costruirsi un mondo proprio

lunedì, agosto 30, 2021

Cinemino I Fabbrica del Vapore Milano I Dance - 2021

Cinemino I Viafarini presenta alla Fabbrica del Vapore uno screening video a cura di Tommaso Pagani, con opere di Alberto Grifi, Marcia Beatriz Granero, Patrick Bresnan, Chiara Fumai, Olivia Norris, Matteo Messina e Francesco Bartoli. 27-28-29 agosto dalle 18:00 alle 20:30. Sala Colonne. Fabbrica del Vapore, via Procaccini 4, Milano.

DANCE - Francesco Bartoli 2011-2021 I HD video color 5’37’’

DANCE I Francesco Bartoli 2011 - 2021 I HD video color 5’37’’

Un breve ritratto di un particolare lavoratore notturno della città di New York. L’azione ripetitiva e ipnotica del protagonista, ci immerge (e trattiene) in un momento intimo da cui è difficile distogliere lo sguardo; e tutta la città sembra muoversi al suo stesso ritmo.

lunedì, giugno 21, 2021

Scolpire la memoria I Dinamo Gallery I Porto 2021

Scolpire la memoria I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Partnership Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona e Viafarini.

At the entrance of the main space, a big canvas titled Hanged Man reminds us that we are approaching an emotional space. Going back to the time when I used to jump rope as a signal of joy, resistance, pureness and strength. There is a moment in our childhood when something unexpected happens and we crash with the adult world. Our dreams seem to vanish and we jump into the real and heavy life. This happened to me when on the first of January 1992 I discovered my grandfather hanging on the stairs of his house. 

Dinamo Gallery I Largo de S. Domingos, 3°I Porto I From 18th June To 15th July 2021.

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

Francesco Bartoli 2021 I Dinamo Gallery I ESAP Porto

lunedì, maggio 17, 2021

"Scolpire la memoria" I Porto I Art Agenda 2021

Building a show in the middle of a pandemic crisis that speaks about death and the invisible 

line between childhood and adulthood is not an easy thing to do but we are almost there. 

I share a photo - mosaic that shows just a little part of the long creative process that made 

this multidisciplinary art project possible. Just one month left to speak about memory on the old frontier of our civilization. I'll see you at Dìnamo Gallery - Porto from June 18th to July 12th 2021. Thank you to the cultural partnerships that wanted to keep on working on this project even during this difficult time: ESAP Porto - Página Oficial I Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona and Viafarini

"Scolpire la memoria" I Francesco Bartoli 2021
                      

martedì, gennaio 26, 2021

NEW OPENING DATE I Dínamo Gallery I Porto I 18th June to 12th July

Due to the recent covid restrictions in Portugal we have decided to postpone the show Scolpire la memoria to June/July 2021. We look forward to welcoming you at Dinamo Gallery in Porto from next June. More information will come very soon! Thank you to the sponsor & partnerships:

Centro de Estudos Arnaldo Araújo - Viafarini
 - Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Lisbona
https://iiclisbona.esteri.it/iic_lisbona/it/gli_eventi/calendario/2021/02/exposicao-scolpire-la-memoria-de.html?fbclid=IwAR3SSw2K1FCffuTzJdMyxhogfR6iu3SXvAtVlbqJPenOf0zq3to6OLbd9CQ

mercoledì, gennaio 13, 2021

La Frana I Fondazione Stazione dell'Arte I Francesco Bartoli - Beckett

La Frana I Francesco Bartoli_Beckett: video selezionato dalla Fondazione Stazione dell'Arte nell'ambito del progetto espositivo SII Albero di Stefano Boeri in dialogo con le opere e la poetica di Maria Lai:

https://stazionedellartexperience.com/francesco-bartoli/

Beckett - Francesco Bartoli 2020

sabato, dicembre 12, 2020

OPEN STUDIO at VIAFARINI I 11th December 2020

Installation view at Viafarini Fabbrica del Vapore. Works on show: El Escondite MiniDV b/n 5' 00'', Fairy Tale Video HD color 5' 11'', Dance Video HD color 5' 37'', Short stories about Korea Video HD color 18' 24'' and Figure 15 drawings 30x40cm.

