Villa Contemporanea is pleased to present Estetica Matematica/Mathematical Aesthetics, a collective show of the artists Elisa Cella, Elisa Leonini, Monica Mazzone and David Reimondo curated by Leda Lunghi.
As the title suggests, the show focuses on the extraordinary link between art and mathematics; the relationship between these two so apparently disciplines lies in the search for a consequential equilibrium and compositional harmony obtained through the gaze. Despite differences in style, the artists on display share an artistic practice based on the use of harmonic sequences.
The show’s curator Leda Lunghi writes: “Mathematics may be complex as a field of knowledge, but the human soul is even more so, and soul is what we need if mathematics must be examined in every aspect. Delving into the show, analyzing the artists’ differences and convergences, we see just how many visions this science affords, a science no longer considered arid and constraining but shown here in its most eclectic and harmonic form. Through the artists on display – David Reimondo, Monica Mazzone, Elisa Cella, and Elisa Leonini – mathematics becomes sound, color, and infinite. Harmony and curiosity are mathematics’ bedfellows, and when numbers entwine with art, the result can only be soothing, graceful, and musical.”
David Reimondo invents an empirical language based on chromatics and sound, an idea of “cultural de-training” as defined by the artist himself, in which color is word and becomes a “chromophonetic” language. Starting with the primary colors, he assigns the syllable LA to the color red, ID to yellow, and EN to blue. Putting the three syllables together, he makes the names of the secondary and tertiary colors. He deconstructs and reconstructs a new sound code in an attempt to imagine a virgin, primordial linguistic system. His soundscape continuously emits a murmur of apparently indecipherable sounds, demonstrating how variations in color engender phonemes and words and create a synaesthetic language. In this visual alphabet unrestrained by implications or rules, the artist reveals the essence of the mathematical algorithm and code.
In the poetics of Monica Mazzone, intrigued by Euclidian doctrine and obsessed by the idea of perfection, color becomes the expression of mathematics and emotions. Geometry is perceived as the regulatory principle of the creative act. The artist develops a site-specific orthogonal projection by imagining the gallery as a numerical and mental space to be reached through equations she formulates herself. Beginning with a two-dimensional drawing, Mazzone investigates the principle of three-dimensionality: the result is a flat geometric form, the modular trapezium.
The work of Elisa Cella also appears to be in the sway of science that duplicates living material by starting from a single cell. Trained as a mathematician, as an artist she brings biology into her personal, circular pictorial style that becomes three-dimensional and installation-oriented here. Even more than in the canvases, the tangle of circles, now transformed into cylinders, carries us into the mystery of life expressed in the form of sculpture.
Elisa Leonini, an artist who has dedicated years to giving sound three-dimensional form, offers common ground to the three artists above, translating equilibrium into audible vibrations. After enlarging the black and white flicker of a cathode ray tube TV with no signal, she isolates the modules of the three primary colors red, green, and blue (RGB) known as the phosphors that create the image. The video played at the show is both a representation of the electromagnetic wave that appears in the absence of signal and an investigation into color, given that what we observe as being in color from close up is actually in black and white when we step back. Another work on display gives sculptural form to the acoustic waves generated by the artist’s enunciation of the word “Silence”.
Leda Lunghi writes: “With the show’s works before us, we may safely conclude that mathematics can
be deemed a science both rational and irrational at the same time because it is incapable of imposing limits on ingenuity, and for such reason embraces anything that brings it vivacity, light, music. The show unmasks its ambiguity, revealing how imagination, art, color, and music may possess an intrinsic and double valence in which logic, rhythm, and calculation can all be observed nudging reason in the direction of the sweet flight of fantasy we call irrationality.”
Curating and critical text by Leda Lunghi.
Elisa Cella, born in Genova in 1974, lives and works in Monza, studied Mathematics at Milano State University. Her personal shows include: “Sensazione Concava”, Galleria E3 Arte Contemporanea, Brescia, 2015; “Elisa Cella – TransumArte” Castello Fieschi-Doria-Malaspina, Santo Stefano d’Aveto (GE), curated by Gabriele Perretta, 2015; “Cerchio – per un’estetica dell’infinito”, bi-personal show with Silvia Serenari, Fuel Art Gallery, Livorno, curated by Alessandro Trabucco, 2013; “Tracciati”, Castello Chiaramontano, Racalmuto (Ag), curated by Dario Orphé, 2013. Her collective shows include: “Analitica 70 e nuove prospettive”, Galleria E3 Arte Contemporanea, Brescia, 2017; “Unconventional Views”, M.AR.CO., Monza Arte Contemporanea, Monza, 2016; “La bellezza resta.”, Binario 7, Monza (MB), curated by Simona Bartolena and Armando Fettolini, 2016; “Lavatoys – Arte in un antico lavatoio genovese”, Genova, curated by Angelo Pretolani, 2016; “XXIII Epicento Artists Exhibition”, Museo Epicentro, Gala di Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto (ME), curated by Nino Abbate, 2016; “Freezer – TransumArte”, Castello Fieschi-Doria-Malaspina, Santo Stefano d’Aveto (GE), text and poetry by Ivan Fassio, 2016; “CAZZIEFIGHE”, spazio Laltalena, Milano, curated by Massimo Kaufmann and Ivano Sossella, 2016; “Innaturalismi”, MUST, Vimercate, curated by Simona Bartolena, 2016; “NutriMenti”, Palazzo D’Aquino, Taranto, curated by Sara Liuzzi, 2016.
