CARA DOMANI
opere dalla collezione Ernesto Esposito
(works from the Ernesto Esposito collection)
29 September–2 December 2012
MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna
Via Don Giovanni Minzoni 14
Bologna, Italy
Curated by Caroline Corbetta
Continuing in its investigation into the identity and functions of a contemporary museum, which is one of its principal lines of research, the MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna opens its exhibition spaces to offer a critical approach to the junction between the public dimension of a museum and the intimate one of a private collection, presenting the CARA DOMANI opere dalla collezione Ernesto Esposito from 29th September to 2nd December 2012.
The wide-ranging exhibition, curated by Caroline Corbetta, provides an opportunity to showcase for a wider public a selection of works from the private collection of Ernesto Esposito, the internationally-renowned designer of haute couture shoes, exploring his curious, refined and bold taste with a single scenographic itinerary that offers a sense of the kaleidoscopic vitality of his collection, in which masters of contemporary art maintain a dialogue with emerging artists in a surprising continuity.
The narrative of his intellectual and emotive adventure, developed over a period of 40 years and still under way, unfolds in close relation with the museum’s exhibition spaces through a selection of 76 works—comprising paintings, photographs, videos, sculptures and installations—produced by 66 artists of various generations and cultural and geographical areas.
Distant worlds and stimuli with apparently nothing in common attain a happily eccentric coherence in Ernesto Esposito’s collection, in which can be felt a sense of vitality, albeit veiled by melancholy, which it is hard not to refer in some way to Naples, where the designer was born and has chosen to live, and where he very young began collecting in the 1960s in the lively climate of avant-garde modernity enjoyed in the city.
The inspiration for the MAMbo’s exhibition betrays an affectional reference to the city: Cara domani is the name of the 1995 work by Jack Pierson in which the American artist brought together the two words he claimed to have heard most often during a stay in Naples. Ten plastic, metal and bakelite letters form an expression in which materialises the local character, hovering between courtesy and procrastination, between sentimentalism and resignation.
The selection of works on show also makes it possible to focus on some specific thematic aspects developed by the Istituzione Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna in documenting the most important contemporary art trends in Europe and America, highlighting a significant closeness of intent in orientation and critical intuition with the choices made by the collector. There are many artists who have in recent years been presented in group exhibitions, from Andy Warhol and Matthew Barney to Thomas Ruff and Michelangelo Pistoletto, or in solo shows, such as that dedicated to Markus Schinwald, the first of its kind in Italy and organised by the GAM in 2006 as part of the Coming Soon MAMbo cycle; another such was that with the American Kelley Walker, protagonist in 2008 of the latest project realised as a pair with Wade Guyton especially for the MAMbo. Alberto Tadiello, Francesco Vezzoli and Vedovamazzei, meanwhile, are included in the exhibition of the museum’s Permanent Collection in the Focus on Italian Contemporary Art section dedicated to the latest generations of Italian art.
The CARA DOMANI opere dalla collezione Ernesto Esposito exhibition, organised by ORA S.r.l. and MAMbo – Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna with the external coordination of Giuliana Picarelli, is accompanied by a catalogue published by Edizioni Corraini in an original news magazine format dedicated to Ernesto Esposito. It includes an introduction by Gianfranco Maraniello, a long interview with the collector by the curator, Caroline Corbetta, texts by—among others—Beatrice Bulgari, Lapo Elkann, Fabio Novembre and Silvia Venturini Fendi, and a supplement with illustrations of all the works on show
Artists: avaf (assume vivid astro focus), Charles Avery, Matthew Barney, Joseph Beuys, Tom Burr, Peter Coffin, Dan Colen, Martin Creed, Alberto Di Fabio, Natalie Djurberg, Luke Fowler / Kosten Koper, Claire Fontaine, Luca Francesconi, Cyprien Gaillard, Gilbert & George, John Henderson, Damien Hirst, Haavard Homstvedt, Rashid Johnson, Alex Katz, Terence Koh, Joseph Kosuth, Yayoi Kusama, Marck Lackey, Phillip Lai, Jim Lambie, Annika Larsson, Fabian Marti, Jason Martin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Barry McGee, Ryan McGinley, Birgit Megerle, Jonathan Monk, Seb Patane, Marco Perego, Manfred Pernice, Jack Pierson, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Richard Prince, Rob Pruitt, Mel Ramos, Robert Rauschenberg, Dan Rees, Ugo Rondinone, Thomas Ruff, Eduardo Sarabia, Steven Shearer, Markus Schinwald, Agathe Snow, Dash Snow, Martin Soto Climent, Ruby Sterling, Hank Willis Thomas, Keith Tyson, Cy Twombly, Vedovamazzei, Eulalia Valldosera, Francesco Vezzoli, Tris Vonna-Michell, Kelley Walker, Andy Warhol, Gillian Wearing, Jordan Wolfson, Aaron Young