Installation view - Francesco Bartoli 2020

giovedì, dicembre 10, 2020

FAIRY TALE 2011 - 2020

OPEN STUDIO VIAFARINI – FABBRICA DEL VAPORE I 11 DICEMBRE 2020 I 10:00 - 19:00. Anteprima di FAIRY TALE (FIGURE) - Video HD color 5’ 10’’ (2020)

<<Sporcava la sua faccia di bianco con la terra che raccoglieva all’interno del quadrato di polvere in cui viveva...nel suo corpo, nel suo volto e nel suo sguardo ho rivisto la storia dell’arte e del cinema.>>

domenica, dicembre 06, 2020

VIAFARINI OPEN STUDIO 11 DICEMBRE 2020

Una selezione di video - tra cui alcuni lavori inediti - scelti per dialogare al meglio con lo spazio dell’archivio di Viafarini alla Fabbrica del Vapore. I titoli; El Escondite, Fairy Tale, Dance e Short stories about Korea hanno in comune un approccio poetico con i temi sviluppati e un forte aspetto performativo all'interno di una narrazione visiva. In mostra sarà presente anche una selezione di lavori su carta e libri d'autore scelti appositamente per l’Archivio di Viafarini.

LA RESA Immagine dal progetto editoriale - espositivo "El Escondite" I Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte - Francesco Bartoli 2010 - 2020

lunedì, ottobre 19, 2020

VIR Viafarini In Residence I Walk-In-Studio I Milano Vie 2020

Milano Vie I Progetto per Viafarini Fabbrica del Vapore I 22-23/10/ 2020

Milano-Vie - Francesco Bartoli 2020

mercoledì, ottobre 14, 2020

VIR Viafarini In Residence I Walk-In-Studio Milano 2020 I Disegnare con la terra

Walk-In-Studio 20 - 23 ottobre 2020. Viafarini Fabbrica del Vapore a Milano. Transitorietà e

permanenza della traccia/memoria. "Disegnare con la terra"- Fotografie e performance 2020 e

"Milano-Vie" Performance, disegno e collage 2020.

Milano-Vie/Disegnare con la terra - Francesco Bartoli 2020

Text

At the entrance of the main space of Dinamo Gallery in Porto, a big canvas titled Hanged Man reminds us that we are approaching an emotional space. Fairy Tales, Religion, Sexuality, Death, Childhood and Adulthood; concepts and references about the last solo show, the first one in Portugal, by Italian visual artist Francesco Bartoli. Scolpire la memoria refers to a kind of renascence, to the endless and intense circle of life. The show is built around the video Infinito finished in 2020 and is connected, poetically and metaphorically, to a particular place; the artist’s studio near Rome. In the show are also presented a selection of drawings from the series Sospiri I Mutazioni I Figure and a series of new sculptures called Scolpire la memoria that Bartoli will finish in the gallery during the preparation of the show. Small sculptures made of uncooked clay, objects and clothes that have been collected only few days ago from the old house of the artist’s grandfather. The idea of this piece is about molding the past with clay, leaving wet sculptures get dry in the gallery; as if time finally could turn into a piece of art even certain feelings. Infinito. Going back to the time when I used to jump rope as a signal of joy, resistance, pureness and strength. There is a moment in our childhood when something unexpected happens and we crash with the adult world. Our dreams seem to vanish and we jump into the real and heavy life. This happened to me when on the first of January 1992 I discovered my grandfather hanging on the stairs of his house. He killed himself, but before that, he left the key outside the front door waiting for someone (me) to rescue him. Years went by and after many years traveling and living abroad, I came back to Italy and built my own studio in the garage right next to my grandfather property. The energy of that land has changed since then. The images that compose this installation were filmed in my grandfather's house in 2020.

Text

Going for a walk in the streets of any South Korean city is like suddenly finding oneself in an endless intersection of intoxicating roads. Before getting involved in any creative project, I found it convenient to ask myself a key question: what should I fixate my attention on? I decided to concentrate on the silence and minimal actions of those persons that enliven the dynamic Korean society.

I created these works during the five weeks I spent in the city of Gwangju, on the occasion of its’ important art Biennale.

