EXHIBITION REVIEW
VISIONS – CANVAS INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2024
November 08 – 22, 2024
Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Venice

ITSLIQUID Group, in collaboration with ACIT Venice – Italian-German Cultural Association, is pleased to announce the great success of VISIONS, the third appointment of CANVAS INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR 2024, which took place in Venice at Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello during the 60th Venice Biennale of Art.

Click here to read more about the press release
Click here to see the photo full reportage

The word “canvas” was used for the first time in Italy in the 14th century and it has become the most common support medium for oil painting, replacing wooden panels. Over the centuries, the canvas’ meaning has changed, starting from paintings, through photographic and cinematographic film, exploring the human body, to the digital world. Canvas is the creatives’ common ground, on which they can express themselves. We invite all the artists to share their personal artistic research through any kind of media, from painting to sculptures and installation, from photography to video art and live performance.

VISIONS aims to explore all different facets of the social, physical and cultural identities of our contemporary society. Every day we deal with a multitude of different identities and roles: we face public life creating and adapting our social identities, our body and aesthetic tastes modify and are modified by our physical and sexual identities, our whole being evolves as well as contemporary cultures and modern cities do in order to create new compound and exchange possibilities for new “liquid identities” in “liquid cities“. 

Photographers, painters, but also video and digital artists greatly contributed to the success of the exhibition. Starting from Naneki Ofensky, whose abstract artworks stand out for their pastel-like and subtle shades of colors: visitors could delve into the colourful universe the artist has created to emerge back with their own visions of what painting is. The same goes for Florido Pontani‘s “Composizione 217”, an abstract dreamlike world to dive into: through its curves and lines, the work brings the eye to navigate inside it, first at one speed and then at another one. The oil painting and its decisive and intense colors convey to the observer the movement of what is represented. The eye and mind of the viewer explore the surface of the work, perceiving the depth and movement of the textures and levels.

Black and White rather than color are the means through which former dancer Valentina Benigni decided to capture the movement of dance on stage. Italian photographer based in France, Benigni chose light to “draw” figures and lines against a dark background; this results in most poetic as well as extremely refined works the artist intertwines with stories in which light, movement, shadow, and emotion dance together to create a unique and eternal moment. Sigbjørn Sigbjørnsen, from Norway, reproduced moments of being both in the real as well as imaginary world: with a unique approach to photography, Sigbjørnsen manages to conceive new visions, both colorful and synthetic, but above all, they are landscapes for observers to explore continuously.

Moving away from traditional artistic media, Ai Fashion Shows | Katharina Gross makes use of AI-driven design with a view to craft elegance and digital fashion. Her visionary approach to art and, particularly, fashion aims at redefining the intersection between technology and haute couture: the two works displayed invite viewers to ponder over the fluidity of beauty and elegance in today’s world using a celebration of light, form, and materials. On the contrary, Swiss painter Basil Thuillard employs traditional painting with a novel vision, overlapping layers made of diverse and contrasting materials. His goal is crossing the point of balance between two polarities, an ultimate effect he manages to attain by contrasting cold and warm tones, painting, and metal. The overall effect is that of pure fragility of a being in its extreme resilience.

A similar look on reality but with different means and techniques is the one showcased by Inessa Morisot: evidently inspired by French Impressionism, the German photographer has presented a vibrant photo series capturing the essence of life through an Impressionist lens. She invites visitors to embark on a journey through the kaleidoscopic and atmospheric representation of fleeting snapshots on the Atlantic coast of Biarritz. A look, a smile, changing weather and light, “Have a nice day, it was nice to see you again” – life in its most beautiful form, a moment that passes and yet remains here forever. And one could definitely think of impressions when looking at the works by Camilo Orozco-Madrid. Coming from Colombia, Camillo employs painting on quite wide surfaces to exploit subtler effects: he privileges warmer tones to convey the atmospheric sense and envision summer-like scenarios.

