Upon a Time
Curated by Edoardo Monti
Eduardo Secci Firenze
Florence, from January 29 to March 12, 2022
Opening: Saturday, January 29, 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Exhibition walkthrough video available online
Exhibition view, Upon a Time, 2022, Eduardo Secci Firenze, Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Eduardo Secci gallery is pleased to announce the group show “Upon a Time” curated by Edoardo Monti featuring works byBea Bonafini, Daria Dmytrenko, Carla Gaiccio Darias, Sahara Longe, and Sophie Spedding, in Florence from January 29 to March 12, 2022.
“Upon a Time tells one and thousand stories, populated by characters who leap from one painting to another, from a tapestry to a sculpture. Heroines, monsters, and mythical animals, magical figures protagonists of a story that never happened" writes Edoardo Monti in his introductory text.
The five artists not only share the common experience of the artist residency at Palazzo Monti but also a vast imaginary capable of giving life to dreamlike atmospheres, almost fairy at intervals. Yet, “Upon a Time” does not consist of all fables, like the portraits of Sahara Longe (1994), where to settings and subjects - familiar at first glance - correspond a dry composition in which stand out the silhouettes of new protagonists capable of overturning a totally Western art history. Thus, the works by Sophie Spedding (1995), giving space to corporeality and its expressions in an ironic and sincere way, seem to use another reality to explore the persistence of mental representations. Through a painting with intense tones, Daria Dmytrenko (1993) investigates the psychological dimension of the individual stopping in the limbo between dream and reality; a field of research similar to that of Carla Giaccio Darias (1998), whose works examine the processes of memory activation through the collection of images. The practice of Bea Bonafini (1990), on the other hand, recalls mythology and popular history in an intertwining of hybrid figures that blend with each other, creating collages of delicate colors shapes, nevertheless capable of effectively transmitting the tenor of the representation.
In this way, "Upon a Time" appears as an overturned world, a delicate irony intended to gently bring the visitor closer to an apparently enchanted world able to reveal intimate narratives, collective reflections and spaces for psychological investigation.
The exhibition walkthrough video will be online at www.eduardosecci.com/exhibitions.
Curatorial Essay by Edoardo Monti
Once upon a time ... there was a palace. It is not only the somewhat fabled context of Palazzo Monti that determines a common thread among the five protagonists of "Upon a Time" but the subjects they represent, which seem to come from a fairy tale. Fairy tales and short stories have always been part of all world languages and date back to the origin of writing. Therefore, it is not strange that this common 'experience' could be the key to interpreting the practice of artists from various countries.
Daria Dmytrenko (1993) rarely makes preparatory drawings and sketches. Like a bard, she improvises compositions, exploring the visual expression of the subconscious. She abandons the rational approach, focusing on the deepest memories, to transform them into anthropomorphic creatures or mythological characters. She undertakes an often intense dialogue with shapes, colors, proportions, which she resolves by finding the right chromatic solution corresponding to the atmosphere she wants to convey.
Sophie Spedding (1995) invites us in her painting by using specific themes. Her works explore the tension between diverse ideas creating spaces of reconciliation, balancing references to quick and approximate pictorial gestures, and introducing the sentiment of role play. The work explores a duality of using space; to create a point of view to which we are invited and from which we are introduced to the subject, to transform the viewer into the chosen victim within a narration. They thus give life to heterotopias that manifest themselves with hyperbolic saturation and abstraction through the intimacy of the adopted scale, depicting scenes and posthuman characters.
The figurative canvases of Sahara Longe (1994) recall the allegorical scenes of French Symbolism. Realistically painted, Longe's work features loose and expressive brushstrokes that offer a sense of dynamism. Thinly applied layers of luminous paint highlight and reflect points of light on the faces of the represented subjects. Her works convey a timeless quality; they are symbolically steeped in history but distinctly rooted in the contemporary. With the inclusion of black people in classical contexts, which for the most part we associate with mythological, biblical and white aristocratic figures over the centuries, it is as if we were casting a glimpse into an art history from a parallel world.
Carla Giaccio Darias (1998) mastered the ability to activate memories that are not only linked to the individual, discovering this strength in painting and sculpture. She reconstructs ideas of experience and memory, recovering images and objects as if they came from a previous life, allowing them a new meaning. Therefore, the desire of Giaccio Darias aims at identifying how these flows, which exist independently of us, become visible and sensitive for us.