Far from trying to understand the Story of this country, my intention was to create a series of short stories with varying degrees of social relevance that would talk about the routine and tasks in a Korean metropolis. From the first moment, I considered the appropriateness of inspiring my work on anonymous stories, on subjects that, regardless of their “normality”, could reveal something important about that unknown place to me.

In a society where the frenetic production of technological “objects” and the enactment of old traditions are mixed to the point of being blended, each ordinary step through the usual streets becomes a new discovery. The markets, the public transport, the sensation of living in a continuous periphery –in spite of being in an urban centre–, make the images that compose this project travel from one atmosphere to another, in a culture that, as I see it, navigates between a burning westernization and the survival of indigenous customs.

Francesco Bartoli 2012

Text

-Residual Shapes, Video 8’ 42’’

A new environment, habits and culture invaded my entire body and pushed me to find a new way of expressing myself. In that moment I was also thinking how to elude the pencil on paper and to find a new relationship with the blank sheet of paper. I needed to record these news thoughts and emotions in some way and I decided to turn them into shapes.

I was trying to leave traces on papers, to draw in a sculptural and physical way. The ideas that I had in that moment turned into Greek masks, medieval Icons or many lines that would help to sketch new identities.

AUTORITRATTO: SERIES ABOUT THE FAMILY 2008/2012

This four works were developed at three different stages of my life but belong to the same train of thought. Three different media joined together by my reflections on the place where I was raised and the personages that still inhabit it. The strangeness experienced when I encountered the same context years later, the memories that came up in the conversations about the past, and a constant examination on my present role as an artist, are just some of the emotions and themes developed in this series.

I was looking for understanding in a place I had always believed to be little receptive and instead found acceptance and unlimited respect; a kind of abnegation that the members of my family feel towards a person that was able to become detached from the overwhelming bond one has with his roots. The contradictory feelings and the doubts experienced during my short visits home prompted this ever-changing self-portrait composed of the places and characters of my childhood. However, I voluntarily left out from this autoritratto the images of my present.

Una imagen no es una escultura. Esta afirmación sugerente y abierta nos introdujo en el “ejercicio” de contemplar dos colecciones de esculturas muy distintas a través del cine en 16mm. Dos colecciones, la del Museo de San Gregorio de Valladolid y la del Museo de Arte Romano de Mérida, que desde el principio nos presentaban un reto importante: construir una “historia común” en una sola instalación.

El riesgo de hacer un film narrativo sobre los museos nos acompañó a lo largo de todo el proceso. Pero la constancia por eludir el aspecto histórico-documental que nos ofrecían las obras nos hizo experimentar nuevos caminos. Definitivamente, quisimos centrar la mirada en lo velado de la escultura y nos adentramos en aquellos materiales, lugares y personas que la rodean. Las manos reconciliadoras de una restauradora, las burbujas de aire que envuelven unas cabezas de mármol, el tiempo “muerto” que llena las salas de un lleno impalpable y el viaje al origen de los materiales en una cantera de mármol o las campiñas, nos parecieron historias arrinconadas que merecía la pena rescatar.

Con la ayuda de una puesta en escena sencilla y sin artilugios cinematográficos, nuestro reto más importante fue el de encontrar una luz reconciliadora que sirviera de común denominador para los dos museos. Trabajar con luz natural en casi todas las escenas anuló cualquier artificio museográfico y nos obligó a mirar con nuevos ojos lo que estábamos grabando.

El resultado fue el camino inverso. Embalar y transportar unas esculturas, limpiar y restaurar con parsimonia un fresco o una talla, los espacios vacíos, las obras expuestas, todo se fundió en un único cuento visual guiado por la naturalidad del paso del tiempo. Cada cosa tenía un peso, y tenía que ser grabada con el mismo respecto y la misma dedicación para que en nuestra obra se hiciera visible cuan imprescindible son todas ellas en la vida de estos dos museos. Las esculturas que viven en ellos lo hacen sólo gracias a la aportación de muchos elementos desconocidos; hay otras vidas fuera de las salas expositivas. Sin embargo, el montaje del Film sigue siendo más abstracto que lineal. No quisimos contar los ciclos tal y como se desarrollan, y no explicamos nada a cerca del proceso. Lo que intentamos fue intensificar la mirada en unos gestos y unos espacios mínimos pero importantes.

