Look Closer – 7 Artworks in the bedroom // Opening

Look Closer
7 artworks in the bedroom

Exhibition
from 25 June 2024 – October 2024
opening 25 June 2024 6:30 PM
C/O SuperOtium
via Santa Teresa degli Scalzi, 8 – 80135 Napoli

The seven curators, who live and/or work in the area, had the task of inviting an artist, active in the region, and selecting one of his or her existing artworks to be exhibited in one of the rooms of SuperOtium.

The exhibition involves artistsə with different backgrounds and poetics, thus rendering some of the facets of the complexity of the local art scene. The engravings by Martina Di Gennaro, selected by Maria Corbi, where the signs become scratches and cracks that tell stories, the cushions by Dario Biancullo, selected by Lorenzo Xiques Lopèz, which render the experience of neo-melodic houses in a queer key. Andrea Bolognino‘s drawings, selected by Francesca Blandino for Collezione Agovino, where visual imperfections give way to new visions, and Luca Gioacchino di Bernardo‘s drawings, selected by Martina Campese and Marta Mazzoni for Attiva Cultural, where details push us towards new questions. The installation by Gianfranco De Angelis aka 8ki, selected by Marco Izzolino on behalf of L’Arsenale di Napoli for his multifaceted approach, Erk14, selected by Giulio Raffaele co-founder of Silent Art Explorer, for his ability to translate obsessions and dreams of everyday life into symbolic stratifications, to Bianco-Valente‘s choice to give space to new voices by involving the painter Mariapia Pellegrino.

The exhibition will open on 25 June 2024 at 18.00 and will remain open until December 2024.

This exhibition takes its name from the 2023/2024 theme of the cultural programme curated by Nicola Ciancio for SuperOtium (Boutique hotel and residency space owned by Nicola Ciancio and Vincenzo Falcione) and aims to pursue SuperOtium’s mission of creating an ever-increasing connection between those who come from abroad and the city to stimulate new narratives based on direct relations and not on mediated, sweetened and folkloreised narratives about the city of Naples and its inhabitants.

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SuperOtium is a house in the heart of Naples, founded by Nicola Ciancio and Vincenzo Falcione, designed to welcome tourists, artists, travelers, and creatives. A meeting place where artist residencies, events, exhibitions, and accommodation coexist to inspire artists and creatives and challenge the assumptions of travelers, proposing new perspectives through which to view the city. The SuperOtium residency program has hosted, among others, Kensuke Koike, Pietro Gaglianò, Massimo Uberti, Hypereden, Bianca Felicori (Forgotten Architecture), Paz Ortùzar (in collaboration with the Cervantes Institute of Naples), Giovanna Silva (in collaboration with Lorenzo Xiques), Nuvola Ravera (in collaboration with Made in Cloister), Blase (in collaboration with ShowDesk), Yasser Almaamoun (in collaboration with the Goethe Institut), Khaled El Mays (in collaboration with Edit Napoli).

Artists:

Dario Biancullo (1986) is a designer, activist and transdisciplinary artist trained in Forcella. He investigates new and alternative methods of queer denunciation and self-determination for deviance in the visual and performing arts and in the world of ‘fashion’ through self-investigations with videos, environmental installations, aerosol-art on textiles and posters in public and private space.

Andrea Bolognino studied between the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and the Kunsthochschule Weissensee in Berlin. He currently lives in Munich, Germany. His artistic practice focuses on the exploration of altered visual perception, oscillating between imaginary gazes and the technological expansion of vision. In 2022, he opens his first solo exhibition ‘Blindness, Blinding, Outrage’ at the Capodimonte Museum and enters the museum’s permanent collection. In 2023, at the ACAPPELLA Gallery, he presented the exhibition ‘I Giganti’ (Giants), resulting from his interaction with the contemporary poet Nico Bleutge and Alfred Döblin. In 2024, he inaugurated his second solo exhibition at the ACAPPELLA Gallery ‘OSSERVATORIO’, presenting a series of works from his research on the genres of landscape and still life.

