Articles by: Mila Tenaglia

  • Art & Culture

    "Unlimited Perception". The Kinetic Art of Maestro Alberto Biasi

    An interactive show, based on the active relationship between the work of art and the audience, who sees the images change by moving in the space. Alberto Biasi, a refined artist rigorously trained in the application of optical illusions to art, has been the tireless force of experimental groups and innovative expositions.Soul and drive of the so-called “Gruppo N”, born in 1959 during a period of great cultural fertility.

    We met with Maestro Biasi in the heart of Chelsea at the De Buck Gallery, the day after the successful opening. The artist came to New York after having held other shows in Europe and South America. He was tired but very happy with the reaction of the American audience.

    Biasi’s aren’t traditional works of art. They’re objects, creations that educate on vision, create it, and make you see something you can’t see. 

    You get this impression of movement and you want to ask: if the piece is perfectly still, how come I see it move? Is movement an illusion of the human mind? The Maestro began asking these questions since he was young, when “in the 60’s, vision and the education of vision was very different from today. Today we are hit by a mass of televised images, while in my day we were used to seeing in figure-ground perspective.” Biasi explains.

    To understand the evolution of his artistic and cultural journey we have to venture into his life. Born in 1937, a tumultuous childhood due to the wartime atmosphere in Italy, and an inborn interest in the field of architecture and of those “shapes I called stratifications”. Between friends and colleagues, he wasn’t lacking in mentors, such as Gaetano Pesce, Agostino Bonalumi, and Piero Manzoni.

    From a very young age, Alberto Biasi contested perspective, classical, academic vision, Ancient and Renaissance-era conceptions of the ‘40’s that “didn’t apply to those times”. 

    The world that the artist represented and continues to represent is composed of different overlapping layers, unusual materials, and his earliest experiments even integrated perforated paper “which was used in silkworm breeding”.

    The De Buck Gallery is a large and spacious space, immense grey walls against which the works of Biasi are like drops of optical-mental visions that aren’t really there, they don’t really exist. 

    The appeal of this art, which looks easy but is anything but that, comes from the perception that forms between a structure created under and another created over it. “There’s an interference creating an optical illusion of round shapes that expand as we move” recounts the Maestro.

    “Touching them with your eyes you feel as if you are participating in the creation of the work” he concludes. Our discussion over, Alberto Biasi takes us on an “illusionary tour” of his great pieces hung on the walls of the De Buck Gallery… it feels like being a child again, looking at a gigantic stereograms”. Biasi knew to look forward with innovation and experimentation at a time in which Italy was rising economically.
  • Art & Culture

    Medardo Rosso, Sculptor of Light

     Medardo Rosso is the star of the second annual show at CIMA, the Center for Italian Modern Art. On display in this comprehensive and carefully curated retrospective are not only his bronze, marble and wax sculptures but also original photographs, prints and drawings.

    “The hope of the show is to encourage studies of the artist by raising questions and ideas that
    will spark discussion and flesh out his themes with a new, fresh eye,” says Laura Mattioli, welcoming us into the kitchen of CIMA’s luminous Soho loft for an espresso.

    She and Danila stroll among sculptures that seem to be watching us and photographs of Medardo Rosso redolent of a bygone era. Danila Marsule Rosso, Medardo Rosso’s great-granddaughter, explains his “uncomfortable” role in the family and his unique personality, re-telling stories she heard from her grandparents. 
     

    Ms. Rosso, would you tell us how are your great-granfather and his work remembered in your family?
    Medardo Rosso began his artistic career in Milan and undertook the bohemian life at the end of the 1800s.

    He was always a rebel, but he was talented too. He was very good at drawing and won awards at school for penmanship, given his great technical skill. Then he left the family to go to Paris, having understood that if he stayed in Milan he would never evolve and achieve the success he desired.

