Soncino, Italy…Beginning August 24, 2023, Spazio Soncino will host FILANDA: ART AM 4 (Artisti Americani e Non), the fourth iteration of an annual exhibition of path-breaking contemporary art organized by artist Luigi Cazzaniga and poet and critic Ilka Scobie. On view in the Filanda cultural complex, which is housed in a converted historic silk factory in the heart of this Lombardy town, FILANDA: ART AM 4 explores the ever-evolving dialogue between Italian and American artists. Highlighting stylistic diversity, this expansive group exhibition nevertheless reveals shared sources of inspiration and universal aesthetic and philosophical concerns.
Open to the public through September 20, 2023, FILANDA: ART AM 4 will comprise works by more than three dozen artists: Hanny Ahern, Rita Barros, Alighiero Boetti, Travis Brown, Tasmin Burgess, Bruno Buttarelli, Maria Christina Cavagnoli, Eteri Chkadua, Giacomo Stringhino Coboldi, Laura Cazzaniga, Max Cavallari, Jamie Diamond, Ileana Florescu, Aldo Gallina, Vera Girivi, Tamara Gonzalez, Shahrzad Kamel, Serena Lewis, Nemo Librizzi, Luigi di Luca, Claudia Margadonna, Michela Martello, Chris Martin, Demis Martinelli, Elena Monzo, Francesco Nazardo, Valery Oisteanu, Ruth Oiseanu, Alessandro Pedrini, Ugo Rondinone, Gigi Roveda, Lola Schnabel, Adelisa Selimbasic, Atitilio and Paola Solzi, Elisabetta Zangrandi, and Uman.
Among its highlights, the exhibition will present new works by a number of artists, including a site-specific installation by Ugo Rondinone; vibrant painting by Chris Martin, deploying his signature use of glitter to uncanny effect; a shamanistic fantasy portrait by Tamara Gonzalez; and an ebullient canvas by acclaimed self-taught artist Uman. The creative exuberance of such works by American participants will be echoed in those of their Italian peers, including Elisabetta Zangrandi, Michela Martello, and Vera Girivi, whose brightly colored and highly stylized works describe complex interior visions and unfurl stylistic vocabularies packed with personal iconography.
The medium of photography will be represented by Jamie Diamond’s exploration of familial relationships (“the grey area between reality and artifice”), and find counterpoint in the work of photographer Rita Barros. Tasmin Burgess works in the same photorealistic style as Marie Cristina Cavagnoli, both creating exquisite graphite female-centric images.
Courtesy Ilka Scobie
Soncino is birthplace of Italian master Piero Manzoni (1933-1963), whose celebrated oeuvre is the subject of Relation (Im)possible, a major solo exhibition on exhibit at the Soncino Museo di Stampa through October 1, 2023. The town is recognized as a center of creativity in art and craft. Featured local artists in FILANDA: ART AM 4 work with recycled textiles, hand forged metal, traditional painting techniques, and sculpture, while drawing connections between – and piercing the boundaries of – abstraction and figuration.
About the curators
Artist Luigi Cazzaniga and Poet Ilka Scobie live and work in New York City and have for many years spent their summers in Soncino. Cazzaniga has often shown his work in the Sonciono Biennial and in exhibitions in the U.S. and Italy. A poet and teacher, Scobie is also a critic who writes about contemporary art.