The project for Art Basel Hong Kong, presented by Thomas Brambilla Gallery, is based on a site specific installation in a reduced scale 1:2 of the renowned Porziuncola of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli of Assisi, conceived by the young Italian artist Edoardo Piermattei.
The idea behind this site-specific project is the need to restore Art’s primary position as a determinate and invasive element, both in private and social environments. Such role is essentially the opposite of what happened during the last century, when Art was confined into the mere frame of bourgeoisie’s villas white walls.
The idea behind this site-specific project is the need to restore Art’s primary position as a determinate and invasive element, both in private and social environments. Such role is essentially the opposite of what happened during the last century, when Art was confined into the mere frame of bourgeoisie’s villas white walls.
Edoardo Piermattei, born in the Marche, a region which represented the artistic heart of Italy during the Renaissance, had always been fascinated by the imposing ancient architectural structures and by the richness of the colour palette in their interior and exterior decorations, therefore he focalised his work on a modern and lively reproduction of those admired features. To decorate his architectural structures, Piermattei used the ancient fresco technique consisting of powders and pigments bonded with glue and cement. This colourful aspect is firstly a tribute to the great Italian masters, and it immediately recalls the decorative cycle of Assisi painted by Giotto and Cimabue, not to mention the giant, graceful and light-coloured clouds which dominate the ceilings of Giambattista Tiepolo. Secondly, this space, small but full of artistic and architectural references, allows the viewer to accentuate the “conceptual” experience and to extrapolate their own meaning from the artwork. The exterior of the Porziuncula, however, has deliberately been left in its germinal stage. As a result, it plays on the antithesis between the external imperfection and internal perfection, to reinforce the magnificence of the frescoes decoration.
The Porziuncola of Piermattei, with its frescoed walls, becomes a space of intimacy, his own paradise, this way resembling the Porziuncola of Assisi for Saint Francis. It is conceived to be a place for everyone to restore from the world, but it also aims to let the visitor experience the contemplation of the infinite beauty of Art, through its elegant and abstract frescoes.