Elisa Leonini, born in Ferrara in 1980, where she currently lives and works. Her personal shows include: “Landtrack”, curated by Alberto Zanchetta, Galleria Villa Contemporanea, Monza, 2016; “DEFLAGRACIÓN Un dialogo con Picasso e Gaudì”, curated by Maria Livia Brunelli, MLB home gallery, Ferrara, 2015; “Note musicali e note olfattive”, curated by UDI Comacchio, Palazzo Bellini, Comacchio (Fe), 2014; “Rhodon rheo”, curated by Maria Livia Brunelli Home Gallery, Bologna International Music Museum, Bologna, 2013. Her collective shows include: “Premio SmARTup Optima”, 2014, Napoli, 2014; “Fidenza1979”, Regional Contemporary Art Show, curated by Emanuele Baistrocchi, Jamais Vu Cultural Association, Palazzo delle Orsoline, Fidenza, 2014; “La forza e la passione”, 2014 Opera Prize, curated by Daniele Casadio, CGIL Ravenna, 2014; “Vedute, vedere e sentire”, at the Marche Centro Arte, Contemporary Art Expo, curated by M.Letizia Paiato, Palariviera, San Benedetto Del Tronto (AP), 2014; “E quindi uscimmo a rivedere le stelle. Il viaggio”, San Fedele Visual Arts Prize, Galleria San Fedele, Milano, 2012; “E quindi uscimmo a rivedere le stelle. Dove sono?”, San Fedele Visual Arts Prize, Galleria San Fedele, Milano, 2011. Awards and Nominations: 2015 Ora Prize Winner; Finalist at 2014 Optima SmARTup Prize, Napoli; 2014 Ora Prize Finalist, Ravenna; 2012 San Fedele Visual Arts Prize Finalist, Milano; 2011 San Fedele Visual Arts Prize Third-place winner, Milano.
Monica Mazzone, born in Milano in 1984, lives and works between Milano and New York. Her personal shows include: “L’intenzione di una retta”, Studio Maraniello, Milano, curated by Rossella Moratto, 2016; “The Perfect Universe”, Merkur Gallery, Istanbul, curated by Sabiha Kurtulmus, 2014; “Per un quasi infinito”, Formentini Gallery – Nuovo CIB -, Milano, curated by Diego Esposito and Matteo Fontana, 2009. Her collective shows include: “Studio Freud| Studi Festival#3”, B&G Studio, Milan, curated by Fabio Carnaghi, 2017; “Rosso Freddo| Studi Festival#3”, via Piranesi 25, Milano, curated by Monica Mazzone and Mattia Barbieri, 2017; “No Place3, Suzzara Prize Gallery”, Suzzara, curated by Umberto Cavenago and Ermanno Cristini, 2016; “Palomar”, Dimora Artica, Milano, curated by Patrizia Emma Scialpi, 2016; “Soprasotto”, Ex Bottegone Supermarket, Sesto Calende, curated by Ermanno Cristini and Luca Scarabelli. Testo di Rossella Moratto, 2016; “Empatema” | Studi Festival #2, Studio AlbertoAperto, Milano, curated by Alberto Mugnaini, Corrado Levi, Yari Miele, 2016; “Oblequeness”| Studi Festival#2, via Piranesi 25, Milano, curated by Monica Mazzone and Mattia Barbieri, 2016; “No Place2”, Castello di Fombio, Fombio, curated by Umberto Cavenago and Ermanno Cristini, 2016; “Vasi Comunicanti”, MIDeC (International Museum of Ceramic Design), Laveno, curated by Lorenza Boisi, 2015; “Trailer”, Fabbrica del Vapore, Milano, curated by Città Ideale, 2015; “Les Sublimes”, Arthur Cravan Foundation, Milano, curated by Cose Cosmiche (Helga Franza and Silvia Hell), 2015.
David Reimondo, born in Genova in 1972, lives and works in Milano. His personal shows include: “Cromofonetica”, Galleria Bianconi, Milano, 2016: “David Reimondo”, Di Meo Gallery, Paris, 2010; “PA”, Gian Enzo Sperone Gallery, Sent , Switzerland, 2009; “Bodyweb”, Albemarle Gallery, London, UK, 2008; “Bodyspace”, Ermanno Tedeschi Gallery, Torino, 2007; “Bodybread”, Fabbrica Eos, Milano, 2007; “Bodybread”, Sausage Factory, London, UK, 2005. Awards: 2013 Terna 05 Prize Winner, Rome. His collective shows include: “Partiture Visive”, Galleria Bianconi, Milano, 2017; “Lo Sguardo di… , Works for the Unicredit Art Collection”, Unicredit Pavilion, Milano, 2015; “Tracks/Tracce” , The Open Box, Milano, 2015; “Piero Manzoni Reenacted”, Piero Manzoni Foundation, Expo Gate, Milano, 2014; “Mappamundi”, Musée Hotel des Arts, Toulon, France, 2013; “Un mondo nuovo”, Unicredit Tower, Milano, 2012; “People and the City”, Znaki Czasu Center of Contemporary Art (CoCA), Torun, Poland, 2012.
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