    He had a lot of problems when he arrived in France. He had no money and even wound up in the hospital because he was dying of hunger and cold. He lived in a basement apartment… until he managed to get his own studio after his work began to garner recognition and admiration. As my grandmother tells it, Medardo was a very difficult, peculiar personality: he kept odd hours and came back home at all hours.

    He’d give my grandmother dolls then take them away. Francesco, the youngest son, was put to work immediately to make up for his father’s absence… in short, he’s someone the family holds at arm’s length.
     

    You are the proprietor of the Medardo Rosso Museum in Barzio and the family archive. When did you begin this business?
    In the 1990s, when my grandmother died. I began taking a personal interest in the Medardo Rosso archive, studying the documents, reestablishing contacts, and creating order out of the chaos that had been created. The result was to give logical and philological sense to Medardo’s body of work—the letters, writings and photographs.

    The Museo Rosso then helped sponsor the 2009 publication of Medardo Rosso. Catalogo Ragionato della scultura, published by Skira Editore. Rosso achieved great success and his innovative style won him many imitators. And that meant people were interested in him. We organized exhibits in Europe: of his photography in Berlin in 2006, in Venice in 2007, and at the Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam in February 2014. (Smiling) Now we have finally reached his beloved New York, and CIMA seemed to me to be the best space in which to introduce Americans to Medardo Rosso.
     

    Ms. Mattioli, what is the connection between the artist and New York?
    Besides being known in Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, Medardo Rosso was also known in New York. He had a show at MOMA, and for him it was like his consecration. Margaret Scolari Barri, the art historian and founding director of MOMA, wrote exceptional essays on Medardo Rosso. But the attention he aroused in the U.S. dwindled over time.

    There were few public exhibits after that period, and critical studies have changed a lot since then. They have focused on other subjects, like photography. Medardo Rosso was aware that he was doing work that no one in his lifetime could understand. He was doing experimental work, re-photographing the same prints again and again, changing the exposure, increasing the contrasts to make them more evanescent. We have curated an exhibit that fully reflects his artistic and thematic transformations via the lens of photography, sculpture and drawing. For those who have yet to see the retrospective, the show will be up until June 27. 
  • Life & People

    Business and Culture Award for the 'Fighter' Federica Marchionni

    An original lunch atop of one of the world’s largest cruise ships: MSC Divina. The great ship, created in collaboration with De Jorio Design International studio, and inspired by the muse Sophia Loren, hosted hundreds of people for the IACC ANNUAL Spring Luncheon.

    Federico Tozzi, Deputy Secretary General of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, payed homage to the MSC Crociera team by inviting the Captain and new CEO of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce, Alberto Milani.

    Alberto Milani, CEO of Buccellati and qualified figure with a solid background in lifestyle and luxury sectors, became the new CEO of the Chamber of Commerce less than a month ago, on March 30th.

    Milani voiced how honored he is by this new position “I am enthusiastic to lead the IACC and to further utilize my strong managerial and team building skills to provide guidance and training for future generations of managers and entrepreneurs”, he said in a statement.

    The stage is then passed on to the special guest, Federica Marchionni, clothed in an elegant cream tailleur, blond hair on her shoulders, her face light up with excitement.

    Marchionni has had over 20 years of experience in Italian companies, working for Ferrari, Dolce & Gabbana, but also for Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, without ever forgetting her origins.

    And in fact she opens her speech by going back many years “I was only 16 years-old when I knew I wanted to become a CEO. I don’t know why or who had influenced me, but it has been a blessing for me to have that type of consciousness”.

    “At that time I was very interested in the communications sector and for a woman it wasn’t easy to find work in that branch. In 1994 nobody had smartphones, the technological field was growing exponentially and I was very motivated”.

    The key word that keeps coming up is undoubtedly “diversity”.

    “In the world of luxury”, continues Marchionni, “you are aware of diversity, more so than in any other sector”. Her experience brought the honoring to meet people from all over the world and to encounter highly varied realities and cultures. “Dolce and Gabbana contributed to the realization of my dream: that is to work and live here in America” Federica Marchionni recounts.