Bea Bonafini (1990) occupies the last chapters of this fairy tale, presenting works that draw on dreamlike visions, superimposing personal and ancient mythologies. The ceramics seem to come from an archaeological site, as old as the technique needed to make it: the porcelain is colored, layered, cut out. The material fired without a protective glaze creates anthropomorphic forms inspiring tales between the fantastic and the mythological. Her tactile and intimate worlds revolve around sensuality, vulnerability and fantasy, forming swirling and fragmented scenarios like those found in the tapestry-carpet hanging on the wall.
“Upon a Time” tells one and a thousand stories, populated by characters who jump from one painting to another, from a tapestry to a sculpture. Heroines, monsters and mythical animals, magical figures protagonists of a story that never happened.
Exhibition view, Upon a Time, 2022, Eduardo Secci Firenze, Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Bea Bonafini (1990, Bonn, Germany) lives and works in London. She studied at the Royal College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. The multidisciplinary research of the Italian artist draws from oneiric visions, superimposing personal and ancient mythologies. Her practice explores the possibilities and interplay of painting, tapestry and sculpture. In close dialogue with architecture, where the works expand into space to envelop the viewer, holistic perspectives develop. Acting as protected spheres, her installations act as openings onto encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly. Her works have been exhibited at the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Guarene (2020); Mana Contemporary, New Jersey (2020); Villa La Berlugane, Beaulieu-sur-Mer (2020); Operativa, Rome (2020); British School at Rome, Rome (2020, 2019); Chloé Salgado, Paris (2019); Bosse & Baum, London (2019); MAC - Museum of Contemporary Art, Lissone (2018); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2018); Zabludowicz Collection, London (2017).
Daria Dmytrenko (1993, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) lives and works in Venice. After her first artistic education in Dnipropetrovsk, she attended painting courses at the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture in Kyiv (2012-15). Currently, she is continuing her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Through painting, the artist explores the visual expression of the subconscious, using intuitive impulses as a tool aimed at bringing up the deepest memories to transform them into a composition. Among her shows: Degree Show II, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Extra Ordinario, Vulcano agency, VEGA (Venice, 2020); 103ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Piazza San Marco Gallery (Venice, 2020); Spin Off, Calle Lunga Santa Caterina (Venice, 2019); Speculum mundi, Davide Gallo (Milan, 2018).
Carla Giaccio Darias (1998, Rome) lives and works between Milan, Rome and Havana. Her artistic practice regards painting and sculpture as a meeting of forces, capable of memories that are not only linked to the individual. The interest results in energy dynamics that each individual, object, and nature possesses in itself. The desire for this type of reasoning is not in view of an analysis of reality, it is rather aimed at identifying the ways in which these flows, that exist a priori, become visible and sensitive to us. Her works have been exhibited in exhibitions, among others: ReA! Art Fair, Fabrica del Vapore (Milan, 2021); Degree Show II, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Meeting #20 Erase to Make a Mark, Adolfo Pini Foundation (Milan, 2019); Women under the sky,Associazione Apriti Cielo (Milan, 2019); Fax Factory (Rome, 2017).
Sahara Longe (1994, London) lives and works in London. She studied at the Charles H. Cecil Studios where she graduated in 2019. The artist re-examines the visual hierarchies and traditions of the art history within the reinterpretation of traditional paintings. Brightly colored and often oversized, her paintings are deliberately flattened and soft-edged. Among his exhibitions: Young Ar3st Partnership Show (London, 2021); Heart of the Matter, Gillian Jason Gallery, (Norwich, 2021); Get a Load of This!, Daniel Raphael Gallery (London, 2021); The Great Women Artists III, curated by Katy Hessel, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Summer Show, Timothy Taylor (London, 2021); 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (London, 2021).
Sophie Spedding (1995, London) lives and works in London. She studied at Slade School of Fine Art - UCL in London. Her artistic research draws from fundamental structures that derive from the duality of systemic use and intrusive and sincere visualizations. The artist is interested in this intersection which includes dismissal and abjection through the amount of care imposed on the line between subject and self. Her works have been featured in various exhibitions: Hétérotopie, Bubble'n'Squeak (Brussels, 2020); Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary (Jersey City, 2020); Palazzo Monti Residency (Brescia, 2019), among others.