La elección del medio cinematográfico nos pareció la más adecuada para infundir a la instalación aún más ligereza. Una ligereza que contrasta con las esculturas que tiene a su alrededor y que a la vez surge de ellas. Las tres dimensiones se aplanan para separarnos aún más de la materia y dejarnos espectadores de lo intangible. Una imagen no es una escultura pero en todo el proceso quisimos que hiciera parte de ella con el intento de atrapar el aire que inevitablemente reside entre los objetos y el espectador. El “ejercicio” sigue en pie y la luz que dispara el proyector lo testifica. Ligereza y peso se complementan.

Francesco Bartoli 2011

Nº24

Primera de una series de acciones pictóricas que había planeado a lo largo de la ciudad, “Nº24”, consistían en intervenir sobre lugares en los que el paso del tiempo había dejado sus vestigios. En este caso el numeró veinticuatro sugería una entrada quizás tapiada años atrás.

Con la ayuda de un color negro dibujé una puerta debajo del numero, dejé por algunos momentos la nueva entrada y poco después, con gestos rápidos y seguros, la volví a ocultar con el color blanco.

La ilusión desaparecía negando el resultado del dibujo precedente y devolviendo a la pared su proyección imaginativa. Desde ahora una nueva memoria, la de mi acción, ocultaría la anterior.

Los signos ineludibles del tiempo y de las experiencias de otros se convirtieron en antiguas pisadas que me otorgaron la capacidad de imaginar lo que un día pudo haber existido debajo de ese numero.

Con los pies firmemente clavados en las nubes

Texto exposición

La idea central de este trabajo es la de convertir la sala de exposición en un escenario transitable, un lugar “irreal” capaz de envolver a los visitantes y brindarles una experiencia física con la obra.

Inspirado en las obsesivas y evocadoras atmósferas teatrales de Samuel Beckett, esta intervención nace de la necesidad de recrear una habitación desde donde poder narrar muchas de las experiencias fotográficas y humanas de mi último año: Un trayecto que empezó boca abajo en Berlín (de donde procede la imagen representativa de la exposición) y que después de pasar por Roma, Madrid y Barcelona culmina con mi estancia en Bogotá.

Con este montaje y la multiplicidad de apariencias de la misma instantánea quise evidenciar también la capacidad de mutación del medio fotográfico y, como consecuencia, sus variables lecturas.

Algunas historias sólo el tiempo las puede contar y nosotros, los artistas, deberíamos convertirnos en los privilegiados testigos capaz de destilarlas. Trabajo de esta forma, con los pies bien anclados al movimiento y a las corrientes.

Francesco Bartoli 2009

Il nascondiglio perfetto non é

Il nascondiglio é uno spazio fratturato, un’intromissione, vive nell’intento fragile e variabile di mantenersi a salvo.

Non riesco a restare immobile, la realtá viene scossa da una misera felicitá, l’assurdo rimane in uno stato di approssimazione constante. Non sono piú.

Il nascondiglio perfetto non é....la vita filtra da ogni parte.
Lo sforzo per mantenermi intatto é inutile, l’energia svanisce ed evapora attraverso le fessure dell’intimo verso l’esterno, non posso muovermi, atonito spettatore di me stesso guardo la solenne vittoria dell’intromissione.

Tutto sembra rimanere ingenuamente puro e fedele, il mio nascondiglio non funziona per il meglio, la realtá é tangibile, eppure svanisce, l’armonia ed il caos, inseparabili, guidano le mie virtú e l’inganno perdura a lungo.
Il nascondiglio perfetto non é.

Il nascondiglio é un’azione video fotografica que vuole svelare la nostra fragile facciata quotidiana.
Video e fotografie sono i testimoni indelebili delle costanti intromissioni che seminano incertezze nel mio ridotto e precario spazio.

Ho cercato di ricostruire uno spazio intimo dove le cose accadono nonostante il peso dei filtri instaurati dalla nostra perversa solitudine, veniamo invasi, scossi e penetrati, nel nostro proprio nascondiglio.
Il nascondiglio...perfetto non é, mai.