Abandon your eyes: in Bologna, the exhibition of Patrick Tuttofuoco

A special project by Patrick Tuttofuoco (Milan, 1974) in Bologna on the occasion of Art City Bologna 2024: from January 30 to February 18, 2024, the Sala Convegni Banca di Bologna in Palazzo De’ Toschi will in fact host Abbandona gli occhi, an exhibition curated by Davide Ferri in which the public will find a series of new productions and two recent works by the artist. Abbandona gli occhi presents forms and modalities that are emblematic of Tuttofuoco’s practice since the beginning: the use of industrial and synthetic materials such as neon, iron and plastic; the inclination to involve the viewer to inhabit the exhibition, rather than to pose as a detached observer. At the same time, the project develops aspects that are part of the artist’s recent work: the focus on sculpture, made with industrial/synthetic materials such as methacrylate and classical ones such as marble; the inclination to translate form into figure, which in Abandon Eyes repeats, at different points in space, the figure of the body.

Tuttofuoco’s works give shape to a theme that has been running through the artist’s work for a few years now, that of transcendence, of a state of semi-consciousness and abandonment capable of releasing suggestions and unprecedented points of view from which to look at everyday life and the present. The exhibition thus intends to repeat, by varying it at different points in the space of Palazzo De’ Toschi, the figure of a soft body that, in different ways, recurs in the history of sculpture: as a slumped or reclining body, a headless body, in a new work of marble sculpture, which becomes the exhibition’s energetic barycenter, and in a large neon work, Drop the body, which ideally serves as the backdrop for the entire exhibition. And as the face of a sleeper, a face without a body, in two neon works made for the occasion, which address two sides to the viewer: on the one hand, the face, a head without a body and with eyes closed; on the other, the word, with phrases that enclose thoughts that the luminous glare transforms into ’signifiers.

The title, Surrender the eyes, is meant to be an indication to the viewer to inhabit the energy field traced by the works, rather than to look at them, as the artist intends to do with the work Surrender the eyes, in which a pair of hands holding out two small globes that are a reminder of the eyes. The exhibition also takes place in the small hall of Palazzo De’ Toschi, where another sculpture work, No space, no time (2019), is exhibited: made of methacrylate, it depicts two bodies, those of a mother and a child locked in an embrace in sleep, united in a contact that reformulates classical iconographies such as those of the Pieta, and again raises the image of abandonment at the center of the project.

Banca di Bologna, a partner of the exhibition, thus confirms its support towards contemporary art by continuing the path of wide-ranging exhibition projects, both Italian and international, begun in 2016 with Simone Menegoi (LA CAMERA, Sulla materialità of Photography, 2016; Peter Buggenhout, 2017; Erin Shireff, 2018; Geer Goiris, 2019) and continued with Davide Ferri, curator of the international painting group show The Ordinary Realities (2020) and the solo shows of Italo Zuffi (2022), Bettina Buck (2023) and Patrick Tuttofuoco (2024).

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About the artist.

Patrick Tuttofuoco is a visual artist and lecturer at the Faculty of Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA in Milan. His practice, which mixes Modernism and Pop, is conceived as a dialogue between the individual and his ability to transform his environment, exploring notions of community and social integration. The artist pushes figuration toward abstraction by using man as a paradigm of existence, as a matrix and unit of measurement of reality. From this cognitive and interpretive process, infinite versions of the human being and the context of his existence are generated, resulting in forms capable of animating sculptures.

Major solo exhibitions include Tutto Infinito, OGR, Turin (2017); Welcome, Hangar Bicocca, Milan (2015); Focus On His Eyes, Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid, in collaboration with Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2013); Patrick Tuttofuoco. Those Ghosts (with John Kleckner), Peres Project, Berlin (2011); Mirror and Windows, Pilar Corrias, London (2009); Revolving Landscape, Fondazione Sandretto Re Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2006); Chindia, Haunch of Venison, London (2006).

Group shows include Fuori Tutto, MAXXI Collection, Rome (2023); REAL ITALY, MAXXI, Rome (2020); La strada. Dove il mondo si crea, MAXXI, Rome (2018); Buoni come il pane, Triennale, Milan (2018); Io sono qui!, MACRO, Rome (2017); Super Super Superstudio, PAC, Milan (2015); La Grande Magia, MAMbo, Bologna (2013); Fuoriclasse, GAM, Milan (2012); Plus Ultra. Works from the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo’s Collection, MACRO, Rome (2010); La scultura italiana del XXI secolo, Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milan (2010); Sindrome Italiana, Magasin, Grenoble (2010); The Private Museum, GAMeC, Bergamo (2010); Languages and Experimentations, MART, Rovereto (2010); What Things We Are, III Triennale Design Museum, Milan (2010); 21 x 21. 21 Artists for the 21st Century, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2010); Hybrid. Genetics of art forms, PAC, Milan (2010); X Havana Biennial (2009); Italics, Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2008); Tarantula, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milan (2008); Tales of Time and Space, Folkestone Triennial, Kent, CT (2008); Focus on contemporary Italian art, MAMbo, Bologna (2008); The future of futurism, GAMeC, Bergamo (2007); Space for your future, Museum of contemporary art, Tokyo (2007); Luce di Pietra, Villa Medici, Rome (2007); Apocalyptic and integrated, MAXXI, Rome (2007); Ou? Scènes du sud: Espagne, Italie, Portugal, Musée d’art contemporain de Nîmes (2007); Room with a View, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2007); On Mobility, De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam (2006); HyperDesign, Shanghai Biennale (2006); Bidibidobidiboo ,Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin / Guarene d’Alba (2005); La Scultura Italiana del XX Secolo, Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milan (2005); The Encounters in the 21st Century, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (2004); Spazi Atti/Fitting Spaces, PAC, Milan (2004); Paradiso e Inferno, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice (2004); Manifesta 5, San Sebastian (2004); 50th Venice Biennale (2003); Exit, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2002); Nuovo Spazio Italiano, MART, Trento and Rovereto (2002); Boom, Manifattura Tabacchi, Florence (2001); Le Rire d’Echo, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (2001); Quadriennal of Contemporary Art, SMAK, Gent (2001); Fuori Uso, Pescara (2000); Casa Masaccio, Arezzo (1999).

Abandon your eyes: in Bologna, the exhibition of Patrick Tuttofuoco

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