    “In the beginning, when I got to New York, I also dealt with other types of cultural issues, including working a sponsor for Italian subtitles at the Metropolitan Opera, together with the former Vice Consul Lucia Pasqualini, whom I’m sure you all remember very well.”

    The CEO of Land’s End concludes her heartfelt speech on this note, inviting all women to keep on fighting for what they believe and aiming high “Look up and take the highway, as they say here in America”.

    “I have been brave and I still am. Some call me a fighter, and as a leader I want to do all that which is possible, peacefully, and for the benefit of all”.

    The guests at the table, mainly members of the Chamber of Commerce, had the chance to savor an excellent and rich Italian menu.

    Starring the “tartufo” (truffle), used to dress some of the dishes and even to aromatize complementary chocolates, laid out on the table thanks to the important family company Urbani Truffles.

    Federico Tozzi extended his warm thanks to the sponsors of this event among whom we find: Unicredit, Urbani Truffles, Castelli del Grevepesa, and Emirates.
  • Coreterno original t-shirt design
    Life & People

    Fashion That Unnerves

    Francilla and Michelangelo thought up Coreterno while touring the streets of Lower East Side Manhattan a few years ago. “It was a dream, an omen, now it’s a reality,” they say. And yet Coreterno is Roman to the core—refined and precious as Italy’s capital city. It is, in fact, headquartered in Rome, on a marvelous old backstreet forgotten by time, an enclave of creative and magical secrets.

    The name, Coreterno, also calls to mind the city of unequalled beauty, and is the result of merging together two words. “Core” means heart in Roman dialect and fulcrum or nucleus in English. “Eterno” is homage to the proprietors’ Roman character. “For us it stands for creativity and full-blooded passion—the driving forces, the linchpin behind the Italian spirit, which is limitless; in fact, we want to export it out of our country.”

    Starting in Rome

    Their studio is located in an eighteenth-century castle hidden among the modern buildings of Rome that have sprung up around it. Here, the young pair concocts its line of accessories. From the start their passion was suckled by the city’s legendary history, political squabbles and the beauty of its ancient palazzos. Living in Rome “constantly reminds us that we are the product of the work and dreams of all those who came before us. 

    We want to bring a piece of that spirit to the frenetic and, at times, too speedy New York.” The young couple love to refer to themselves as “animals on stage.” They have always worked in fashion and art. They believe in change, in rebirth, which is exactly why Coreterno is the creative product of their encounter. Their work should be looked at closely, grasped, held in one’s hands. 

    They combine an eighteenth-century Victorian heart with elements of teenage slang, Rock symbols and Punk icons. Francilla and Michelangelo have long aspired to create fashion that unnerves, “to carve an aesthetic cliff against the sea of uniformity, to make accessories, rock star houses, philosophers’ closets, serial killers’ sock drawers, to make the world [their] stage.” And that’s just what they’ve done.

    Bringing Dis.Order

    The first step was to offer the public a line of “Dis.Order” t-shirts, which became an instant social phenomenon, sported by V.I.P.s from the music and film industry, including J-Ax, Fedez, Emma Marrone, Arisa, Alessandro Cattelan and many others. “One day we got a phone call. It was Asia Argento, the Italian actress and director. She wanted us to make her outfit for the red carpet at Cannes,” the pair tells us, beaming. 

    Next came their line of home décor products—their “Healing Candles” being the highlight—and accessories (their handbags come out next season). The candles are carefully crafted by hand using organic wax. They have a timeworn, vintage charm, with black-and-white labels bearing phrases about moods and frames of mind, because the couple “believes in the immense beauty and salvific power of the word. 

    There’s a subtle magic in the latter, since they have the power to change people’s moods.” The candles are sold by tons of retailers in Rome, although the couple has a website (www.coreterno.com) where you can purchase items from all of their product lines: t-shirts, candles, pillows.

