The Filigrana exhibition is housed in the eighteenth-century rooms of Palazzo Vizzani, and conceived as a journey through time and through experimentation of the technique in the form of original works by Stefano Arienti, Pierpaolo Campanini and Maurizio Mercuri, curated by Fulvio Chimento.
Filigree or watermarking is an ancient technique of stamping paper, visible only when transparent or seen against the light; it effectively evokes the fineness and skill of an artistic process, but also symbolically constitutes the soul of an artwork, which may show itself or remain hidden, awaiting a critical action that can reawaken it.
Prints of images (produced by the artist) on everyday materials such as chenille rugs or the paper of posters are part of Stefano Arienti’s recent work, as are machine-sewn photographic surfaces. Arienti employs a sophisticated metamorphic language that allows him to manipulate the objects he handles, transforming them into mediums and support for shapes and colours which at first glance are unrelated to reality.
Pierpaolo Campanini creates works that break down into heraldic painting, conceal themselves as the exhibition progresses and elude any classification of technique and genre. Maurizio Mercuri, who uses images and found technological and natural artefacts to guide his research in the direction of social survey, on this occasion employs sound, light and photography in a series of works which include minimalist interventions conceived as travelling objects.
This exhibition should not be missed, as an opportunity to discover each artist’s research and experimentation in the hybridisation of languages and the intertwining of all this with place and history, such as that of the palace which hosts and interacts with the exhibits.
Filigrana, curated by Fulvio Chimento, Palazzo Vizzani, Bologna, 24.01 – 07.03.2020
images: (Cover 1) invitation (2) Maurizio Mercuri, «Ho perso tempo», 2019, wood, patinated electrical discharge machining copper, cm 26 x 20 x 18; courtesy the Artist (3) Pierpaolo Campanini, «Senza titolo», 2001, oil on canvas, cm 190 x 140; ph. Roberto Marossi, courtesy Kaufmann Repetto (4) Stefano Arienti, «Rete arancio», 2019, digital print on microchenille, cm 135 x 182; courtesy the Artist
