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Massimo Kaufmann | Gonçalo Mabunda
18 febbraio | 3 aprile 2021
Nella produzione degli ultimi dieci anni di Massimo Kaufmann emerge la volontà di rendere visibile la durata del processo creativo insito in ognuno dei suoi quadri. Le opere, definibili come delle astratte atmosfere pittoriche, sono il risultato di un meticoloso e sorvegliato dropping sulla tela posta orizzontalmente di fronte a sé. Kaufmann stesso spiega che dipinge “senza alcun supporto narrativo o descrittivo (…) utilizzando un colore, tutti i colori per evitare tranelli simbolici”. La sua pittura composta da stratificazioni di trasparenze di colore può essere letta come un processo di crescente meditazione in cui i gesti vengono gradualmente ridotti al minimo.
Alcune opere di grandi dimensioni dell’artista italiano saranno presentate in dialogo con le sculture di Gonçalo Mabunda che, nel 2019, ha rappresentato la sua nazione (Mozambico) alla Biennale di Venezia. Mabunda trasforma materiali bellici -oggi dismessi- che furono utilizzati durante i sanguinosi anni della guerra civile che ha afflitto il Mozambico per ben 16 anni. L’artista si appropria di qualsiasi tipo di scarto bellico -proiettili, bombe, fucili- assemblando le varie parti per comporre maschere e troni. Le sua maschere hanno un forte potere evocativo e riescono a mantenere i valori simbolici e rituali delle antiche maschere tribali -che sono parte della cultura e della tradizione dell’artista- pur convertendole in una veste totalmente contemporanea.
LIS10 Gallery is pleased to open the 2021 exhibition program with a double show by Gonçalo Mabunda and Massimo Kaufmann, thank to the collaboration with Giovanni Bonelli Gallery.
In his last production Massimo Kaufmann expresses – with the use of oil on canvas- his intention to render chromatic atmospheres pictorially and to make visible the duration of the creative process. The works are the result of a precise and meticulous dropping on the canvas often set horizontally. Kaufmann says that he paints “…without narrative or descriptive support (…) [using] one color and all the colours -to avoid symbolic snares- “. His slow painting with overlaps of transparent colours can be read as a process of growing medidation with gestures that gradually reduce to the minimum. Some large scale works by Italian artist will be displayed with the sculptures by Gonçalo Mabunda (that represented his nation at the last Venice Biennale in 2019).
Mabunda converts dismantled war materials that were in use during the long and bloody civil wars – 16-year – that affected his country (Mozambique). The artist appropriates of all kind of war waste -bullets, bombs, files- and then assembles them with the final shape of masks and thrones.
Mabunda’s masks have a strong evocative power and maintain the symbolic and ritual values of the ancient African tribal masks that are part of the artist’s culture and tradition, while converted in a contemporary way.
Massimo Kaufmann (1963, Milano. Lives and works in Milano)
Kaufmann is one of the main Italian artist of his generation that imposed his activity at the end of the 90s in Milano. He used to use all media from installations to photographs up to sculpture and, of course, painting. His works have been selected by prestigious International collections and Museums in the world: Paris (Cartier Foundation); Berlin (Martin Gropius Bau, Metropolis); Amsterdam (De Appel collection); Wien (Liechtenstein Palace, Ludwig Foundation); New York (Sperone-Westwater; Bronx Museum); Nice (Contemporary Art Museum); Rome (National Gallery of Modern art), Milan (Pac, Royal Palace Collection, Triennale).
Gonçalo Mabunda (1975, Maputo District, Mozambico. He lives and works a Maputo). Although he spent his childhood in a country devastated by the civil war (1975-1991) Mabundahe attended schools in the capital of Mozambique (Maputo). His works were exposed in prestigious International Galleries and Museums including: Center Georges Pompidou, Paris (2005); Mori Museum, Tokyo (2006); Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2016); Palazzo Reale, Milan (2016); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018). His first presence at the Venice Biennale dates to 2015 while in 2019 he was selected to represent Mozambique in the national pavilion. Internationally he collaborates with the Jack Bell Gallery in London. He received numerous international awards for his commitment as an anti-war activist broadcast through his work.
