UDINE  

CIVICI MUSEI E GALLERIE DI STORIA E ARTE
Castello di Udine
tel. 0432/271591

 

ELENA GRIMAZ

MICHELA GUATTO

MASSIMO TOFFOLO


 

 

critical text by Alvise Rampini

Nowadays contemporary works and old masterpieces are often put side by side, but this is a different way to experience it, avoiding any sacrilege (if something sacred still exists) and looking for a more subtle relation. This juxtaposition allows both ancient and contemporary art to keep their integrity, leaving both present and past silently untouched and adding a further meaning to be discovered. The three artists involved in the project seem to stand out, each in his or her own way, for their noiseless and yet intense art.Elena Grimaz constantly relates to space, which she fills with non-invading presences modelled by concept and by the choice of the material. The works' position itself produces paradigms that turn out to be “other”: other title, other work, exploring places – whether they are woods or boxes – and suggesting a reflection on “close” and “open”, which perfectly suits the prison of Udine.In that same place, Michela Guatto searches into contemporary man through multimedia tools, breaking down and putting back together in a work that has the scent of introspection. Internal and external are terms of a research leading the artist to maintain that man has been driven by “the ongoing flow of information” and by “the endless change to an introspective analysis just as to an external observation, in order to regain a primeval harmony with the surrounding reality”. But what if the surrounding reality is a prison?Massimo Toffolo painfully explores the limits of reason in a multimedia world where accumulation and filing of information force vision and communication within hackneyed terms, which lack “that beautiful acceptation of art as the only way to keep one's own identity”. Against tags and academies, he faces an example of academic painting and disrupts the label that lies behind it with the impulse of his own paintings.

 

CIVICI MUSEI E GALLERIE DI STORIA E ARTE

CELLA DELLA MORTE

Death cell, Ciceri collection


The time span of the building of Udine's castles covered centuries of history, especially from the sixteenth century and then the eight-nineteenth century, characterizing in many different ways the military purposes (it was a barracks under Austria) as well as the residential ones of the place. The prison has always been there (from the 14th century on) and, after the insurrectional movements of the nineteenth century, it was no longer limited to the small cells in the basement but it spread at groundlevel. Place of denial – of liberty, life and hope – the prison of Udine is linked to more or less famous histories, such as that of a Giuseppe Sbruglio, who was imprisoned there in 1567 after having killed his son-in-law and was then liberated but banned from the town.Naturally bare and gloomy, this place has a deep emotional impact, with its walls covered in graffiti and traces of paintings, only witnesses of moments of great pain and unease.


ELENA GRIMAZ

Elena Grimaz, born in Udine in 1972, is a self-taught artist, who was able to learn from different disciplines and figures from the area of Udine and from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, from which she graduated in 2002. She participated in group exhibitions, mainly with photos and installations.
moltisentieri@virgilio.it

 


The black sun, installation, halogenous projector, clothes hanger and sewing thread, cm. 200x410x171, 2003


SEGRETE DEL CASTELLO

Castle dungeons


The time span of the building of Udine's castles covered centuries of history, especially from the sixteenth century and then the eight-nineteenth century, characterizing in many different ways the military purposes (it was a barracks under Austria) as well as the residential ones of the place. The prison has always been there (from the 14th century on) and, after the insurrectional movements of the nineteenth century, it was no longer limited to the small cells in the basement but it spread at groundlevel. Place of denial – of liberty, life and hope – the prison of Udine is linked to more or less famous histories, such as that of a Giuseppe Sbruglio, who was imprisoned there in 1567 after having killed his son-in-law and was then liberated but banned from the town.Naturally bare and gloomy, this place has a deep emotional impact, with its walls covered in graffiti and traces of paintings, only witnesses of moments of great pain and unease.

MICHELA GUATTO

Michela Guatto, born in Udine in 1977, devoted herself to painting at the Academy in Venice, then began studying as audio-visual and multimedia technician. She participated in several photography courses and workshops, she shot videos and documentaries. Her works, shown in several solo and group exhibitions, always stem from a reflection on man.
michela_guatto@libero.it

 


Everything but my mind, photographs, 7 prints size cm 50x75, 2003


ODORICO POLITI

Odorico Politi, Pompeus sailing to the Orient takes leave of his wife,
oil on canvas, cm 73x39


This is one of Odorico Politi's “historical” works and it fully exemplifies his academic style and his crowded compositional rhythm. The historical moment is developed on many levels, and finds its centre in the pale face of Pompeus' wife, supported by a handmaid, and the farewell full of pathos she whispers. The whiteness and the relaxed posture of these figures are in neat contrast with the movement on the right side of the composition, evident in the figure that seems to remind Pompeus of the glorious deeds that are ahead of him.It is worth noticing Pompeus' uncomfortable posture, which prevents him from stopping. The soldiers on the lower part share the pathos of the farewell, devotedly sad but moved by high ideals.Politi learnt his academy in the Roman period at the beginning of the nineteen century, when this painter from Udine mingled with the Canovans' circles and began to make historical paintings.



MASSIMO TOFFOLO

Massimo Toffolo, born in Udine in 1975, after attending a technical high school, studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and then at the DAMS, and he took his degree in Industrial Design (IUAV, Venice) in 1998. After many artistic experiences (painting, scenography, photography), now he works for design and architecture studios, theatre companies and in his own workshop
liliumax@libero.it

 


Scenes from the “O” age, mixed technique, cm 240x240, 2003.