have any interest at all and to replace the dialogue between interest and indifference with the one between interest and boredom.
Warhol said ‘it would be so much easier not to care... it’s too hard to care’. On the one hand, boredom generates resistance towards contemporary society, on the other hand, it drives a continuous desire to produce and to consume ‘the brand new’, turning into an actual occupation.
Pennacchio Argentato shows a series of sculptures made of concrete slabs that bend sinuously until they assume positions on the verge of breaking. The dimensions, the human height of the sculptures and steel handles generate a sense of presence, that comes into direct contact with the viewer’s body that is prompted to activate it. However, the weight and the hardness of concrete make it impossible to interact with them in any way, leading to a standstill, to a non-action, which leads to an alienated and alienating condition. This situation hints at a condition of uneasiness that ascribe to boredom a comical and irreverent character.
Pasquale Pennacchio (b. 1979) and Marisa Argentato (b. 1977) are currently based in Naples, Italy. Recent solo exhibitions include: The New Boring Midway, Contemporary Art in Minneapolis; Landings 4, Landings Project Space, Vestfossen; Marisa Argentato & Pasquale Pennacchio @ Economy, Studio 10, London; Frieze; Do It Just, Gallerie Opdahl, Berlin; and Estate, T293, Naples. Over the past few years, they have participated in group exhibitions that include: SI Sindrome Italiana, MAGASIN – Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Grenoble; Au Pair, Borgo Medievaledi Castelbasso; Dude, where's my Career?, MMK Zollamt / Portikus, Frankfurt; ‘+10/2009 – shortlist zum Columbus - Förderprojekt, Columbus Art Foundation, Leipzig; Warm Summer Days, Indoors, Sandy Brown, Berlin; Rundgag, Städelschule Academy, Frankfurt am Main. They have an upcoming solo exhibition curated by LATITUDES at the LABORATORIO 987, a project space at MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León next winter.
Five o’clock shadows
29 October - 18 Decemebr, 2010
With Five o’clock shadows a solo show by Pennacchio Argentato, T293 opens its new exhibition space in Rome, in via dei Leutari 32, just a few steps away from Piazza Navona. In this way, the gallery located in Naples aims to widen its contacts and to work in two places that are characterized by different peculiarities, though not being very distant. The space is a former repair shop, which will be readapted from time to time according to the formal and conceptual needs of Italian and international artists.
For the exhibition that will be on until December 18, Pennacchio Argentato presents a series of sculptures that furthers the project started at Midway Contemporary Art in Minneapolis with the exhibition ‘The New Boring’.
The starting point is the analysis of elements that bring together Minimalism and Pop Art, such as serial forms and techniques of production and consumption, as well as insistence upon the externality of experience and meaning in the contemporary expression.
Through the exhibited pieces, Pennacchio Argentato makes reference to the affinities between Donald Judd and Andy Warhol that seem to give an answer to a world where it is difficult to have any interest at all and to replace the dialogue between interest and indifference with the one between interest and boredom.
Warhol said ‘it would be so much easier not to care... it’s too hard to care’. On the one hand, boredom generates resistance towards contemporary society, on the other hand, it drives a continuous desire to produce and to consume ‘the brand new’, turning into an actual occupation.
Pennacchio Argentato shows a series of sculptures made of concrete slabs that bend sinuously until they assume positions on the verge of breaking. The dimensions, the human height of the sculptures and steel handles generate a sense of presence, that comes into direct contact with the viewer’s body that is prompted to activate it. However, the weight and the hardness of concrete make it impossible to interact with them in any way, leading to a standstill, to a non-action, which leads to an alienated and alienating condition. This situation hints at a condition of uneasiness that ascribe to boredom a comical and irreverent character.
Pasquale Pennacchio (b. 1979) and Marisa Argentato (b. 1977) are currently based in Naples, Italy. Recent solo exhibitions include: The New Boring Midway, Contemporary Art in Minneapolis; Landings 4, Landings Project Space, Vestfossen; Marisa Argentato & Pasquale Pennacchio @ Economy, Studio 10, London; Frieze; Do It Just, Gallerie Opdahl, Berlin; and Estate, T293, Naples. Over the past few years, they have participated in group exhibitions that include: SI Sindrome Italiana, MAGASIN – Centre National d’Art Contemporain in Grenoble; Au Pair, Borgo Medievaledi Castelbasso; Dude, where's my Career?, MMK Zollamt / Portikus, Frankfurt; ‘+10/2009 – shortlist zum Columbus - Förderprojekt, Columbus Art Foundation, Leipzig; Warm Summer Days, Indoors, Sandy Brown, Berlin; Rundgag, Städelschule Academy, Frankfurt am Main. They have an upcoming solo exhibition curated by LATITUDES at the LABORATORIO 987, a project space at MUSAC, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León next winter.