    Getting to New York

    You’re probably wondering where you can find them in New York. For now they have made appearances at flea markets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where the public ate them up; they might just suit American tastes even more. “For us, the results were very positive. We were pleased with the reviews of our products in the New York Post. And on February 1-4, we were at the Javits Center for NYNOW, where we presented our complete collection of Healing Candles to the American market.” 

    Well, we at i-Italy wish this gutsy couple the best of luck and hope they’ll continue to thrive on their magical and dreamlike trip abroad.
  • Events: Reports

    Italians Migrations in the Art of Joseph and William Papaleo

    In The Name of the Father and The Son: Italians Migrations in the art of Joseph and William Papaleo. “If you’re catholic, the term ‘holy spirit’ could help you in considering the father-son relationship. In a way, the title of this exhibit is guided by the art of the Joseph and William, focused between success and inferiority” Fred Gardaphe says, introducing us to the main points he will discuss during the presentation at the Westchester Italian Cultural Center.

    A dialog between the perspectives of two generations, who express themselves on the same themes of emigration and immigration. Joseph Papaleo’s perspective includes the profound sense of inferiority about his Italian identity that he retained throughout his career. Fred Gardaphe will begin by reading a work of his to delve into the conflict between success and inferiority that exists in the work of both father and son.

    The father, Joseph Papaleo (1925 - 2004) is considered the grandfather of Italian American writing. He is a best-selling author who won the Guggenheim and American Book Award, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize Award for his short stories collection, Italian Stories.  
    Joseph’s writing, his words, his books voiced italian emigration to America, concentrating on the concept of American identity. This has been the focal point of the writer’s growth and of the cultural influence he had on his son.

    William Papaleo paints blurred landscapes, poor emigrants in Italy, members of the working class, in order to talk about immigration in Italy. He lived and worked in Italy for over 20 years. His artwork was influenced by the art philosophy of Robert Henri as an expression of contemporary social realities, rooted in the humanistic, figurative tradition. Many years ago he relocated to Italy and chose to live and paint in the south, specifically in Naples and the Amalfi Coast. He wanted to paint life and not just study the past grandeurs of the artistic tradition. Naples and southern Italy offered him the possibility to do both.

    His work includes mediums of pastels and oils. On display are a series of oils, pastels, watercolors, and ceramics that were inspired by the many years he spent living in the Campania region. His paintings have been on exhibit in museums and galleries in Europe and the United States. He has received various international awards in Italy and America. Presently he is being represented by Ethan Coen at ECFA in New York, and The Wohlfarth Galleries in Washington D.C., and in Cape Cod, MA.

    In the past few years, he collaborated with The Royal College of Art in London and The University HDM of Stuttgart, Germany, during a series of international painting workshops for European college students. He taught painting at the University of California – Naples, Italy – and at the Castle Hill Center for the Arts in Truro, Massachusetts. He studied with Robert Beverly Hale at the Art Students League in New York City and Henry Hensche at the Cape School of Art in Massachusetts. In Italy he studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti – Naples – and worked on church fresco technique with Antonio Montagna in Piemonte.

    If you love Amalfi and Salerno, you will be able to visit William’s newly opened painting exhibit at the Westchester Italian Cultural Center.
  • Art & Culture

    All the World’s Futures: The 56th Exhibition of the Venice Biennale

    The countdown to the 56th edition of the Venice Biennale, which will mark 120 years since its creation, begins. Since its origin, the most well-known italian exposition in the world has contributed to the strengthening of our place in the evolution of the concept of contemporary art, through dance, theatre, film, music, and visual arts.

    During the press conference held on Thursday March 12 at the Italian Cultural Institute, Paolo Baratta and curator Okwui Enwezor introduced All the World’s Futures, bringing up the question “of the relationship between art and the development of human, social, and political realities in the world”. The goal is to analyze the global world “Even the areas we consider marginal” Baratta explains “stimulating the artists’ sensibilities and their vital and expressive energies”.
     

