NP-ArtLab presents the exhibition CHANGING SHAPES with works by Leonardo Dalla Torre, Giulio Paolini and Frédérique Nalbandian. Three artists of different generations, united by a strong interest in the classical world but proposed with different eyes. Fragments and busts of statues alternate with images belonging to the History of Art and the Masters of painting of the past.
The three sculptures by Giulio Paolini (Genoa, 1940), made of plaster, are named 'Proteus', 'Proteus (II)' and 'Proteus (III)', referring to the mutable Greek god who had the ability to transform himself into any form he wished. Quotation, duplication and fragmentation are the three themes that emerge in this series and summarise the intellectual themes dear to the artist himself. Like the multiform Proteus, this sculptural group can be admired from different angles, creating a poetic meditation on the metaphysical nature of artistic practice. A pictorial vision of classicism is offered to us by Leonardo Dalla Torre (Venice, 1995). In the space he paints, bodies, faces and gazes take shape, evoked by the forms of past painting outlined by the Masters of Art History. They are used as a pretext for an unexpected intervention. Form is often compromised, subtracted and distorted. The dialogue continues with the French artist Frédérique Nalbandian (Menton, 1967). Three imposing busts, named 'Panacée I', 'Panacée II' and 'Panacée III', represent the Greek goddess of universal healing. The long drapes covering the bodies of the deity recall the expressiveness of the classical period. Made by working and handling Marseille soap. If the visitor could touch the works after wetting his hands, this would activate a process of change in the material itself, making the sculpture constantly changing and evolving. As a result, a further dialogue with contemporaneity is created, involving the viewer in the creative process of the work itself.
CHANGING SHAPES is closely linked to the concept of change and fragmentation of the material and the perception of the work itself. A continuous becoming that allows the observer to meditate and reflect on the metaphysical nature of the artistic practice of the three different artists in dialogue with each other.