We briefly analysed the art of Agostino Bonalumi in a previous post a while back, but it looks like this will be Bonalumi's year in art (and, hopefully, in fashion as well), in the same way as we recently saw a renewed and much deserved rediscovery of Paolo Scheggi's works. There is indeed an exhibition at Mazzoleni London that explores a selection of significant sculptural works created by the Italian artist.
Organised in collaboration with Archivio Bonalumi and curated by Francesca Pola, "Bonalumi Sculptures" (until 4th April 2015) marks a return of Bonalumi to London. The Italian artist took indeed part in 1960 in the solo exhibition "Agostino Bonalumi. Recent Paintings, Sculptures and Drawings" at the New Vision Centre Gallery, he showcased during the collective events "Zero" (1964) and "Manzoni Azimut" (2012), and was dedicated the posthumous retrospective "Agostino Bonalumi. All the Shapes of Space 1958-1976" (October 2013) at the Robilant + Voena Gallery.
Suspended between painting, sculpture and architecture, Bonalumi's practice prompts visitors to explore the environment in which we live and the spatial dimension in which we move.
Born in 1935, Bonalumi has been a painter, draughtsman and sculptor. He took part in 1958 in a first exhibition with Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani at Galleria Pater, in Milan, in which he showcased pre-pop compositions based on objects glued on canvases (shirts, underwear, and metallic tubes mummified in layers of concrete).
The artist took part in further exhibitions in the following year, but it was the period of time between 1958 and 1960 that became particularly important for him. It was around then that he started producing the first monochrome works with padded elements that were later on defined in English as "shaped canvases".
Bonalumi had a key exhibition in 1964 in which the difference between him and other artists working around the same technique became clear: while others expressed their research about objects and space in a rigid and geometrical way, in Bonalumi's works fantasy and imagination prevailed. His bi-/three-dimensional explorations in forms, shapes and shadows were indeed more natural and fluid than in the case of other artists.
In Bonalumi's career it is possible to highlight several different phases: in the first stage he produced monochrome paintings with padded elements that, applied to the back of the canvas, formed extruded shapes.
From 1965 on, new shapes were added to create asymmetrical elements that unbalanced the paintings, these elements would literally break the boundaries between the canvas and the object stretching it.
In a third phase wooden elements formed three-dimensional bodies that literally broke the surface and he continued his research into new dimensions with an emphasis on sinuous shapes in a fourth stage of his practice. Bonalumi introduced then in his works oil cire nylon fabric, an element that substituted canvas, but the main aim of his explorations – going beyond things and looking at objects transforming the space – remained the same.
At various points in his career, Bonalumi created sculptures as well as immersive environments. The works on view at Mazzoleni London date from the 1960s to the 2010s and examine the broad range of materials the artist experimented with.
"Nero" (1969) consists in large-scale forms in fibreglass that outline Bonalumi's use of creative curves; the works entitled "Bronzo" (1967-2006 and 1969-2007) can be considered as studies not only about shapes, but also about light as reflected on shiny bronze surfaces; the metal sheets forming "Bianco" (1989) and "Blu" (1990) are instead employed to create movement, while plastic and coloured ceramic in works like "Rosso" (2010) delineate more static yet equally mesmerising surfaces and forms (note for visitors intending to head down Mazzoleni this week: the red pieces in the exhibition with their sensual glossy surfaces look also perfect for people looking for less banal images to celebrate St. Valentine's Day).
The abstract volumes of the sculptures, the sinuous forms spilling out of the canvases and jutting out into the gallery, the elegant curves, soft bumps and hollows, the lines that break up or intersect one with the other attempting to go beyond the limits of a painting or a sculpture, retain a special sensuality while creating interactions with the visitors and establishing links between space and time. The sculptures represent indeed the meeting of two universes – the world of the objects and the world populated by human beings – but they also hint at Bonalumi's past works projected towards a future (our future), made of extremely modern minimalist-geometrical shapes.
"Bonalumi Sculptures" is at Mazzoleni London, 27 Albemarle Street, W1S 4HZ London, UK, until 4th April 2015.
Image credits for this post
1. Agostino Bonalumi
1967
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
2. Agostino Bonalumi
Bianco e Nero
1968
Shaped Ciré
120 x 100 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
3. Agostino Bonalumi
Blu
1993
Vinyl tempera on shaped canvas
114 x 146 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
4. Agostino Bonalumi
Giallo
1969
Shaped Ciré
150 x 120 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
5. Agostino Bonalumi
Nero
1968
Shaped Ciré
62 x 49 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
6. Agostino Bonalumi
Nero
1970
Fiberglass and paint on shaped canvas
80 x 130 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
7. Agostino Bonalumi
Bronzo
1969 – 2007
Cast bronze
18 x 38 x 42 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
8. Agostino Bonalumi
Bronzo
1969 – 2007
Cast bronze
38.5 x 42 x 45 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
9. Agostino Bonalumi
Bronzo
1969 – 2007
Cast bronze
60 x 58 x 50 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
10. Agostino Bonalumi
Rosso
1968
Vinyl tempera on shaped canvas
120 x 100 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
11. Agostino Bonalumi
Rosso
1967 – 2005
Fiberglass
140 x 180 x 120 cm
Courtesy private collection, Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
12. Agostino Bonalumi
Rosso
1969
Fiberglass and enamel
180 x 180 x 90 cm
Courtesy Archivio Bonalumi and Mazzoleni London
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