New Works by Bruno Querci and David Tremlett at Villa Pisani Bonetti

VICENZA.- The fourth Arte Contemporanea a Villa Pisani is opening on Saturday 26 June with new works devised and created by Bruno Querci and David Tremlett for Villa Pisani Bonetti, the architectural masterpiece of the young Andrea Palladio in Bagnolo di Lonigo in the province of Vicenza.

The project was first launched in 2007 by two collectors of contemporary art, Manuela Bedeschi and Carlo Bonetti, the present owners of the Villa, and it is coordinated by Luca Massimo Barbero and curated by Francesca Pola.

The works, which are made ‘in situ’ by the two artists, are designed to interact with their setting and with the premises of what is indeed a home – a private and personal dimension that is not just an exhibition space.

Specially made for the occasion, the large-format works of Bruno Querci (Prato, Italy, 1956) interact with the structural identity of the building, in the large central hall and in the cellar with its bare-brick walls. The intense, vibrant convergence of black and white creates pulsating luminous rays, both horizontal and vertical, that underscore and interpret the fundamental architectural and planimetric axes of Villa Pisani.

For this occasion, David Tremlett (Sticker, England, 1945) has created a large wall drawing in the Torre Nord (Nord Tower), to the side of the light-filled loggia of the main façade

For this occasion, David Tremlett (Sticker, England, 1945) has created a large wall drawing in the Torre Nord (Nord Tower), to the side of the light-filled loggia of the main façade. With his dynamic, undulating expanses of colour, which he spreads with his hands, the artist gives a concrete, tactile presence to architecture, giving it real life and involving the visitor in a flowing ballet of shapes, colours, and spaces. In the form of drawings and plans, the artist also brings out further creative ideas specially designed for these premises.

The exhibition makes the visitor feel like a special guest in a home in which the works of Querci and Tremlett form an integral part of the Villa, just as the works in previous years by another six international artists, Nelio Sonego and Michel Verjux (2007), Igino Legnaghi and François Morellet (2008), Alan Charlton and Riccardo De Marchi (2009), have done in the past. Some of the works on show still form a harmonious part of the Villa and park, for which they were designed.

Villa Pisani in Bagnolo di Lonigo was designed by Andrea Palladio from 1541, upon his return from his first trip to Rome, and it was built in 1544 and 1545. It is possibly the most representative building of the youthful work of this architect, and it marked the beginning of his collaboration with the Republic of Venice. Inspired by the monumentality of Imperial Rome, Villa Pisani represented an assertion of the power of Venice on the mainland, and this home, which was both ceremonial and comfortable for living, dominated the farming land around it. Its position on the river gave it direct access to the Serenissima for the transport of people and goods. In the original design, the Villa was to have had two main façades: one, which is still intact, towards the river, and another, only partly complete, giving onto the countryside.

Two monographic catalogues of the works by Querci and Tremlett are introduced by Manuela Bedeschi and Carlo Bonetti, with critical essays by Luca Massimo Barbero and Francesca Pola, together with bio-bibliographic information about the artists, and illustrations of the works they have created in Villa Pisani.

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