Ex Elettrofonica is pleased to announce the opening of Sergio Breviario’s second solo show at the gallery on Thursday, 19 October 2023, titled Sono convinto, lei avrebbe sorriso. Mi sono convinto del fatto che lei avrebbe sorriso. Lei avrebbe sorriso (I’m convinced, she would have smiled. I convinced myself of the fact that she would have smiled. She would have smiled).
The exhibit features a series of portraits, which are of course unconventional, as we’ve long been accustomed to in the artist’s practice. Their uniqueness doesn’t only lie in how the subjects are handled, the near perfect development of their drawing, the shapes they are enclosed in, the dialogue between figuration and three-dimensionality, or the meticulous choice of techniques used to create them. What makes these works incredible is perhaps the sum of all these elements, together with the reflections the artist cultivates through the material and through art history.
The outcome is an installation of bas reliefs, as the artist calls them, where each face has a voice that contributes to a silent conversation.
Each element has a role in activating the exhibit: the drawing on Canson polyester film, the free three-dimensional forms in black MDF and with no geometry that contain the drawings, the shadows they cast, the condensed intensity in each portrait in dialogue with the other figures.
With his ironic and yet very serious character, Sergio Breviario makes a suggestion: the women referred to in the title could be the Giovane Gentildonna, sculpted in marble by Desiderio da Settignano in fifteenth-century Florence. So, the question the artist poses, and answers, with this exhibit is on the issue of representing a subject, an arduous and riveting goal of inexhaustible allure.
The exhibit also serves as a prelude to Ex Elettrofonica’s contribution to Artissima 2023, with a Sergio Breviario solo show titled The Belle of the Ball in the prestigious Disegni (Drawings) section, curated by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli.
EXHIBITION’s PHOTOS BY: ANDREA VENERI
