"Abete" is the maxi sculpture by Giuseppe Penone which on March 25 will be inaugurated in Piazza della Signoria in Florence, on the occasion of the On Tuesday, the National Day in memory of Dante Alighieri. The work, about 22 meters high, is the largest of those so far housed in the historic center of the Tuscan capital. It is an anticipation of the contemporary art exhibition "In-verse Trees", dedicated to the Piedmontese sculptor, which the Uffizi Galleries will host from June 1st to September 12th.
Solemn ceremony
Organized by the Uffizi Galleries, co-promoted by the Municipality of Florence and carried out in collaboration with the Continua Association, the ceremony will take place in the presence of the director of the Uffizi Galleries Eike Schmidt, the president of the Tuscany Region Eugenio Giani, the mayor of Florence Dario Nardella . With them there will also be the Councilor for Culture of the Municipality of Florence Tommaso Sacchi and the Board of Directors of the Uffizi Galleries Valdo Spini.
March 25, the start of the journey
March 25 is Monday, the National Day in memory of Dante Alighieri. On this date, scholars recognize the beginning of the journey into the afterlife of the Divine Comedy. On this day, the genius of the great poet will be remembered throughout Italy and the world, with numerous initiatives, including online, organized by schools, students and cultural institutions. The 2021 edition is particularly significant because it marks the XNUMXth anniversary of Dante's death.
The work anticipates the exhibition "In-verse Trees"
"Abete" anticipates the exhibition "Alberi In-Versi", a title that alludes to Dante's theme of the "tree that lives on the top" (Dante, Paradiso, 18: 28-30), a dialectical place where the physical world meets and the conceptual one, the matter and the idea. A series of drawings by the artist will refer to this border area, welcomed for the occasion in the spaces of the Galleries. The title also refers to Penone's deep connection with the written word.
“People and years”, plant poem
“Fir”, but not only. One of the focuses of the exhibition, "People and years", is in fact a 15-meter frottage on linen with chlorophyll ink, an imprint around which an autographed text by Penone himself develops, a long and personal "vegetable poem" . Around these works there is a selection of graphic works, sculptures and interventions capable of bearing witness to some fundamental themes in his poetics. They are represented by time, by contact as memory and generating force, by art as a minimal gesture that reveals the form and continuity of man-nature.
Giuseppe Penone, the artist
“Abete” is part of a long series of sculptures dating back to the 60s. In this historical period, the artist decides to carve wooden beams giving them the shape of logs. The sculptor thus reverses the industrial process that makes the tree a construction beam. Giuseppe Penone, born in Garessio, in the province of Cuneo, in 1947, is an exponent of Arte Povera. His research focuses on nature and natural processes, on the relationship of man with the environment and that between the human body and matter.
The interaction between man and nature
Penone's works investigate the relationship of energy exchange between man and nature, at the rhythm of the cycle of life. The artist studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, where he develops a deep interest in the exploration of matter in relation to time. The interaction between man and nature is central in a series of works in which the sculptor intervenes in the process of growing trees. They will be the protagonists of all his subsequent research. By inserting steel fingers or metal wedges into the trunk, Penone waits for the tree to complete the work. In 2007 he represented Italy at the 52nd Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition. In 2014 he was awarded the Imperial Premium, delivered annually by the Japan Art Association and considered the most important international recognition.
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