Not surprisingly, color is again the main means employed by Swiss painter Günther Baechler. In such a case, color spreads through wide surfaces creating new and unexpected textures one would better define as cracks on the canvas. This way, the artist has viewers go deeper into the pictorial matter, triggering their journey toward imaginary places never explored before. Known for his use of large canvases, Baechler stands out as a true colorist. Last but not least, Maria Popiol‘s works provide a sense of mythology and never-ending movement; her two canvases mainly focus on the human body, its beauty, and elegance both for the male and female counterparts. A dream-like atmosphere is achieved by the Polish painter thanks to the contrast between darker backgrounds and vegetal elements shining like golden-leaf, a global sense of calm and peace will shower all observers standing in front of them.

organized by ITSLIQUID Group
in collaboration with ACIT Venice – Italian-German Cultural Association | GOETHE INSTITUT
curator Luca Curci
project manager Giulia Tassi
project coordinator Amaride Ferrante
artists coordinator Elena Falcone, Andrea Medin, Vittoria Vallebella, Valentyn Yatsenko
collaborators Yadigar Aksoy, Maria Arban, Sorana Buciuleac, Anna D’Addabbo, Valentina Minniti, Annachiara Recchia, Maria Teghini
graphic designer Marina Caracciolo

VENUE
Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello
Associazione Culturale Italo-Tedesca (ACIT), Cannaregio 4118, Venice
Opening hours | Monday – Friday . 09.30 AM – 05.30 PM

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ABOUT US

ITSLIQUID is a web-based information platform, founded in 2001 by Luca Curci, dedicated to the worldwide distribution of information about calls for entries, exhibitions and events at some of the world’s leading art galleries, museums and foundations selected. ITSLIQUID has already built a readership of more than 250.000 qualified subscribers. Among them architects, designers, artists, collectors, art critics, curators, dealers, and other personalities of the International art, architecture and design world. It provides advertising services, press office services for events and projects, articles and specials published on the website, and media partnership services.

During the last 20 years, ITSLIQUID Group has become a cultural hub between creatives, exhibition spaces and art lovers. Among our international partners, Art Now Fair, Art Vancouver, Design Tokyo, INDEX Qatar, INDEX Saudi, The Big 5 Construct Dubai, The Big 5 Construct Qatar, Photo LA Los Angeles and international magazines like Art Style. ITSLIQUID Group supports some of the most important no-profit organizations, like UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, SSCS – Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, One Tree Planted, The Ocean CleanUp and Plastic Oceans, with the goal to increase public awareness about environmental issues. Click here to find out more.

ITSLIQUID GROUP includes a section dedicated to the organization of international art events, managing exhibitions of painting, photography, video art, installation and performance; it organizes solo and collective shows, art residencies and international contests. Its object is to use new technologies to globalize the language of art, and to connect artists working in every part of the world.

ITSLIQUID Group manages a variety of art spaces all over the world; among them Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello in Venice and different historical buildings, ELEMENTS Contemporary Art Space in the London city centre and other different partners worldwide. Since its beginning, the group has organized more than 250 events all around the world, involving more than 5.000 artists, in more than 60 international venues in Italy, the USA, Canada, the UK, Spain, France, etc. Most of the last events have been realized in museums (CCCB – Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in Spain, NCCA – National Center for Contemporary Arts in Moscow, etc.), galleries and private foundations.

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OUR LOCATION

Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello is one of the most known palaces of the Renaissance in Venice. It is a historical building dating back to the 16th century, and it has been owned by several noble Venetian families, as demonstrated by the frescoed ceilings, the artistic stuccos and the fine furniture that enriches its rooms. The Palace welcomes visitors with its beautiful private garden on the ground floor, and then it gathers the guests in its large first-floor salons, in which past and present dialogue together. The restored Old Masters’ frescoes and the contemporary art masterpieces that are periodically shown in the exhibitions hosted here, make Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello the perfect location for the balance between old and new, between ancient environment and contemporary art, architecture and design.

Today the building is managed by ACIT Venice – the Italian-German Cultural Association – which is considered one of the most important intercultural associations in Europe. Thanks to the ACIT unceasing cultural activity, Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello has nowadays frequent collaborations with the Goethe Institute and with other local and international institutions, maintaining its ancient reputation. Because of these relations, it presents a huge program of memorable art exhibitions, conferences, congresses and concerts. Among the last institutional exhibitions, is its participation in the 58th Venice Biennale with the Guatemala pavilion, the Dominican Republic pavilion and the Grenada pavilion. ITSLIQUID Group already had the pleasure to hold some festivals and exhibitions in Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, such as MORPHOS Festival and FUTURE IDENTITIES Festival, both in 2014.