Edoardo Monti is the founder of Palazzo Monti in Brescia and curator.
Sophie Spedding, Self Defense, No Wrestling, 2019, oil on canvas, 220 x 200 cm (86.6 x 78.7 in), Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Sophie Spedding, Urine Blonde, 2020, oil on canvas, 210 x 210 cm (82.6 x 82.6 in), Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Eduardo Secci is an Italian gallery founded in 2013 in Florence with a second location in Milan from June 2021. Both spaces present a double program featuring the exhibitions of the main gallery and NOVO, its new independent experimental space.
Bea Bonafini, Il Trionfo, 2018, pastel on mixed carpet inlay, 480 x 265 cm (188.9 x 104.3 in), Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Eduardo Secci Firenze
Upon a Time - Bea Bonafini, Daria Dmytrenko, Carla Giaccio Darias, Sahara Longe, Sophie Spedding
Curated by Edoardo Monti
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
NOVO Firenze
Nidhal Chamekh
Curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
Opening: Saturday, January 29, 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Piazza Goldoni 2, Florence, Italy / +39 055 661356 / firenze@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
Eduardo Secci Milano
Vibrato - Stanley Casselman
Curated by David Anfam
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Unmatter - Joshua Hagler, Luisa Rabbia, Maja Ruznic
Curated by Alberto Fiz
From April 28 to September 16, 2022 (NEW DATES, POSTPONED)
NOVO Milano
Bright Beneath - Kristian Touborg
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Via Zenale 3, Milan, Italy / +39 02 38248728 / milano@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
www.eduardosecci.com / gallery@eduardosecci.com / IG @eduardoseccigallery / FB @eduardoseccicontemporary
www.novo.ooo / hello@novo.ooo / IG @novo_projects / FB @NOVOprojects
Exhibition walkthroughs videos with artists and curators: www.eduardosecci.com/exhibitions - www.novo.ooo/exhibitions
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO / Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com / +39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com / www.theknackstudio.com
Upon a Time
Curated by Edoardo Monti
Eduardo Secci Firenze
Florence, from January 29 to March 12, 2022
Opening: Saturday, January 29, 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Exhibition walkthrough video available online
Exhibition view, Upon a Time, 2022, Eduardo Secci Firenze, Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Eduardo Secci gallery is pleased to announce the group show “Upon a Time” curated by Edoardo Monti featuring works byBea Bonafini, Daria Dmytrenko, Carla Gaiccio Darias, Sahara Longe, and Sophie Spedding, in Florence from January 29 to March 12, 2022.
“Upon a Time tells one and thousand stories, populated by characters who leap from one painting to another, from a tapestry to a sculpture. Heroines, monsters, and mythical animals, magical figures protagonists of a story that never happened" writes Edoardo Monti in his introductory text.
The five artists not only share the common experience of the artist residency at Palazzo Monti but also a vast imaginary capable of giving life to dreamlike atmospheres, almost fairy at intervals. Yet, “Upon a Time” does not consist of all fables, like the portraits of Sahara Longe (1994), where to settings and subjects - familiar at first glance - correspond a dry composition in which stand out the silhouettes of new protagonists capable of overturning a totally Western art history. Thus, the works by Sophie Spedding (1995), giving space to corporeality and its expressions in an ironic and sincere way, seem to use another reality to explore the persistence of mental representations. Through a painting with intense tones, Daria Dmytrenko (1993) investigates the psychological dimension of the individual stopping in the limbo between dream and reality; a field of research similar to that of Carla Giaccio Darias (1998), whose works examine the processes of memory activation through the collection of images. The practice of Bea Bonafini (1990), on the other hand, recalls mythology and popular history in an intertwining of hybrid figures that blend with each other, creating collages of delicate colors shapes, nevertheless capable of effectively transmitting the tenor of the representation.
In this way, "Upon a Time" appears as an overturned world, a delicate irony intended to gently bring the visitor closer to an apparently enchanted world able to reveal intimate narratives, collective reflections and spaces for psychological investigation.
The exhibition walkthrough video will be online at www.eduardosecci.com/exhibitions.
Curatorial Essay by Edoardo Monti
Once upon a time ... there was a palace. It is not only the somewhat fabled context of Palazzo Monti that determines a common thread among the five protagonists of "Upon a Time" but the subjects they represent, which seem to come from a fairy tale. Fairy tales and short stories have always been part of all world languages and date back to the origin of writing. Therefore, it is not strange that this common 'experience' could be the key to interpreting the practice of artists from various countries.
