REAZIONE A CATENA. The different ways of Painting #1
curated by Gino Pisapia
REAZIONE A CATENA. The different ways of Painting #1 is the first exhibition within a more articulate work in progress project, consisting of many shows in different cities. It plans to restore a broader overview on the current state of Italian painting by drafting a map of it. Artists who endorse the project’s aims are the ones creating and taking part; additionally, it does not take into account any thematic, biological, or geographical ties. The only prerequisite is for the artist to still be alive and to have been born in Italy.
Another peculiarity that further distinguishes REAZIONE A CATENA (a group show divided into episodes) from other exhibitions, is the way artists and works are selected. Its underlying method is based on a basic algorithm, able to potentially involve an infinite number of artists and works.
The title of the exhibition refers to scientific literature, especially related to chemistry. A Reazione a Catena (or Chain Reaction) is used to describe the phenomena in which a reaction or an event generates similar reactions or events, in addition to other obvious products. These are then capable of starting completely new reactions, resulting in a never-ending cycle. In 1923, the Dane, Christian Christiansen, and the Dutch, Hendrik Anthony Kramers – two scientists working in the field of polymerization studies – found that a chain reaction does not necessarily begin with light exciting a molecule, as had already been hypothesized in 1913 by the German chemist Max Bodenstein. The reaction could also start with two molecules violently colliding. The energy generated by the collision produces two or more unstable molecules, feeding the reaction that could expand and grow exponentially.
This way of thinking is one of the influences of the exhibition, whose procedural model is based on its principles. It can therefore build itself, following the progression 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on.
As stated by the curator: “I tried to take on the role of the physicist/chemist in the laboratory. I substituted the artists with the elements and created a basic algorithm, where I inserted names that represented certain ways of painting. Then, I had my reaction”.
He then clarifies: “This is not, therefore, meant to showcase the entirety of the contemporary Italian painting scene, nor does it plan to structurally highlight any one single trend. It is actually supposed to define a different kind of exhibition, able to offer multiple paths and just as many interpretations”. He concludes by saying: “The complex, heterogeneous mental behaviors of the artists in such conditions become part of a larger game. In it, their stylistic values grow powerful, overwhelming, triumphing in an intellectual space made of confrontation, something belonging to practicality, something without boundaries. Instead, each limit is destroyed and takes part in a lay communion of the language”.
Reazione a Catena is therefore the product of the presence of two artists, Valentina D’Amaro and Riccardo Guarneri. Their approaches, methods, genders, and generations are quite different. D’Amaro decided to invite Angelo Mosca and Lorenza Boisi, while Guarneri opted for Claudio Olivieri and Mauro Cappelletti. Then, Angelo Mosca invited Michele Tocca and the curator Francesco Lauretta. Lorenza Boisi selected Jacopo Casadei and the curator Luigi Presicce. On the other side of this “reaction”, Claudio Olivieri invited Roberto Casiraghi, and the curator Eugenia Vanni; and while Mauro Cappelletti chose Andrea Fontanari, the curator finished the first episode of the project with Gabriele Arruzzo. Following a similar method, the path of the exhibition will be built based on specific criteria, backing the relationships between artists who “associate” with the same type of communication language. They are invited to begin a dialogue with the curator, to speak of their own journey in the painting scene.
Each episode of the project will be followed by a brief interview with the artists. This can be seen and downloaded directly from the 1/9unosunove gallery website.
For any further information please contact:
gallery@unosunove.com