Gianfranco De Angelis aka 8KI (Naples – 1974) Lives and works in Naples. After graduating from art school at the Liceo ArtisticoStatale in Naples, he immediately began a career first as an advertising graphic designer and later specialising in editorial graphics. This work still continues today thanks to the studio he founded (Curvilinee) which counts publishers such as RCS, Rizzoli Education, Edizioni Simone, Edises, Eli, La spigha ect. as clients.
He participates in the creation of the ‘Patapart’ sheet of the Istitutum Pataphysicum Parthenopeium.
His works have been exhibited in various galleries and exhibitions, including the “Marsala 2” gallery in Bologna, on the occasion of ArtCity, the “Pen Project” gallery in Miami USA, the “Centometriquadri” gallery in Santa Maria Capuavetere, the “spazio Nea” gallery in Naples, Palazzo Reale in Milan on the occasion of the Cairo Art Prize.

Luca Gioacchino Di Bernardo‘s research is mainly expressed through the practice of drawing, often accompanied by writing. The artist is influenced by the study of the human and animal subject, which he observes through the thick lens of anthropology, philosophy, biology and hermetic philosophy, accompanied by a profound knowledge and use of iconographic references linked to classical, medieval and ancient mythology and mytho-poiesis. In drawing, he recognises the most fertile terrain for restoring an organic vision of life, whose sentiment often draws on the scientific and symbolic repertoire of his native city, Naples. In 2024, he realised the site-specific editorial intervention Faith Fate in Humanity: Restored, curated by Marta Mazzoni and Valeria Bevilacqua, for the 13th issue of Ŏpĕra, the printed magazine published by Attiva Cultural Projects. In 2023, he presented his solo exhibition Anatomia Teologica per Gianfranco Baruchello (Theological Anatomy for Gianfranco Baruchello), which saw him confront Gianfranco Baruchello’s work “Skizo corpus philosophica” from the Ramo Collection for Drawing Week in Milan, curated by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, a project realised with Galleria Tiziana Di Caro (Naples) and hosted by Galleria Ciaccia Levi (Milan). Since 2022 he has been represented by Galleria Tiziana Di Caro, in which he debuted with Fuoco, innesco: Cacciata dall’Eden the same year. In 2019 he exhibited at the Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples with the solo show Studio per paesaggio e altri animali, curated by Alessia Volpe. In 2017 she participated in the group show Intuition to fill Emptiness, curated by Chiara Valci Mazzara and Gabriela Anco at the Freehome by Vadim & Maria Zakharov venue in Berlin.

Martina Di Gennaro (b. Naples, 1994) graduated in Visual Arts, specialising in Painting and specialising in Graphic Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, where she is an Expert in the subject for the courses in Graphic Art, Experimental Printing Techniques and Xylography (2019-2021). Since 2021 he has been living and working in Rome, where he devotes himself to visual arts and engraving. He is currently artist-in-residence at Fondazione Il Bisonte in Florence. He has taken part in several group exhibitions, including: Fibrenus Carte ad Arte in Carnello (2023), Museo Marino Marini in Florence (BAMMM! Books & Art – 2022), Sincresis gallery in Empoli (100X100 Libri d’artista – 2022); in 2021 SSA 123rd Exhibition in Edinburgh, IOPE International Original Print Exhibition of the Royal Society of Painters Printmakers in London, Spazio Foyer in Trento, Kitchen Print Biennale in Charmes. In the same year, she won second place in the Fibrenus Carte ad Arte Prize in Carnello and was among the artists selected for the FIIC Prize. In 2020 she exhibits at the Oficina Impossivel gallery in Lisbon and at the YAG Gallery in Pescara for the Arte Futura Fair; in 2019 at the QuBi gallery in Vicenza. In the same year she is the winner of the Mestre Alberto Benvenuti Prize and the winner of the Giardini d’Arte di Via Caravaggio Prize. In 2018 she won the Raffaele Pezzuti Prize for Art; in 2017 she participated in the biennial engraving exhibition ‘Incisioni al Femminile’ at the Atelier Controsegno in Pozzuoli. Her xylograph Eterotopia is on permanent exhibition at Metropolitana di Napoli; her installation La Città amniotica. Eterotopia dell’abitare is on permanent display at Giardini d’Arte in Via Caravaggio, Pescara and some of his prints are part of the permanent collection at YAG Gallery.