    Obviously present in the front row of the conference room, Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of the New Museum of New York and director of the visual arts sector of the last edition of the Venice Biennale.

    “Bice Curiger, swiss editorial curator, art critic and artistic director, Massimiliano Gioni, and Okwui Enwezor: almost a trilogy, three chapters of a research on the Venice Biennale, useful reference points for the formulation of aesthetic judgements on contemporary art, a critical issue since the end of the avantgarde and of anti-art” continues Paolo Baratta.

    The President of the Venice Biennale, passes the microphone to the curator Okwui Enwezor, who introduces the artistic project to the public starting from the Arena. “An active space in the Central Pavilion of the Giardini, dedicated to a continuous interdisciplinary program”. The main attraction of this program will be the live reading of the three volumes of Das Kapital by Karl Marx.

    It’s in fact by no coincidence that this place was called Arena: envisioned by the architect David Adjaye, this space will be dedicated to public discussions, film projections, and “spoken words”.

    A lot of attention was also given to “a review of historical perspectives made by artists both living and not.” Enwezor explains. “These reviews, organized in the form of small anthologies, span from a series of neon texts - made by Bruce Nauman between 1972 and the start of the ‘80s - to an atlas of filmography by Harun Farocki, including a total of 87 films. The Art Biennale will also showcase the works of some magistral figures, amongst them photographer Walker Evans, filmmaker Sergej Ejzenstejn, multimedia artist Chris Marker, installation artist Is Genzken, sculptor-composer Terry Adkins, author-director Alexander Kluge, installation artist Hans Haacke, conceptual artist Teresa Burga, performance artist Fabio Mauri, and many others”.

    His introductory speech for the cultural program was supported by a presentation featuring images of many of the above mentioned artists, thus attracting the public’s attention.

    Amongst the major sponsors: main sponsor ENEL, Japan Tobacco International, Vela-Venezia Unica, illycaffè, and VEDE-Venice Excellence Design. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Adecco, and Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane were also thanked.

    As a partner of the 56th edition of the Biennale, Swatch called “artists from the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai to Venice live art at the Arsenale”. These selected artists will be hosted and will be seen working “live” as guests of Swatch at Tesa 100, a historic address in the Arsenale Nord.

    And in fact, after having first stopped in London and New York, Shanghai is where Paolo Baratta and Okwui Enwezor to present the Venice Biennale.
  • Art & Culture

    Auctioning Off Street Art

    Auctioning off street art. A concept that felt so distant to the artist who choose the streets as a place with which to socially identify. A move from the streets to the galleries that increasingly brings together art curators, foundations, and obviously the art market.

    From February 12th to the 15th, FAAM, an auction house specializing in street art, modern art, impressionism, and contemporary art, organized the third edition of the street art auction that put on sale the works of artists of different generations and different styles and techniques. Amongst the most famous figures, Ron English, Keith Haring, Crash, Faile and much more.
     

    “Creativity comes from diversity! FAAM is the product of the conjunction of different entities: its birth is European: from Paris, the birthplace of founder Frederic Thut, to New York. Frederic is the director of Fine Arts Auctions Miami and has been an auctioneer for over 30 years, and an expert of french impressionist art. He moved to New York ten years ago but maintained a base in Paris with some partners”.
     

    “The auction house is based in Miami but we have offices in New York and Paris, and this year more than ever, we felt compelled to include European artists”.

    New York is the city where graffiti were born and where the evolution of street art is being held today as a way of redefining territory. Miami is a culturally rich and diverse city, where we can breathe a latin air, which mixes into the other cultures present: creativity is the result of this alchemy”. Sofia Caputo tells us, the European Evaluators LLC for FAAM.
     

    The auction took place in Winwood, the neighborhood known as the heart of Miami street art, inside the immense and luminous industrial space Spaceby3. The 65 lots decorated the huge and heavy walls of the location where workers, collectors and street art lovers had the chance to observe the street artists at work live.
     

