Marignana Arte, in collaboration with Galleria Michela Rizzo and the International Gallery of Modern Art “Ca’ Pesaro”, presents Maurizio Pellegrin’s exhibition Myself and I, curated by Elisabetta Barisoni.
The dialogue between modern art and contemporary voices finds an outlet at Ca’ Pesaro on the occasion of the major exhibition dedicated to the Venetian portrait of the nineteenth century (Italian title: Ritratto veneziano dell’Ottocento), featuring the contemporary perspective of a prominent interpreter of our era, Maurizio Pellegrin. Born in Venice in 1956 and resident in New York, Pellegrin has divided his exhibition into two parts: the work entitled The Others, composed of more than a hundred portraits of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with the inclusion of objects and textiles, in which a human presence appears, although not always immediately declared or perceptible. These works, in a sense, constitute his virtual self-portrait.
The first room presents the artist’s reflections on his identity and vision of himself and his personal history. Imaginary Self-portraits of Pellegrin’s head shown in profile alternate with depictions of his native city, Venice. These are displayed alongside the eyes and faces of other memories that emerge from drawings and notes from the past, such as 104 Eyes and 1 Black Dot (2011) and Drawings (1984-2002).
While the primary focus lies on memory, the work goes beyond serving as a mere reliquary dedicated solely to the function of memory or historical inquiry. The elements within it form the pretext for a new condition of communication; in this way, the past becomes a reservoir of energy that finds expression in displacement and vibration.
In addition to the portraits, the exhibition presents a number of objects, including Memories (The Corsets), a work created in 2021 that suggests the figures and portraits through the signs of the physical and intimate presence of the body.
