Eyes-Mind-Brain
The collective exhibition Eyes-Mind-Brain is an investigation into the relationship between the viewer and the work of art with focus on the moment of visual perception and consequent effects in the mind of the spectator.
When do we start considering the work of art as such? Where between the eye, the mind or the brain does the “artistic product” turn into a miracle of the sight, and define a space within which the viewer intimately relates to the work?
This reflection comes from an exploration of some of the latest painting production of internationally renowned artists such as Alfredo Pirri (Cosenza, 1957), Sergio Lombardo (Rome, 1939), Gerard Traquandi (Marseille, 1952), Baptiste Caccia (Paris, 1988), Adrien Couvrat (Paris, 1981), Anna Betbeze (Columbus, USA, 1980). The diversity of painting tools – the ballpoint pen, acid dye, and the acrylic – as well as the variety of formats and media encourage the visitor to approach the artwork from a more aesthetic – conceptual standpoint, so as to satisfy the senses of the mind, rather than retinal.
In fact, Matisse – as many Impressionists some decades before – argued that the painting is irrevocably connected with the perception and intellectual work – “To see is itself a creative operation, which requires effort,” – where the adjective “intellectual” refers to the activity of the intellect to understand ideas and form concepts. As in painting and photography, images of reality as we receive them are not a faithful photographic reproduction of what one observes, rather an interpretation of the reality, the details of which are integrated with information that individuals keep in their mind. Critic and historian Ernst Gombrich argued the impossibility to objectify the comprehension of reality through the images, supporting the necessary work of the mind in reading and reinterpreting reality.
Selected works displayed in Eyes-Mind-Brain depict mental landscapes, play with the effects of light and the movement of masses, accentuate the emotional values of the work when referring to the memory of events, thus fostering the idea of active spectatorship completing the full meaning of the work. The exhibition attempts to explore the mental condition of visitors at the end of the exhibition in order to induce them to find out the image each of them have developed ‘behind the eye’, connecting all the nervous flows.
Sergio Lombardo (Rome, 1939) lives and works in Rome.
Psychologist and artist, he participated in the international avant-guarde movements and he was a protagonist in the 70’s of the Nuova Scuola Romana (New School of Rome) with artists such as Rotella, Schifano, Festa, Angeli, Mambor, Tacchi, Ceroli, Pascali. He is the father of the Eventualist Theory, that led to an important artistic and theorical movement based on experimental methods. He exhibited at National Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo (1967), TheJewish Museum in New York (1968), the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1969, 1995), museums of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Varsaw, Stockolm, Johannesburg. In 1970 he exhibited at Padiglione Centrale of the Venice Biennial. In 1995 he had an important retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome University “La Sapienza“. His scientific articles have been published
in Kunst und Therapie, Iskusstvo i Emozii, Empirical Studies of the Arts, Problems of Informational Culture Psychology and the Arts, Psychological Review of Art.
Gerard Traquandi (Marseille, 1952) lives and works between Paris and Marseille.
Among personal exhibitions, Dessins, Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris, 2014; Les jours, Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris, 2013; L’île de Montmajour par Christian Lacroix, Abbaye de Montmajour, 2013; Rue Visconti, Paris, 2011; Château de Jau, Roussillon Hôtel de région, Marseille Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris, 2011.
Group exhibitions include Le dessin, a genre ?, Galerie du 5ème, Marseille, 2014; Au bonheur des fleurs: the règne végétal dans la photographie, Pavillon des arts populaires de Montpellier, 2012; Musée Magnelli, Vallauris, 2011; Gérard Traquandi vs Lionel Scoccimaro, Galerie Olivier Robert, 2011; The objet photographique, une invention permanent, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris Art Brussels, 2011; Drawing Now – Salon du Dessin Contemporain, Carrousel du Louvre – Paris, 2011; Armory Show, New York, 2011.
Alfredo Pirri (Cosenza, 1957) lives and works in Rome. A selection of solo exhibitions include Arie, Gallery Giacomo Guidi, Milan, 2014; Passi, Palazzo Te, Mantova (personal room) for the exhibition Amore e Psiche, 2013; Vorrei rannicchiarmi nella Tua ombra, Galleria Tucci Russo, Torre Pellice Torino, 2013; Crocifissioni e altri paesaggi primaverili, Giacomo Guidi, Rome, 2012. Among the collective exhibitions, La materia di un sogno, Collection Paul Brodbeck, Foundation Brodbeck Catania, 2013; Extralarge, MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, 2013; Rooms XVIII Intese, Alvin Curran, Maurizio Mochetti, Alfredo Pirri, RAM, Rome, 2013; Pittura: esercizio o libertà?, Giacomo Guidi Arte Contemporanea, Rome, 2012; Rooms, “a space waiting for a move”, Space RAM-radio mobile art – Zerynthia, Rome, 2012.
Anna Betbeze (Columbus, USA, 1980) lives and works in New York. Solo shows include Plush vision, Luxembourg & Dayan, London (2015); Kate Werble Gallery, New York (2013); Wormholes, François Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles (2012); Anna Betbeze: New Work, Massachusetts Museum Of Contemporary Art, North Adams (2012); Moons, Lüttgenmeijer, Berlin (2012). Her work has been shown at institutions and galleries including Moma Ps1, New York; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York; Laura Bartlett, London; Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Galerie chez Valentin, Paris.
Adrien Couvrat (Paris, 1981) lives and works in Paris. Solo exhibitions include What are the sections of sections ?, galerie Heinzer Reszler, Lausanne, 2014; Leuré couleurs, galerie Heinzer Reszler, Lausanne, 2013; Extension de la ligne, Le Point Commun, 2010; Horizon, Galerie Gauche, Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Paris, 2007. Recent group exhibitions include, A venir – Othello et Desdemone, The chromatique des sentiments littéraires – Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, 2014; YIA ART FAIR 2014; BEYOND, Galerie Florent Maubert, Paris, 2014.
Baptiste Caccia (Paris, 1988) lives and works in Paris. Solo exhibitions include Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, Super Dakota, Brussels, 2014; Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts Paris, Paris, 2013. Among group shows are How 2 Paint, Super Dakota, Brussels, 2014; VOID, Super Dakota, Brussels, 2013; Appartement, Hors Serie, Paris, 2012; & thanks for all the fish, WDKA Blaak, Rotterdam, 2012; Fourth dimension, The Life Of The Mind, The Gallery, London, 2012.
For any further information please contact:
gallery@unosunove.com