    The three days preceding the auction were filled with panels and artistic performances, which called to the stage the international “guests” called in from Europe to paint. They were given very big canvases, reminiscent of street walls, to show the public their artistic talent live.

    “The idea to create a form of interaction between the community of Miami and the European community proved successful. In fact, not only the big celebrities but also the local Miami artists were called to paint” Sofia goes on.
     

    Amongst the European guests could be counted: the british couple, London Police with their adorable little black and white figures contrasting with the crude reality of an urban background made of precise and defined lines; the French duo C&R (Christian Volckman and Raphael Thierry), amazing as they move empathically while painting, confronting each other, and creating a multiplicity of figures from seemingly abstract designs, that look as if they are sticking out from the canvas;

    Also there was the Italian Iena Cruz, based in New York, with an epic and surrealist design made of lively and bright colors, featuring a woman-tigress disturbed by the melting of glaciers.
     

    The brand Limoncello Arvero created by Diego Rodinò di Miglione, couldn’t be missing from the list of sponsors. It was created “partly for for entertainment, partly as a game, and the result is delicious. We Italians are used to drinking limoncello as an “ammazza caffe” (coffee killer) after dinner, but in America habits are different so we invented cocktails that fit different contexts” concludes Sofia Caputo.

    Beautiful vintage porsches were made available to be painted and Chris Brown (aka Konfuzed) collaborated with KAI to create seven pieces including the hoods of two of the Porsches.

    But a priority for FAAM was also to raise funds for two charities of Miami: the Arts & Business Council, of which street art specialist Sebastien Laboureau is a part, and Guntram Von Habsburg Foundation, for which 290,000$ were raised.

    Charity founder Guntram Von Habsburg briefly tells us the story of his foundation: “This art charity tries to help through art people with disabilities who find themselves in situations like mine. We’ll start with Uruguay because that’s where I’m from even though my family is European. Above all, with these funds, I want to help people with disabilities and I want to make them understand that life can go on and that they can have a family”.
     

    Guntram is in fact always accompanied by his beautiful wife and two children, who support his work. “Someone to take example from is the Italian Andrea Stella, who autonomously drives a seawind catamaran, from which he conducts sensibilizing campaigns on behalf of the Onlus he founded called ‘Lo Spirito della Stella’”.
     

    “For me Art is emotion and I find street art in particular to be a driving force in this art charity. Many partners supported me and FAAM. Amongst them Clement, the Rum brand that got street artists to design the decorations for a bottle, and the swiss watch brand Hublot, with which we have already worked in the past”.
     

    These sponsors have strong ties with art and street art and the stand of Hublot is a great example of this: Steven Slaughter tells us about the two paintings they have hanging, depicting the icon of the Ferrari horse, with the quadrant behind it. He then shows us a massive watch also made by Maranello’s company, with a small ferrari icon on the side.
     

    “Building on the success of the Urban Art Week Exhibit, we are pleased with the results of the auction sales which included important works by not only established artists but emerging local and international artists,” says FAAM Founder and Director Fredric Thut. “The auction continues to demonstrate the strength of street art in the market and the growing interest from private collectors.”
  • Facts & Stories

    Florence and New York. United in Diversity

    From March third to the sixth, Dario Nardella, the mayor of Florence, visited Manhattan along with the assessor for international relations, Luciano Pavarotti’s widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, who accompanied him in various institutional meetings.

    Throughout a time span of barely seventy-two hours, the mayor of the Renaissance’s cradle manifested an optimistic viewpoint. His key word was “Invest in Florence”.

    Projects in real estate, tourism and the new urban regulation plan that will “allow for investments up to one and a half billion euros, mainly for the resurrection of abandoned buildings” said Dario Nardella.
    “American investors have great interest in tourism, social housing, and in part of the commercial sector. And luckily, we begin to see a small but interesting rise in consumption in Italy. And particularly in Florence”.

