From 13th September to 16th March the first and most important solo show ever held in Italy dedicated to the great Argentine artist. Opera Laboratori, after having signed the purchase agreement with the Bank of Italy, produces the first exhibition event with more than 80 works created by Le Parc in over 60 years of activity.
After the agreement signed with the Bank of Italy last June, Opera Laboratori reopens Palazzo delle Papesse to the public with a large exhibition. The rebirth of the historic residence comes to life through an ambitious project that aims to reposition the iconic building at the center of Italian cultural institutions. Siena welcomes from 13th September 2024 to 16th March 2025 “Julio Le Parc. The discovery of perception”, the most important solo exhibition of the great Argentine artist ever held in Italy, after his participation in the 33rd Venice Biennale in 1966, when he received the prestigious International Grand Prize for Painting.
Curated by Marcella Beccaria in dialogue with Julio Le Parc and the artistic director of his studio Yamil Le Parc, the exhibition is produced by Opera Laboratori with the support of Galleria Continua. The catalog and merchandising are created by the Sillabe publishing house.
“With this first exhibition – explains Beppe Costa, president and managing director of Opera Laboratori – we want to trace a path of cultural rebirth that will bring international art exhibitions and events to the heart of Siena in a 15th century building which for many years was an important center of contemporary art. The objective is to build a bridge between history and the future, looking with confidence to the new generations and bringing prosperity to the territories and their communities. We dedicate the exhibition to Daniele Petrucci, who has always believed in the innate strength of this treasure chest of rare beauty and who will continue to guide us in our dreams from an even higher place than the roof terrace of Palazzo delle Papesse”.
Filled with history and the memory of illustrious guests, including Pope Pius II and Galileo Galilei, the ancient rooms of Palazzo delle Papesse, together with the courtyard, the vault, the terrace and the roof terrace on the roofs of Siena, provide the ideal context for Le Parc’s work and his incessant attitude to experimentation which, in the artist’s own words, means “research, discoveries, risks, contradictions, meetings, discoveries, waiting, surprise, relegations, advancements, perspective“. A perfect union between past and present, based on a dialogue between the colours, lights and movements of Julio Le Parc’s works and the splendid frescoes on the ceilings of Palazzo delle Papesse. Le Parc works on the idea of detachment between the artist and the work. He prefers the use of existing geometric shapes in order to visually activate the surface of the work and involve observers. “The first necessity – he writes – (is) to increase the distance between the artist and the work, removing not only every trace of manual fabrication (‘the artist’s pictorial touch’) but also traces of subjective composition”. With works that mostly come directly from his studio in Cachan, France and belong to his archive, the Argentine artist offers visitors a direct encounter with his creative universe from 1958 to today. Avoiding a rigid chronology, the exhibition is organized according to the thematic series that mark the artist’s work and begins by welcoming visitors with Sphere verte (2016). Located at the entrance to Palazzo delle Papesse, this recent work is a large suspended body. Its unstable geometry, made up of a multitude of green plexiglass tiles that reflect light, modifies the surrounding space.
Forerunner of kinetic art and Op Art, Le Parc has worked with light and movement from the beginning. In 1959, in the fertile climate of the early years in Paris, Le Parc placed electric lights in small boxes and used prisms or Plexiglas sheets to combine colored light beams. “The experiments with light and movement – wrote the artist in 1971 – were part of my desire to move away from the notion of a fixed, stable and definitive work”. On display are iconic works from this period, including important historical examples such as Continuel lumière mobile (1963-2013), Continuel lumière boite n. 3 (1959-1965) and Continuel lumière avec quatreformes en contorsion (1966-2012). Each of these works investigates the relationship between light and movement in different ways and induces a variety of possible reactions in those who encounter them. An incessant research that leads the artist to experiment with the fourth dimension in his works, generating installations capable of producing unforgettable immersive experiences.
