Dire il tempo
A retrospective
May 4–July 20, 2019
Curated by Chiara Bertola
Milan
Roman Opałka, a retrospective
BUILDING, Via Monte di Pietà 23, Milan
May 4–July 20, 2019
Press preview: May, Friday 3, 2019, 12:30pm
Venice
Roman Opałka
Mariateresa Sartori
Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Castello 5252, Venice
May 7–November 24, 2019
Press preview: May, Monday 6, from 11am to 3pm
Opening (public): May, Monday 6, 6pm
Milan and Venice pay tribute to Roman Opałka with Dire il tempo (Telling time), an exhibition in two chapters curated by Chiara Bertola.
The Franco-Polish artist, who died in 2011, will be the focus of two complementary exhibitions conceived and produced by BUILDING and Fondazione Querini Stampalia, in Milan and Venice respectively.
Dire il tempo explores Roman Opałka’s oeuvre, presenting a selection of works that marks fundamental milestones in his artistic career. The pieces, many of which have never been exhibited in Italy, or indeed at all, come from major public and private collections which include the Muzeum Sztukiin Łódź and above all the Fonds de Dotation Roman Opałka, a connection which became a close partnership in the course of the project. Both exhibitions revolve around OPALKA 1965/1-∞, the project to which the artist dedicated much of his life.
For the very first time, the first and last “Détails” are being presented together: the first from the Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Poland, is on its debut showing in Italy, while the last, unfinished canvas comes from a private collection and has never been exhibited before now.
The heart of the Franco-Polish artist’s oeuvre, OPALKA 1965/1-∞ is the focal point of the exhibition experience spanning Milan and Venice, which covers his entire career from his earliest to very latest pieces, giving visitors key insights into lesser known aspects of his work which are nonetheless a fundamental part of his conceptual and artistic modus operandi. In the Milan chapter of the exhibition, BUILDING is exhibiting a selection of paintings from the “Détails” series, along with 7 Cartes de Voyages and 35 self-portraits, presented together with the recorded sound of his voice, to convey an overarching vision of the project OPALKA 1965/1-∞.
The exhibition in Milan is also enriched by a nucleus of works dating to before 1965: from an early academic drawing, Les Nuages, of 1951, to the Études sur le Mouvement (1959-60), Chronome (1963) and Alphabet grec (1965) in which he experimented with the fragmentation of space and time by using rhythms and movements of marks and dots on the canvas‚up to the Fonemats series of 1964, on display for the very first time. There is also a section devoted to his graphic work, with his etchings “Descriptions du Monde,” produced between 1968 and 1970.
Particularly significant in terms of gaining a critical appreciation of this artist’s work, the Venetian chapter of the project brings together the two key-works of the OPALKA 1965/1-∞ program, exhibiting them together for the very first time. The Fondazione Querini Stampalia presents the Alpha and the Omega of this project, the first and the last Détail, reunited at last. Along with these two momentous paintings, the show also features a series of photographic self-portraits and the soundtrack of the artist’s voice. Together with Roman Opałka’s representations of time, the Fondazione Querini Stampalia will present a group of works by Mariateresa Sartori (Venice, 1961), an artist from a different generation who was a close friend of Opałka.
For the past twenty years the Fondazione Querini Stampalia has been working with artists on projects that explore the relationship between historical and contemporary art.
Honoring its mission—and in this case, thanks to the collaboration with the Fonds de Dotation Roman Opałka—BUILDING continues to pursue a synergistic vision of market and culture, embodying a new concept of art gallery, where in-depth research work goes into each project it stages: its exhibitions are conceived as one-off events that both offer the public a high-quality cultural experience and enable collectors to open up to international horizons.
