Monday 23 May at 11 am, in the Conference Room at the Museo della Carta e della Filigrana in Fabriano, Fondazione Ermanno Casoli presents the XII edition of the Ermanno Casoli Award, that this year goes to Francesco Barocco.
The initiative, this year under the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, pursues one of the foundation’s primary objectives: to foster the dialogue between art and the industrial world. Far from any form of competition, the Award intends to support an artist in the realization of an artwork capable of communicating with the industrial sector and the people working in it.
The project entitled I saettatori will unfold in an exhibition realized in Elica’s headquarters in Fabriano, and in a series of meetings/workshops for a group of the company’s employees. Relating with the company, that has always been the Foundation’s supporter, and with the people working there, the artist has carried out a mutual exchange of knowledge, ideas, and reflections on the technique of engraving, understood as a metaphor for work and research.
The exhibition will be open until 29 July 2011 and comprise two sets of works: the artist’s site specific sculptures,and ten engravings by some of art history’s masters: Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778), Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Edouard Manet (1832-1883), Louise Nevelson (1889-1988), Anders Leonard Zorn (1860-1920), Hans Bellmer (1902-1975), Carol Rama (1918).
"The title I saettatori (The archers) – explains the curator – was inspired by a drawing by Michelangelo in which nine archers, curiously with no arches in their hands, appear to be shooting driven by an irresistible force, as if they were transformed into arrows themselves. Like Michelangelo’s archers are transformed into instruments in the hands of a force beyond their will and conscience, this small army of artists is capable of shooting its work across space and time.”
The project is accompanied by an Italian/English catalogue by Mousse Publishing with texts by Marcello Smarrelli and Francesco Barocco.
The works in the exhibition will become part of Elica Contemporary, the art collection showcasing at Elica’s headquarters in Fabriano that can be visited by appointment.