The attitude towards experimentation leads Le Parc to define a spectrum of 14 colors as the basis for his pictorial research. The Argentine artist uses them pure, as if they were a piece of rainbow that moves to form ever new geometries. The infinite variations in color and shape of Le Parc’s paintings invade the rooms of the fifteenth-century palace, as in Ondes 139 serie 47 n. 8, (1974), or Ondes Alternées à partir d’un thème de 1972 (1972-2018), where the works impose their strength in a positive sense on the exhibition space. The artist’s acrylic colors seem to be in movement, multiplying and going beyond the boundaries of the canvas. “Looking at them – specifies the curator Marcella Beccaria – means accessing a joyful universe in which the perceptive experience is the protagonist”. At Palazzo delle Papesse, the concentric circles of Série 14 – 14 Permuté (1970-2020) and the trembling ones in Série 15 n. 8 (1971-2012) capture the gaze, inviting those who encounter them to experiment with different degrees of distance, for example trying to get closer and then move away.
Since the Seventies, Le Parc has also expressed his 14 colors in a series of sculptures, the Ensemble volume-couleur, of which a selection dated 1971-1975 is present in the exhibition. These are works in painted wood in which the solid element stands on a metal rod mounted on a base. Despite their small dimensions, the set of these works can evoke a group of architectural models, almost as if they were projects that could also be developed on a monumental scale, such as sculptures for city squares of the future that anticipate the work on public works of the years Eighty. The exhibition also includes works belonging to the recent Alchimie series. Painted on large canvases, these works tell of Le Parc’s constant ability to extend his research by exploring new possibilities.
“If this exhibition of Le Parc at the Palazzo delle Papesse is the largest ever organized by the artist in Italy – concludes the curator Marcella Beccaria – it should also be remembered that an important precedent is given by his participation in the XXXIII Venice Art Biennale of 1966. Le Parc is called to represent Argentina and his presentation, which includes a large number of works, is a great success with the public. Photographs of the period portray visitors interacting with the works and for example climbing onto sculptures equipped with springs, or wearing large glasses which instead of lenses have sequences of horizontal blades”.
“Italy – comments Yamil Le Parc, Director of the South American artist’s studio – has always had a considerable presence in Argentina, where today it is the largest foreign community. It was time for Le Parc to return to Italy so he could continue to influence and inspire today’s audiences with his ability to question and transform our understanding of contemporary art. I hope that this exhibition leaves a profound mark, not only on the citizens of Tuscany but also on the thousands of tourists who visit Siena every year in search of history and beauty”.
Julio Le Parc. The discovery of perception, organized in a free path on two floors that favors thematic rooms, collects over 80 works created in Paris, France, after the debut in Buenos Aires in Argentina, up to recent and new works. Over 60 years of activity, from black and white geometric works to kinetic-luminous works and sculptures, up to iconic paintings, tell the uniqueness and vastness of a research aimed at stimulating the perception and involvement of spectators.
To enrich the visit to the historic building, on the ground floor, there will be a bookshop with dedicated merchandising and products and a bistro accessible, as are all the other rooms, even for those with mobility difficulties. Also involved in supporting the Palazzo’s cultural project were: Estra, Terre Cablate, the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino, iGuzzini, Pedrali and Lavazza. Palazzo delle Papesse will offer educational activities, inclusive visits and workshops through the “Papesse Lab” project, with the aim of bringing the public closer to art and broadening the viewer’s gaze, whatever their age, investigating the folds of reality. To participate in all the events and exhibitions, Opera Laboratori has created a card, the “Curious card”, which can be purchased online or at the Palace ticket office, which will allow a 10% discount on products on sale in the bookshop, on drinks in cafeteria and educational laboratories.
Useful information on the operalaboratori.vivaticket.it website.
Press Office Opera Laboratori
Andrea Acampa 3481755654 a.acampa@operalaboratori.com
Andrea Ceccherini 3392545773 a.ceccherini@operalaboratori.com
Giacomo Luchini 3494942535 g.luchini@operalaboratori.com
DOWNLOAD THE PRESS
SHARE ON YOUR CHANNELS