Mariapia Pellegrino (San Giovanni Rotondo – Foggia – 2023) attended the I.I.S. Fiani Leccisotti institute, i.e. the technical institute belonging to the administration, finance and marketing in Torremaggiore, subsequently taking two years of sabatical and work (where she had the opportunity to get close to people and found some of them appreciative of my being) while still having doubts about the choice of her future. In August 2023, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Foggia. He has participated in two online competitions: ‘Dantebus’ and ‘Art and Artists’.

ERK14 (Carmagnola – To 1986), lives and works in Naples. Artist, art director, designer, after 11 years working at communication agencies in Naples, Rome and Milan, the creation of his own streetwear brand and collaborations as a designer with other fashion brands, in 2014 he embarked on artistic research stimulated by the need to narrate the dynamics of everyday life, often the result of undeclared hardships. Thus began an intense iconographic and iconological research on the symbologies of everyday objects associated with the impulses and accidental dynamics of everyday life. Without ever providing a univocal vision of his works, but through the indication of the infinite possibilities inherent in them, Erk14 leaves it up to the public to develop their own vision. Starting with the rigorous use of black and white, the apparent semantic simplification and the ‘impersonal’ and ‘smudge-free’ graphic and stylistic rendering, in 2020 he began to experiment with colour as a medium of greater empathy with the viewer.

Curators

The Attiva Cultural Projects Association was founded in 2019 with the aim of researching, activating and promoting connections in the contemporary art world, with a particular focus on the proposals and research of emerging artists.
Attiva’s main strength is its distributed presence throughout the territory: although its physical headquarters are located in Portici (Naples), the association counts on a curatorial team located in several Italian cities. This allows in-depth knowledge and extensive scouting of the emerging art scene, as well as the creation of a plethora of projects in different contexts nationwide. Through exhibition, site-specific and editorial projects that take place in and through the art system, Attiva literally acts as an activator of synergies and collaborations, focusing on continuous and innovative research.

Bianco-Valente (Giovanna Bianco and Pino Valente) began their artistic project by investigating from a scientific and philosophical point of view the duality of body and mind, the evolution of interaction patterns between life forms, perception, and the transmission of experiences through storytelling and writing. These studies have been followed by a design development that aims to make the interpersonal connections visible. Examples are the installations in various historical buildings and other projects focusing on the relationship between people, events and places. Attention to context and dialogue with the spaces and communities involved in their work, with the implementation of participatory dynamics that become an integral part of the final realisation, are constant in their practice, which ranges from sculpture to video, installation and workshop practices.
Since 2008, together with Pasquale Campanella, they have been curating the public art project A Cielo Aperto, developed in Latronico, Basilicata, pursuing the idea of working on the construction of an open-air diffuse museum, in which various permanent works dialogue with the mountain environment, and of intervening in the urban space with shared and participatory projects.

The Agovino Collection was created at the behest of Fabio Agovino, a financial consultant, who has dedicated himself to contemporary art with interest and passion for years. Composed of around two hundred works, including painting, installation, video, sculpture and photography, since 2011 it has been undertaking an exhibition programme, including in 2017 “Frammenti di Paradiso”, the first exhibition in a public space – Le Scalze – , in 2021 the project “Claire Fontaine | Pasquarosa | Marinella Senatore” at the Diego Aragona Pignatelli Cortes Museum, and in 2022 the exhibition “Do Animals go to Heaven?” at the Purgatorio Church in Matera. In collaboration with Francesca Blandino, who has been working on the collection since 2015, it acts with the intention of achieving with its activities, from exhibitions to publications, from partnerships to loans, a strong concordance with the present and its imaginaries, its own instances and aspirations and those of community groups.

Francesca Blandino is an art historian, museum educator and independent curator. Born in Benevento, she lives and works in Naples. In her research she explores and questions the crucial role that art plays in the development of complex thinking about the present and new imaginaries about the future. She is a curator and educator of projects that combine relational art, experiential education and reflections on the redefinition of collective values. Since 2020 she has been working at the Fondazione Morra Greco, where she is currently in charge of educational activities and the archive. Since 2017 she has been part of the Coordination Le Scalze with the Archintorno Association, and since 2015 she has worked with the Agovino Collection, where she is curator and archivist.

