Opening: Saturday 13 October from 6pm.
The exhibit continues until Sunday 4 November 2007 with free admission:
Monday to Friday 3pm-11pm;
Saturday and Sunday 11m-11pm.
Giudecca795, Fondamenta S.Biagio, Venezia
ACTV boat lines 41, 42 or 82, boat stop Palanca
(a few meters from Molino Stucky - Hilton Hotel)
Tel (+39) 3408798327
Until November 4, 2007 the Giudecca 795 Art Gallery in Venice, Italy hosts a solo exhibit by Ercole Monti, painter and architect from Rome, aged 80 and still active. An energetic style, a silent work which has remained "secret" for 50 years: only in 1998 he began exhibiting his paintings, which had been appreciated by photographer Henri-Cartier Bresson among others. His works can be described as the meeting point of abstract and representative art, communicating emotions made up of vibrating colours, freshness, deepness. Encouraged by his friend and curator Elena Càrdenas Malagodi to display his works, he has exhibited at the European Academy for the Arts in London, at the Refettorio delle Stelline in Milan, at XII Quadriennale in Rome, at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, and in Paris and New York. Ercole Monti is back in the Venetian lagoon with the anthological exhibition "Venezia - acquasabbia" at the Giudecca795 gallery: the catalogue is published in cooperation with the Galerie Deman in Paris, hosting a collection of his recent works.
"Venezia acquasabbia" is a selection of 15 oils on canvas and various oils on paper. It's a non traditional way to look at Venice, it's a discovery for the eyes and heart. A revisited lagoon - the breath-taking "Mare nero" (Black sea), reaching Venice at night - and beaches which take possession of the canvas. As an architect, Monti had the chance to meet such masters as Aalto, Scarpa and Rietveld, and was specially influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. This background reflects somehow into the painting composition and the deep respect towards nature.
Abstract art depicts something non-realistically, using the composition of lines, shapes, and colours to express ideas and emotions. This is how, in the current exhibition, Monti expresses his feelings about Nature - the shore and sea that he loves deeply and viscerally. The works' tension communicates emotions to the viewer, who feels tempted to touch Monti's masterful creations.
Rules in abstract art are difficult to enumerate or do not exist at all: one is psychologically "kidnapped". Here, in front of a painted sea or shore, you feel as if you are actually there, nearly smelling the odours, hearing the sounds. Monti's paintings may also make us think about the damage we are causing to the environment. At nearly 80, Monti is a silent teacher, and we are grateful to him . (G.Belli)