Massimo Antonaci. L'Oro estratto dalla caverna di Saturno

25 Gennaio - 11 Marzo 2022
  • 'Over the centuries, kings, emperors and artists have used gold to arouse awe and admiration, but also to illuminate the...
    Massimo Antonaci, l'Oro estratto dalla Caverna di Saturno, 2022, Glass and 24K gold leaf, 60 x 60 cm
    "Over the centuries, kings, emperors and artists have used gold to arouse awe and admiration, but also to illuminate the darkness and overcome the limit of white. The gold light is warm and strong, it is round and pointed. It never blackens, never clears up, it remains identical to itself."
  • 'Silver possesses the imperfection, which is found in most metals, and is linked to human nature for its ambivalence: one...
    Massimo Antonaci, ἀνδρόγυνος (androgynus), 2022, Glass, 24K gold leaf and silver leaf, 120 x 60 cm, detail
    "Silver possesses the imperfection, which is found in most metals, and is linked to human nature for its ambivalence: one moment it shines and the next it sinks into dark patina. The moon is more human than the sun, as it is a cold realm where death dwells, and we humans are mortal".
  • Massimo Antonaci, Prinicipi/Inizio, 2000 Glass, tar and acrylic color 245 x 245 cm, detail
  • 'Massimo Antonaci's artworks tempt us with their absoluteness, with their desire for purity and the absolute. The artist now walks...
    Massimo Antonaci, la Nicchia della Luce, 2022, Glass and tempera on wall, 180 x 60 cm, detail
    "Massimo Antonaci's artworks tempt us with their absoluteness, with their desire for purity and the absolute. The artist now walks on a tightrope, suspended from the ground between one and the other trace of light".
  • Born in Grottaglie in 1958, Massimo Antonaci studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, where he earned...
    Born in Grottaglie in 1958, Massimo Antonaci studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, where he earned a MFA in sculpture. In 1990 he moved to New York where he exhibited his works at the legendary John Weber Gallery. Antonaci's works have been exhibited at Massimo Valsecchi Gallery in Milan, at the Orestiadi Foundation in Gibellina and Tunis, at Nigel Greenwood Gallery in London and at Rossi Martino in Hong Kong. In 2012 the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia dedicated to the artist a retrospective, accompanied by texts by Mario Diacono and Marco Belpoliti. 

     

    In the mid-eighties he began the first experiments which led him to integrate the magmatic character and opacity of tar with the purity and transparency of glass. His path begins with black tar, continues in the early nineties with its opposite, white, and then transitions to the colors that compose light (yellow, red and blue). The next step is that of transparency: in 2000 color fades into the background and transparency becomes the one and only protagonist.