Nicola Ciancio, author, curator of cultural and creative projects, develops participatory and immersive hybrid projects and formats. Initially trained in the field of performing arts and cultural production, he then met and encountered the worlds of events, visual arts and relational practices. He has realised and devised projects for clients such as Pantone, Fondazione Cariplo, Sanrio, Perfetti, Barbanera, ItaliaFestival, Confagricoltura, Rovio and collaborated for realities such as Elita Festival Milano, Napoli Teatro Festival. Creator and activator of the Non Riservato project in Milan, he currently continues his path of hybridisation of contexts through SuperOtium: an artist residency and hospitality project in Naples.

Maria Corbi (Naples, 1971) is an art historian specialising in contemporary art. She is the author of monographic essays and scientific contributions and has participated in national and international conferences and study days, dealing with issues of history, conservation and contemporary art education, with particular reference to public art. After his teaching experience in History of Art and various research collaborations (including RAI Educational for the National Virtual Museum of Italian Art and the Department of Historical Disciplines, ‘Federico II’ University of Naples), since 2006 he has been in charge of the artistic heritage of the Stations of Art in Naples.

Marco Izzolino is Creative Director of L’Arsenale di Napoli, a project born in 2021 as a research laboratory for the re-creation of cultural memory in Campania. L’Arsenale di Napoli deals with storytelling and experiences of knowledge of the intangible cultural heritage of the territory. The research is functional to the promotion of tourism and the valorisation of regional artistic production. The main objective is to preserve and enhance the cultural and artistic wealth of Campania by offering the public immersive and engaging experiences that allow them to appreciate and fully understand the intangible cultural heritage of the region. Through research activities, the collection of evidence, the production of multimedia content and the organisation of cultural events, A.d.N. is committed to promoting a contemporary vision of the region’s tradition and culture, encouraging the active participation of the public and bringing out new perspectives on Campania’s culture. Thanks to the collaboration with artists, scholars and cultural and tourist operators in the area, L’A.d.N. aims to create a network of knowledge and exchange that can contribute to the growth and dissemination of Campania’s culture, enhancing its peculiarities and stimulating creativity and innovation in the cultural and artistic sphere. In this way, L’A.d.N. is configured as a research and experimentation laboratory that aims to stimulate dialogue between past and present, tradition and contemporaneity, offering the public new perspectives and new forms of enjoyment of Campania’s culture.

Giulio Raffaele was born and grew up in Naples, in the Quartieri Spagnoli, and spent his childhood summers walking on the slopes of Stromboli, barefoot, in the dark, on nights of full and new moon. His first experience with art came as a child thanks to cinema, watching Fanny and Alexander, Amarcord and 2001 A Space Odyssey. In 2008, he moved to Milan and became passionate about contemporary art, until, in 2015, he began collecting works by emerging artists. In 2020 he co-founded Silent Art Explorer (SAE), a private collecting project whose mission is to support emerging talents in art and culture, with three main objectives. The first objective is the enrichment of the collection through the acquisition of works by emerging talents and their valorisation and sharing with the art community. The second objective is the support, economically and beyond, of projects by art and culture professionals, ranging from artist residencies, to curating exhibitions, to contemporary theatre performances. The third objective is the facilitation of the construction of a cohesive and virtuous community of emerging art. Giulio acts as an expert for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, as coordinator of the internal activities of the team that supports the Public Administration in the digital transformation process, and occasionally lends his support as an advisor to start-ups of various kinds.

Lorenzo Xiques Lopèz (Caracas 1983) is a curator, researcher and queer activist present in the Naples area. He collaborates with foundations, private spaces and independent non-profit spaces since 2018. He is interested as a researcher in institutional critique, gender-studies and queer ecology applied to the field of Contemporary Arts with a multidisciplinary, transfeminist and decolonial approach that aims to investigate the study of the socio-cultural meanings of sexuality and gender identity in contemporary Western society surrounding it.