Francesco Vezzoli. THE TRINITY

Rome, 23 May 2013. Internationally recognised as one of the most brilliant Italian artists of his generation, in 2013 Francesco Vezzoli is set to be showcased in three solo shows at MAXXI in Rome, MoMA PS1 in New York and MOCA in Los Angeles. Three independent exhibitions but each forming part of the major project The Trinity, born as a joint venture between three prestigious international institutions and exploring and presenting to the public diverse and fundamental aspects of the artist's work and development.

The series begins at MAXXI in Rome where, from 29 May through to 24 November 2013, the museum will be hosting Galleria Vezzoli, the first Italian retrospective devoted to this star of contemporary art, curated by Anna Mattirolo, director of MAXXI Arte.

“MAXXI has to consolidate and continue to reinforce its international ventures”, says Giovanna Melandri, president of the Fondazione MAXXI. “This is one of our new objectives. In terms of research and the production and circulation of exhibitions and projects in support of young artists, architects and creative figures today. A full-scale working team has been assembled around Francesco Vezzoli that has involved a number of institutions and I am delighted that the project gets underway at MAXXI in Italy."

Galleria Vezzoli Over 90 works, some exhibited for the first time, delineating Vezzoli's artistic career, from the first embroideries in 1995 to the tapestries, the photographs and the more recent videos, through to the last sculptures in marble. With an investigation of the self-portrait that references the collection of the museums of the past. The title of the exhibition is itself inspired, with a degree of levity and irony, by Rome’s great galleries: it suggests the atmosphere of the 19th Century museums and is also a reflection on the role of the contemporary museum, a theme close to both the artist and the curator. In line with that determination not to be subjected to but to choose or to create the exhibition space that has always characterised Vezzoli, Galleries 2 and 3 have been completely transformed: red damask, wood panelling, stuccowork, niches and classical-style sculptures have reconfigured the futuristic spaces designed by Zaha Hadid to create, in a kind of “impertinent violation”, a museum within a museum. Further confirmation of the ductility of MAXXI which continues to represent a challenge and a stimulus for curators and artists and a surprise for the public.

“In his own way, Vezzoli interprets a theme which is central for us today, the role of the museum”, says Anna Mattirolo, “and he does so through the most classical modes of presentation: galleries of self-portraits, tapestries and sculptures. Parodying a traditional 19th Century museum, the artist invites us to think about the function of the museum today, precariously balanced between the “museum as temple” and the “throwaway museum”: a reflection on the world of contemporary art and the star system that revolves around it and which it is now difficult to avoid.”

The Exhibition Layout Multiple cultural references traverse Francesco Vezzoli’s work, from the first embroidered pieces, an intimate and private technique developed during his training in London which he uses to reproduce abstract paintings from the Bauhaus, such as the Homages to the Square (Homage to Joseph Albers’s “Homage to the Square” – Fade to Grey to Green) or Mark Rothko in Conversation Piece, both from 1995.

For years Vezzoli has worked on the theme of fame and the media and communications phenomena that determine it, stripping bare its mechanisms. With the collaboration of international film and TV stars, he has created videos and performances with Valentina Cortese, Franca Valeri and Iva Zanicchi (Trilogia del Ricamo/ Embroidery Trilogy, 1997-99), with Helmut Berger in a rereading of an episode from the American soap opera Dynasty (The Kiss, 2000), with – among others – Helen Mirren, Milla Yovovich and Courtney Love (Trailer per un Rifacimento di Caligola di Gore Vidal/ Trailer for a remake of Gore Vidal’s Caligula, 2005), with Sharon Stone and Bernard-Harry Levy (Democrazy, 2007), with Eva Mendes in a rereading of La Dolce Vita (Jeu de Paume, je t’aime! Advertisement for an exhibition that will never open 2009) and with Lady Gaga (Ballets Russes Italian Style – The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again, 2009).

The major installation La Trilogia della Morte/The Trilogy of Death belongs to the same strand and is composed of three works: Comizi di Non-Amore/ Speeches of Non-Love, 120 Sedute di Sodoma/ 120 Sittings of Sodoma and La Fine di Edipo Re/The End of Oedipus Rex. Presented at the Fondazione Prada in 2004 and exhibited in Paris in 2008 at the Grand Palais, the installation was born out of reflection on the thinking of Pier Paolo Pasolini.

A section of the exhibition is devoted to self-portraits. They include Self Portrait with Vera Lehndorff as Veruschka (2001), the photos from the series Francesco by Francesco (2002), made with the fashion photographer Francesco Scavullo, Francesco Vezzoli as Jean Cocteau (2002) and Greed (2010), in which he portrays himself on the label of a bottle of non-existent perfume.

Vezzoli’s self-portrait finds an eternal dimension in the latest works, the sculptures in marble from 2011 and 2012 that depict the artist in the guise of a satyr, a toga-clad Roman and an emperor. Works that mark a turning-point in his output: “from Hollywood to the Louvre” as he himself has said in an interview. The world of film and television, which for many years has obsessed the artist’s creative imagination gives way to a revisitation of the masterpieces of antiquity. As in Satire of a Satyr from 2011 and Antique not antique: self portrait as a crying Roman togatus from 2012.

Galleria Vezzoli will be followed in the autumn by The Church of Vezzoli at MoMA PS1 in New York, curated by Klaus Biesenbach: a deconsecrated church from the 19th Century originally built in the south of Italy, disassembled and rebuilt in the courtyard of MoMA PS1. Then, in late autumn, MOCA in Los Angeles will see Cinema Vezzoli, curated by Alma Ruiz, in which the artist, drawing on classic European film and the Hollywood star system, recounts the modern-day obsession with fame, politics and the public ostentation of private lives.

Francesco Vezzoli Francesco Vezzoli was born in 1971, in Brescia, Italy. He studied at Central St. Martins School of Art in London from 1992 to 1995. He currently lives and works in Milan. The artist’s work has been presented in various museums including The Garage CCC, Moscow, (2010), MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2009), Kunsthalle Wien Project Space, Vienna (2009), Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Paris (2009), Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2009), L'UIF Wolfsonian, Miami (2008), Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2007), International Exposition of Art, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2001). His works have featured in diverse biennials, including the 2006 Whitney Biennial, the 49th and 51st Biennale of Venice, the 26th Biennial of São Paulo, the 6th International Biennial of Istanbul, and in numerous group shows.

GALLERIA VEZZOLI at MAXXI over 90 works in the first Italian retrospective devoted to the artist 29 May – 24 November 2013, curated by Anna Mattirolo

THE CHURCH OF VEZZOLI at MoMA PS1 Autumn 2013, curated by Klaus Biesenbach

CINEMA VEZZOLI at MOCA Autumn/winter 2013, curated by Alma Ruiz

Francesco Vezzoli
THE TRINITY
curator: Anna Mattirolo

venues:
MAXXI, Rom
P.S.1 MoMA, Long Island
MOCA Los Angeles