    Rendez-vous with both institutional and artistic scopes, like the visit to contemporary sculptor Jeff Koons’ studio, the encounter with mayor Bill De Blasio, the one with Peter Madonia, the vice president of Rockefeller Foundation, and with the delegates of the Columbus Citizens Foundation.

    Naturally, between stops, a moment was cut out to visit the newborn Lorenzo Da Ponte Library, mounted in the Italian Cultural Institute, where the Consul General, and regent of the Institute, Natalia Quintavalle, welcomed him.
    Nardella declared himself very satisfied with his encounter with the mayor of New York. “We had a 360 degree conversation with Bill De Blasio, touching upon local and international issues. We both agreed on the need to strengthen the network of mayors around the world.” Dario Nardella specified.

    “The mayor of New York is very proud of his Italian and specifically southern origins. I have to say that, even though I am the mayor of Florence, I don’t repudiate my origins, having been born in the province of Naples. I directed him to Florence because next November we will have an important peace convention, “Unity in Diversity””.

    The cultural and artistic ties between the City of New York and that of Florence have historical importance and they must be reinforced in the present.

    Starting with last year’s Florentine Jackson Pollock exhibit and following with the one that will be held by Jeff Koons, considered by many to be Andy Warhol’s successor, in Florence this coming fall. During the course of his visit to the studio, Jeff Koons showed Nardella models of the works he will exhibit in Italy. “They are incredible and extraordinary”, the mayor of Florence exclaimed. Nardella applauded one of the most important artists in the international contemporary art scene who will exhibit his works in Palazzo Pitti and in Palazzo Vecchio in the occasion of the Biennial Antiques Fair scheduled to take place at Palazzo Corsini from September 26th to October 4th.
     
  • Arte e Cultura

    Firenze e New York. Unite nella diversità

    Dal tre al sei marzo il sindaco di Firenze Dario Nardella è stato in visita a Manhattan insieme all’assessore con delega per le relazioni internazionali Nicoletta Mantovani, vedova di Luciano Pavarotti, che lo ha accompagnato nei diversi appuntamenti istituzionali.

    Sono state solo settantadue ore nelle quali il sindaco della culla del Rinascimento ha mostrato una visione ottimistica. La sua parola chiave  è stata:“Investire a Firenze”.

    Real estate, progetti immobiliari e turistici e il nuovo piano regolatore urbanistico che "Consentirà investimenti fino ad 1 miliardo e mezzo di euro,  prevalentemente sulla rigenerazione di palazzi abbandonati" ha detto Dario Nardella.
     
    “Gli investitori americani hanno un forte interesse nei confronti del settore turistico, del social housing e in parte in quello commerciale. E per fortuna si intravede una piccola, ma interessante ripresa dei consumi in Italia. E a Firenze in particolare”.

    Randez-vous non solo in ambito istituzionale ma anche artistico, come la visita allo studio dello scultore contemporaneo Jeff Koons, l’incontro con il sindaco Bill De Blasio,  con Peter Madonia, vice presidente della Rockefeller Foundation e con i delegati della Columbus Citizens Foundation.

    Naturalmente tra una tappa e l’altro è stato ri-tagliato anche un momento per visitare la neo-nata biblioteca Lorenzo Da Ponte,  allestita all’Istituto Italiano di Cultura dove lo ha accolto il Console Generale Natalia Quintavalle, anche reggente dell'Istituto.

    Nardella si è detto molto soddisfatto della visita con il sindaco di New York. “Con Bill De Blasio abbiamo avuto avuto una conversazione a 360 gradi su questioni locali e internazionali. Siamo concordi sull’esigenza di rafforzare insieme questo network di sindaci nel mondo.” ha precisato Dario Nardella.
     
    “Il sindaco di New York è orgoglioso delle sue origini italiane e in particolare meridionali. Devo dire, anche se sono sindaco a Firenze,  non rinnego le mie origini essendo nato in provincia di napoli. L’ho invitato a Firenze perchè il prossimo novembre avremo un importante convegno sulla pace ‘Unity in Diversity’ ”.
     