Daria Dmytrenko (1993) rarely makes preparatory drawings and sketches. Like a bard, she improvises compositions, exploring the visual expression of the subconscious. She abandons the rational approach, focusing on the deepest memories, to transform them into anthropomorphic creatures or mythological characters. She undertakes an often intense dialogue with shapes, colors, proportions, which she resolves by finding the right chromatic solution corresponding to the atmosphere she wants to convey.
Sophie Spedding (1995) invites us in her painting by using specific themes. Her works explore the tension between diverse ideas creating spaces of reconciliation, balancing references to quick and approximate pictorial gestures, and introducing the sentiment of role play. The work explores a duality of using space; to create a point of view to which we are invited and from which we are introduced to the subject, to transform the viewer into the chosen victim within a narration. They thus give life to heterotopias that manifest themselves with hyperbolic saturation and abstraction through the intimacy of the adopted scale, depicting scenes and posthuman characters.
The figurative canvases of Sahara Longe (1994) recall the allegorical scenes of French Symbolism. Realistically painted, Longe's work features loose and expressive brushstrokes that offer a sense of dynamism. Thinly applied layers of luminous paint highlight and reflect points of light on the faces of the represented subjects. Her works convey a timeless quality; they are symbolically steeped in history but distinctly rooted in the contemporary. With the inclusion of black people in classical contexts, which for the most part we associate with mythological, biblical and white aristocratic figures over the centuries, it is as if we were casting a glimpse into an art history from a parallel world.
Carla Giaccio Darias (1998) mastered the ability to activate memories that are not only linked to the individual, discovering this strength in painting and sculpture. She reconstructs ideas of experience and memory, recovering images and objects as if they came from a previous life, allowing them a new meaning. Therefore, the desire of Giaccio Darias aims at identifying how these flows, which exist independently of us, become visible and sensitive for us.
Bea Bonafini (1990) occupies the last chapters of this fairy tale, presenting works that draw on dreamlike visions, superimposing personal and ancient mythologies. The ceramics seem to come from an archaeological site, as old as the technique needed to make it: the porcelain is colored, layered, cut out. The material fired without a protective glaze creates anthropomorphic forms inspiring tales between the fantastic and the mythological. Her tactile and intimate worlds revolve around sensuality, vulnerability and fantasy, forming swirling and fragmented scenarios like those found in the tapestry-carpet hanging on the wall.
“Upon a Time” tells one and a thousand stories, populated by characters who jump from one painting to another, from a tapestry to a sculpture. Heroines, monsters and mythical animals, magical figures protagonists of a story that never happened.
Exhibition view, Upon a Time, 2022, Eduardo Secci Firenze, Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Bea Bonafini (1990, Bonn, Germany) lives and works in London. She studied at the Royal College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. The multidisciplinary research of the Italian artist draws from oneiric visions, superimposing personal and ancient mythologies. Her practice explores the possibilities and interplay of painting, tapestry and sculpture. In close dialogue with architecture, where the works expand into space to envelop the viewer, holistic perspectives develop. Acting as protected spheres, her installations act as openings onto encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly. Her works have been exhibited at the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Guarene (2020); Mana Contemporary, New Jersey (2020); Villa La Berlugane, Beaulieu-sur-Mer (2020); Operativa, Rome (2020); British School at Rome, Rome (2020, 2019); Chloé Salgado, Paris (2019); Bosse & Baum, London (2019); MAC - Museum of Contemporary Art, Lissone (2018); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2018); Zabludowicz Collection, London (2017).
Daria Dmytrenko (1993, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) lives and works in Venice. After her first artistic education in Dnipropetrovsk, she attended painting courses at the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture in Kyiv (2012-15). Currently, she is continuing her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Through painting, the artist explores the visual expression of the subconscious, using intuitive impulses as a tool aimed at bringing up the deepest memories to transform them into a composition. Among her shows: Degree Show II, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Extra Ordinario, Vulcano agency, VEGA (Venice, 2020); 103ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Piazza San Marco Gallery (Venice, 2020); Spin Off, Calle Lunga Santa Caterina (Venice, 2019); Speculum mundi, Davide Gallo (Milan, 2018).
