Vezzoli Primavera-Estate

La mostra del celebre artista Francesco Vezzoli
entra in tre storici musei fiorentini, luoghi “segreti” della cultura di Firenze il Museo Stefano Bardini, Casa Martelli e il Museo Bellini.

Comunicato stampa

Vezzoli Primavera-Estate

The art of Francesco Vezzoli will be shown in three historic Florentine museum-homes.

A project curated by Francesco Bonami

On the occasion of Firenze Hometown of Fashion, during Pitti Uomo, works by Francesco Vezzoli will be shown for the first time in Florence in a special Fondazione Pitti Discovery project curated by Francesco Bonami.

Exhibition opening: Tuesday, 17 June, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM

Conceived as a tribute to Florence and its museums, Vezzoli Primavera-Estate will be a solo exhibition held in three “secret” places of Florentine culture: the Museo Bardini, Museo di Casa Martelli and the Museo Bellini. These three small jewels, museum-homes, that had belonged to noble families, great collectors and antiques dealers, are rarely included in visitor itineraries.

The choice of these three museums was prompted by the artist’s desire to convey a sense of proximity and intimacy with the work of art to the viewer that is very different from the feelings that would be triggered in a monumental museum. Like other famous museum-homes, such as the Mario Praz home in Rome or the Soane Museum in London, the three in Florence – in addition to presenting a personal and “domestic” view of art that reflects the tastes of the people who lived in those rooms – lead to considerations on topics such as memory, the relationship with history, the antimony between public and private, all of which are crucial to the artist’s work.

The exhibition itinerary winds its way through the three places creating a dialogue and comparison with what is already in the museums, where the contemporary works will relate with the space and the pieces in them, as a camouflage, to create multiple and different narrative and interpretative levels.

A series of Francesco Vezzoli’s works, including some new pieces created specifically for this project, will infiltrate each museum, as if they were “impertinent intruders”, stimulating the viewer to make comparisons with the existing collections. The result will be a creative construct and artistic camouflage: at first glance, his works will seem to have always been part of their surroundings.

To mention a few of the artist’s forays: in the Museo Bardini’s Sala delle Madonne [Room of the Madonnas] – he will place his two Madonnas – Crying Portrait of Stephanie Seymour as a Renaissance Madonna with Holy Child and Crying Portrait of Christie Brinkley as a Renaissance Madonna With Holy Child amidst a group of stucco and terracotta pieces made by some of the most important fifteenth century Florentine workshops, from Donatello to Verrocchio. In the Sala De Chirico [De Chirico Room] in the Museo Bellini, the artist will hang two paintings inspired by the Italian master of metaphysical art, portraying Sophia Loren alongside of the genuine Cavallo con cavaliere arabo, and in the Sala degli Arazzi [Room of the Tapestries] he will replace a late sixteenth-century piece from the Flemish school with his A Present for the Artist, dedicated to the artist Marina Abramovic. And then, in the chapel of Museo di Casa Martelli that features Madonnas attributed to the school of Filippo Lippi, Vezzoli will exhibit his self-portrait entitled Self-Portrait As A Self Portrait (After Raffaello Sanzio).

Ever capable of dialoguing with the international art system while maintaining his Italian identity as a strong component of his work, with this project Francesco Vezzoli is paying tribute to our long tradition of collecting what is beautiful, and to our natural talent for enjoying beauty and elegance as a lifestyle.

Francesco Vezzoli
Francesco Vezzoli was born in 1971, in Brescia, Italy. He studied at the Central St. Martin’s School of Art in London. He currently lives and works in Milan. He is one of the most successful Italian contemporary artists in the world today. His works have been selected to represent Italy three times at the International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale: at the 49th, 51st and 52nd editions held in 2001, 2005 and 2007, respectively. His works have also been featured in other international exhibitions such as the Whitney Biennial 2006, the 26th Biennale in Sao Paulo, and the 6th International Biennale in Istanbul. He has also held solo shows around the world in venues such as the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; MAXXI, Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI sec, Rome; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Kunsthalle, Wien; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; The Garage CCC, Moscow; The Power Plant, Toronto; Jeu de Paume, Paris; Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; Museo Serralves, Porto; Fondazione Prada, Milan; and Le Consortium, Dijon.

His work has been shown, among others, at: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, the Studio Museum in Harlem (New York), Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, the Migros Museum in Zurich.

Francesco Vezzoli’s solo show “CINEMA VEZZOLI” is currently on view at MOCA in Los Angeles. His next solo project will open at MOMA-PS1 next fall.

Francesco Bonami
International critic and curator, Francesco Bonami studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. After working as an artist he worked with Flash Art. He moved to the United States. In 1995 he was appointed director of the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin. From 1999 to 2009 he was Senior Curator of the MCA in Chicago. In 2003 he directed the 50th Venice Biennale. In 2010 he was the first Italian to curate the Whitney Biennial of American Art. In 2010 he was awarded the Légion d’Honneur of France. He served as artistic director of the Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery from 1997 to 2012. He is currently artistic director of ENEL Contemporanea. He is editor-in-chief of ANEW. He publishes with Mondadori: «Lo Potevo Fare Anch'io» (a program for Sky Arte with A. Cattelan), and «Dopo Tutto non e' brutto» (a program for RAI 1 with G. Cucciari, and «Mamma voglio fare l'Artista» (Electa). He also works with La Stampa, La Gazzetta dello Sport, Il Corriere Fiorentino, Donna Moderna, Icon , Flair, Uomo Vogue, Grazia Casa and Vanity Fair.

"Vezzoli Primavera Estate"

a Firenze Hometown of Fashion project
curated by
Francesco Bonami

sponsored by
Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana and Pitti Immagine
Ministero Sviluppo Economico
ITA - Italian Trade Agency

coordinated by
Fondazione Pitti Discovery

in cooperation with
City of Florence
Soprintendenza Speciale per il patrimonio storico, artistico ed etnoantropologico e per il polo museale della città di Firenze

Museum Addresses and Opening Hours:

Museo di Casa Martelli
Via Ferdinando Zannetti, 8
Thursday: 2:00 – 7:00 p.m. / Friday: 2.00 – 5:00 p.m. / Saturday: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. / Sunday: 9.00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (odd numbered days only)

Museo Bardini
Via dei Renai, 37
Monday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Museo Bellini
Lungarno Soderini, 5
Thursday, Friday, Saturday from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Special opening hours
From 17 to 20 June 2014: from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and from 2 to 4 July 2014: from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.