    E’ importante nella storia e va rafforzato nel presente il legame culturale e artistico che lega la città di New York con quella di Firenze. 
     
    Cominciando dall’esposizione fiorentina dello scorso anno di Jackson Pollock a quella che terrà Jeff Koons, considerato da molti l’erede di Andy Warhol, quest’autunno a Firenze. Nel corso della visita allo studio Jeff Koons ha mostrato a Nardella  i bozzetti dei lavori che esporrà in Italia. 

    “Sono incredibili e straordinari”, ha esclamanto il sindaco di Firenze. Nardella tesse le lodi di uno degli artisti più importanti sulla scena internazionale e contemporanea che esporrà le sue opere a Palazzo Pitti e a Palazzo Vecchio in occasione della biennale dell’Antiquariato in programma a Palazzo Corsini dal 26 settembre al 4 ottobre.
  • Art & Culture

    Sculpture in the Age of Donatello


    The beauty and historic magnificence  of the sculptures by D​onatello, Brunelleschi, Luca della Robbia and many  others in New York. A unique exhibition that honors the creations of the Florentine  Renaissance  art at  the  Museum of  Biblical Art that  celebrates its tenth anniversary.

    From Friday February​ 20 to June 14 it​ wi​ll be possible ​to visit the Sculpture in the Age of
    Donatello: Renaissance Masterpieces from Florence Cathedral.     An exhibition that explores fifty years of Renaissance history  and art through the works of the above mentioned artists.

    ​Twenty-three sculptures realized by the Florentine artists in the first half of the 15th century for  the facade and the interiors of the Florence  Cathedral. Also  on display the  models of  the  wooden dome ascribed to Brunelleschi and realized for the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower, a glorious and solemn beauty.

    ​T​he retrospective offers an intim​ate​ and spiritual ​journey that allows one's imagination to travel to Florence while still being in New York. The hall where the  masterpieces are being exhibited is bright and minimalist, it certainly reflects the city environment. But you can perceive the religious connection and feel the spiritual depth conveyed by the figurative language of these works. Walking around and observing the perfection of these statues in person, with their flawless details, is a unique and profound experience.

    ​Renaissance officially starts in Florence at the beginning of the 15th century and it marks a milestone in Italian history and culture. Sculpture, more specifically, becomes the means enabling the artist to experiment creativity, even though Donatello and Brunelleschi's innovative way of expressing art wasn't immediately appreciated . Art takes the shape of a more classic expression in sharp contrast with the Gothic style  that was popular at the time. That's where the word "Re-Naissance" comes from, a new birth inspired by the ancient Greek and Roman models, by the study of perspective and of the human body.

    “Sculpture in the Age of Donatello marks a tra​sformative moment in MOBIA’s development, and a remarkable opportunity for New York and national audiences” say​s Richard P. Townsend, Director of MOBIA, during the ​press ​conference held​for the opening of the exhibition.
     

    “We are honored to work with the Florence Cathedral Museum on this groundbreaking exhibition, and are grateful to President Franco Lucchesi and the Opera’s Board of Trustees for making this initiative possible”.
     

    The Director of MOBIA introduced the Co-curator of the exhibition Monsignor Timothy Verdon, director of  the Diocesan Office of Sacred Art, Church Cultural Heritage and the Cathedral Foundation Museum (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo).

    According to Monsignor  “The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo represents the full institutional History of Florence, of the State and Church. The works come from the Florence Cathedral, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, which is the main religious building in the city and the largest church in Europe by the time it was completed in the XV century”.
     

    ​On the occasion of this great exhibition of the treasures of the early Renaissance, public lectures. concerts, seminars, in-gallery programs and guided tours ​will be offered.

    February 20–June 14, 2015
    Museum of Biblical Art
    1865 Broadway at 61st Street
    New York, NY 10023
    Phone: (212) 408-1500

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