Carla Giaccio Darias (1998, Rome) lives and works between Milan, Rome and Havana. Her artistic practice regards painting and sculpture as a meeting of forces, capable of memories that are not only linked to the individual. The interest results in energy dynamics that each individual, object, and nature possesses in itself. The desire for this type of reasoning is not in view of an analysis of reality, it is rather aimed at identifying the ways in which these flows, that exist a priori, become visible and sensitive to us. Her works have been exhibited in exhibitions, among others: ReA! Art Fair, Fabrica del Vapore (Milan, 2021); Degree Show II, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Meeting #20 Erase to Make a Mark, Adolfo Pini Foundation (Milan, 2019); Women under the sky,Associazione Apriti Cielo (Milan, 2019); Fax Factory (Rome, 2017).
Sahara Longe (1994, London) lives and works in London. She studied at the Charles H. Cecil Studios where she graduated in 2019. The artist re-examines the visual hierarchies and traditions of the art history within the reinterpretation of traditional paintings. Brightly colored and often oversized, her paintings are deliberately flattened and soft-edged. Among his exhibitions: Young Ar3st Partnership Show (London, 2021); Heart of the Matter, Gillian Jason Gallery, (Norwich, 2021); Get a Load of This!, Daniel Raphael Gallery (London, 2021); The Great Women Artists III, curated by Katy Hessel, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Summer Show, Timothy Taylor (London, 2021); 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (London, 2021).
Sophie Spedding (1995, London) lives and works in London. She studied at Slade School of Fine Art - UCL in London. Her artistic research draws from fundamental structures that derive from the duality of systemic use and intrusive and sincere visualizations. The artist is interested in this intersection which includes dismissal and abjection through the amount of care imposed on the line between subject and self. Her works have been featured in various exhibitions: Hétérotopie, Bubble'n'Squeak (Brussels, 2020); Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary (Jersey City, 2020); Palazzo Monti Residency (Brescia, 2019), among others.
Edoardo Monti is the founder of Palazzo Monti in Brescia and curator.
Sophie Spedding, Self Defense, No Wrestling, 2019, oil on canvas, 220 x 200 cm (86.6 x 78.7 in), Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Sophie Spedding, Urine Blonde, 2020, oil on canvas, 210 x 210 cm (82.6 x 82.6 in), Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Eduardo Secci is an Italian gallery founded in 2013 in Florence with a second location in Milan from June 2021. Both spaces present a double program featuring the exhibitions of the main gallery and NOVO, its new independent experimental space.
Bea Bonafini, Il Trionfo, 2018, pastel on mixed carpet inlay, 480 x 265 cm (188.9 x 104.3 in), Photo Daniele Molajoli, Courtesy the artist and Eduardo Secci, Florence, Milan
Eduardo Secci Firenze
Upon a Time - Bea Bonafini, Daria Dmytrenko, Carla Giaccio Darias, Sahara Longe, Sophie Spedding
Curated by Edoardo Monti
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
NOVO Firenze
Nidhal Chamekh
Curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto
From January 29 to March 12, 2022
Opening: Saturday, January 29, 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Piazza Goldoni 2, Florence, Italy / +39 055 661356 / firenze@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
Eduardo Secci Milano
Vibrato - Stanley Casselman
Curated by David Anfam
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Unmatter - Joshua Hagler, Luisa Rabbia, Maja Ruznic
Curated by Alberto Fiz
From April 28 to September 16, 2022 (NEW DATES, POSTPONED)
NOVO Milano
Bright Beneath - Kristian Touborg
From December 9 to March 18, 2022 (EXTENDED)
Via Zenale 3, Milan, Italy / +39 02 38248728 / milano@eduardosecci.com
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10:00 am - 1:30 pm / 2:30 - 7:00 pm
www.eduardosecci.com / gallery@eduardosecci.com / IG @eduardoseccigallery / FB @eduardoseccicontemporary
www.novo.ooo / hello@novo.ooo / IG @novo_projects / FB @NOVOprojects
Exhibition walkthroughs videos with artists and curators: www.eduardosecci.com/exhibitions - www.novo.ooo/exhibitions
Press Office: THE KNACK STUDIO / Tamara Lorenzi
tamara@theknackstudio.com / +39 347 0712934
info@theknackstudio.com / www.theknackstudio.com
