The Painting Race
Solo exhibition, 2024
Alchemilla, Palazzo Vizzani
Bologna (Italy)
Curated by Antonio Grulli
Solo exhibition, 2024
Alchemilla, Palazzo Vizzani
Bologna (Italy)
Curated by Antonio Grulli
...ne la pittura tener lo campo...
The feeling of competition: is this the driving force behind museums filled with masterpieces from past centuries? That churn in the stomach, the desire to annihilate our colleagues, or to consign previous generations of artists to the dustbin of history. Are we to pretend it doesn’t exist? Or that it has counted for nothing in art’s long evolution? That would be ridiculous. In certain magical moments, a spot of healthy competition has sparked the flourishing of great artistic eras, such as the Renaissance or the period spanning the second century to the mid-twentieth century. In these times, a succession of artists raised the bar of quality, ideas, content, forms, and attitude, provoking admiration, envy, and the urge to compete among their peers To think of artists as angelic entities driven only by noble ideals and the improvement of humanity would be even more ridiculous, especially for anybody fortunate enough to know one personally.
As always, the CANEMORTO trio wield their brushes and strike directly at the nerve. What metaphor could be more apt than a car race? Enter The Painting Race, their latest project: a miniature (but not too miniature) racing track winding through the Alchemilla exhibition space at Palazzo Vizzani. A series of paintings, mounted on radio-controlled cars about one-tenth the size of real cars, compete on the track down to the very last drift. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to take the wheel and compete with friends, family members, or strangers encountered by chance at the exhibition. Each car carries a double-sided canvas, painted on both sides with subjects representative of the genre: portrait, landscape, still-life, post-expressionism, magical realism, and neo-abstractionism, all competing to get the better of rival genres and schools of painting. All this is happening in conjunction with the Arte Fiera (when else?), the apex of competitiveness on the Italian art scene, and in Bologna (where else?), the heart of the so-called Motor Valley, where the world’s best racing and sports cars are made.
Impossible not to think of the Futurists, the first to understand that the racing car belonged in a museum, and the first to show that a canvas alone is not enough if it cannot escape its frame to merge with life. Yet I can’t help but think of my great love, Salvatore Scarpitta and his Dadaist spirit, who created wonderful self-portraits to race on real circuits. Now, no more talking, enjoy The Painting Race. Don’t hold back on the low blows and remember: in this project, it’s not the taking part that counts, but the winning.
Antonio Grulli
Photographs by Valentina Carlotti e Federico Landi
The feeling of competition: is this the driving force behind museums filled with masterpieces from past centuries? That churn in the stomach, the desire to annihilate our colleagues, or to consign previous generations of artists to the dustbin of history. Are we to pretend it doesn’t exist? Or that it has counted for nothing in art’s long evolution? That would be ridiculous. In certain magical moments, a spot of healthy competition has sparked the flourishing of great artistic eras, such as the Renaissance or the period spanning the second century to the mid-twentieth century. In these times, a succession of artists raised the bar of quality, ideas, content, forms, and attitude, provoking admiration, envy, and the urge to compete among their peers To think of artists as angelic entities driven only by noble ideals and the improvement of humanity would be even more ridiculous, especially for anybody fortunate enough to know one personally.
As always, the CANEMORTO trio wield their brushes and strike directly at the nerve. What metaphor could be more apt than a car race? Enter The Painting Race, their latest project: a miniature (but not too miniature) racing track winding through the Alchemilla exhibition space at Palazzo Vizzani. A series of paintings, mounted on radio-controlled cars about one-tenth the size of real cars, compete on the track down to the very last drift. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to take the wheel and compete with friends, family members, or strangers encountered by chance at the exhibition. Each car carries a double-sided canvas, painted on both sides with subjects representative of the genre: portrait, landscape, still-life, post-expressionism, magical realism, and neo-abstractionism, all competing to get the better of rival genres and schools of painting. All this is happening in conjunction with the Arte Fiera (when else?), the apex of competitiveness on the Italian art scene, and in Bologna (where else?), the heart of the so-called Motor Valley, where the world’s best racing and sports cars are made.
Impossible not to think of the Futurists, the first to understand that the racing car belonged in a museum, and the first to show that a canvas alone is not enough if it cannot escape its frame to merge with life. Yet I can’t help but think of my great love, Salvatore Scarpitta and his Dadaist spirit, who created wonderful self-portraits to race on real circuits. Now, no more talking, enjoy The Painting Race. Don’t hold back on the low blows and remember: in this project, it’s not the taking part that counts, but the winning.
Antonio Grulli
Photographs by Valentina Carlotti e Federico Landi
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