press release
PRIMO PIANO D’ARTISTA: FABIO VIALE
CLOSE UP OF THE ARTIST: FABIO VIALE
Curated by
Alessandra Galasso
artist talk
Milan, Museo del Novecento
September 18—30, 2012
Friday, September 20, 2012 at 5:30 p.m.
In the second, Thank You and
Goodbye, Viale transformed two
ordinary paper bags, destined for
the trash heap, into a monumental,
totemic sculpture carved from
crystalline Carrara marble. This piece
was awarded first prize by the jury of
the 2012 Henraux Foundaton Award.
Fabio Viale is an artist who opts for
complete physical involvement with
his art. He works exclusively in marble,
a material that, by its nature, demands
a certain physique du rôle. He also
conceives some of his sculptures as
performance pieces that require him to
enact Herculean physical feats. In one
of his most astonishing performances,
he navigated, in bodies of water from
the Tiber River in Rome to a pond in
Gorky Park, Moscow, a 1,300 lbs. (600
Kg) boat completely carved out of
marble (Ahgalla, 2002), a substance
not normally known for its buoyancy.
On another occasion, he rolled a
massive marble tire, weighing 2,000
lbs. (1 ton), through the streets of Turin
(Opera Rotas, 2005).
Both of these artworks are included in
the exhibition, in the “Manica Lunga”
of the Museo del Novecento, which
also introduces two new creations:
in the first, the artist has rendered
two plastic crates into a masterfully
handcrafted work of art, Stargate. In
Viale’s imagining, the crates become
a magical doorway leading to distant
worlds and galaxies—the realization
of a childhood dream in which an
everyday object becomes a means to
a realm of fantastic adventures.
All sculptures of Fabio Viale impress
for their technical mastery, they
enchant for the sensual beauty of their
surfaces while their shapes, inspired to
ordinary objects, subvert our usual way
of looking at marble sculptures with
surprising irony.
The book, Close Up of the Artist:
Fabio Viale, has been published on
the occasion of Viale’s exhibition at
the Museo del Novecento. It includes
a large number of illustrations of the
four artworks in the show, as well as
fascinating pictures of the works inthe-making, an interview and a section
dedicated to twenty-one selected
works. Edited by Alessandra Galasso,
with art direction by Massimo Pitis,
the book is published by artivista. It is
available at the museum’s bookstore
and at www.amazon.it.
Special thanks to: Fondazione
Henraux, Gagliardi Art System, Torino
and Gian Enzo Sperone, New York.
Fabio Viale was born in Cuneo, Italy,
1975. Lives and works in Turin, Italy.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Marmo, curated by Anastasia
Shavlokhova, Garage Center for
Contemporary Culture, Moscow (2011);
Fabio Viale, The Pool NYC, Venice
(2009); Souvenirs, Gagliardi Art System,
Turin (2006).
Selected Group Exhibitions
Marble Sculpture from 350 B.C.
to Last Week, SperoneWestwater,
New York (2012); Senza Rete, Loft
Project Etagi, Saint Petersburg; One,
Another, curated by Stefanie Roach,
The Flag Art Fondation, New York;
GranTorino, curated by Francesco
Poli and Paolo Facelli, Patricia &
Phillip Frost Museum, Miami (2011);
La scultura italiana del XXI secolo,
curated by Marco Meneguzzo, Arnaldo
Pomodoro Foundation, Milan; Scherzo,
satira, ironia, curated by Peter
Weiermair, Kunstverein Augsburg,
Augsburg (2010); Qui vive? I Biennale
Internazionale per Giovani Artisti,
curated by Marisa Vescovo and
Alessandro Carrer, National Centre for
Contemporary Art and The Museum
of Modern Art, Moscow; Energie sottili
della materia, SUPEC - Shanghai Urban
Planning Exhibition Center, Shanghai
and China National Academy of
Painting, Beijing (2008).
For further information:
www.fabioviale.com
in the image:
Fabio Viale in his studio in Turin
while sculpting Souvenir Gioconda, 2007.
photo: Alice Occleppo.
press release
PRIMO PIANO D’ARTISTA: FABIO VIALE
CLOSE UP OF THE ARTIST: FABIO VIALE
Curated by
Alessandra Galasso
Milan
Museo del Novecento
September 18—30, 2012
Dates
18–30 September 2012
Admission
to the exhibition is free
Artist talk
Friday, September 20, 2012
at 5:30 p.m.
Museum Tickets
Full price: 5 euro
Reduced price: 3 euro
Location
Museo del Novecento
Via Marconi 1, Milan
Reduced entrance is available to:
University students
with university card
Senior citizens over 65
Municipal employees
of Milan
Curated by
Alessandra Galasso
Opening Hours
Mon. 2.30 - 7.30 pm
Tue.-Wed.-Fri.-Sun.
9.30 am - 7.30 pm
Thurs.-Sat.
9.30 am - 10.30 pm
main sponsors
Free entrance is available to:
Citizens under 25
Teachers accompanying
school groups
Tour guides and interpreters
accompanying groups
Group leaders
Disabled
Members of ICOM
Journalists with a
professional card Academics with
special permission from the
Museum’s direction
Officers of state and regional
Soprintendenze
Officers of municipal Museums
Authorized associations
Free entrance every day 2 hours
before closing time
and on Fridays from 3.30 pm
Info
02.884.44061 – 02.0202
www.museodelnovecento.org
Press Office
Comune di Milano
Elena Conenna
02.884.53314
elenamaria.conenna@comune.
milano.it