Milan, the duo Bertozzi & Casoni at Carlocinque Gallery with their stunning ceramics

In Milan, Carlocinque Gallery opens from May 19 to July 25 the exhibition Mirabili Tracce by Bertozzi & Casoni, the great ceramic duo composed of Paolo Bertozzi and Stefano Casoni. An unsettling lady smiles from the window on Via dell’Annunciata, inviting you to enter the space that houses the Imola-based duo’s research: it is the work Ritratto, the life-size young gorilla-woman wearing the neoclassical clothes of Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière in Ingres’s famous painting, perfectly at ease in a condition that dissolves genetic and temporal barriers and shows what is truest to the human, its origin.

Her gaze, benevolent and turbaned at the same time, is a pass to enter the main room of Carlocinque Gallery, inhabited by a significant selection of Bertozzi&Casoni’s most recent production. It is a journey into nature and the most spectacular artifice accompanied by irony, a provocative spirit, a taste for amazement, but also by the rigor of analysis and implies an invitation to reflect on the great themes of contemporary society and the eternal condition of transience of the human condition.

The astonishing technical perfection exhibited by the two artists caresses the illusion of reality by revealing pieces of everyday life, hypertrophic accumulations rich in details, generous quotations taken directly from landfills. Their creations lead back to the classic theme of Vanitas, since the origins of their work the Bertozzi&Casoni duo has in fact reasoned about the transience of existence. Yet the exuberance of their imagination wrings a smile, shows the fun of combinatorial play and the fable of the precious object made of residue. We suspend our disbelief in front of the detritus of vices and virtues, the leftovers of finished parties, what remains of the delicacies of the day before among which endless presences of animals and vegetables (lizards, snails, butterflies, birds, ladybugs, flowers, mushrooms...) creep in. The poignant feeling that every day we build and destroy, while the natural world endures and witnesses our ambivalence, comes to the fore.

And over all dominates the beauty of artifice and perfection: an awe that tinkles even over the rusty tin, the coffee-crusted cup and the entire composition. We could not be hypnotically absorbed by it were it not for the over-the-top technique with which it is offered to the eye. To choose, as the duo from Imola does, for the realization of their works a very ancient material such as ceramics can mean to overturn the sense of Vanitas, to give in a certain sense eternity to the iconography of the transitory. A short circuit that is most powerfully activated when the choice of subject is itself a remnant of the human. For this persuasive and illusory force of matter Carlocinque gallery exhibits some sculptures with accumulations of human bones, the extreme trace of life that finds an infinite rebirth in art. The artists stated that their vision is not pessimistic, in their memento mori there is always hope to be found. Tiny living organisms are also deposited on waxy skulls and tibiae.

Bertozzi&Casoni are aware that they are creating within the tradition of art, from classical to pop, with the clear intention of renewing it with originality, unscrupulousness and thanks to a strong vocation for experimentation. Anything is possible in their Wunderkammer where it is often still an animal - the monkey, the one most similar to man - that suggests irony and guides one to wonder: without reverence a macaque stole the canvas of the very famous Girl with a Pearl Earring, while another chose for herself a simple poster with the image of Marilyn Monroe.

The last goodbye before leaving the exhibition falls to the black-skinned lady-gorilla, an icon of a new art history.

The exhibition is also meant to be a way to honor Stefano Casoni a few days after his passing, and to show how his presence does not leave us, because he lives and will always live on in the precious legacy of his talent and art. Paolo Bertozzi recalls the commitment and perseverance with which they both broke through in the art world using only ceramics. “We made a great effort having chosen this material as our only means of expression. Ours was a partnership of ideas and friendship, we helped each other a lot. Stefano had a strong, decisive character, he was an uncommon person.” Overcoming preconceptions that limited their material of choice in the realm of craftsmanship, the two artists convinced international critics and audiences with their works, thanks in part to the profound symbolism of their splendid compositions. They have given spirit to form. And may Paolo’s hands and mind continue to create, preserving in their hearts the irony and intellectual vivacity of their friend.

Giampaolo Bertozzi (1957) and Stefano Dal Monte Casoni (1961-2023) founded a company in 1980 to create magnificent illusions and achieved international notoriety by creating monumental or precious small painted sculptures. Exhibition opportunities include: Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (2004); Quadriennale, Rome (2004); Sperone Westwater, New York (2005, 2010, 2015); Ca’ Pesaro, Venice (2007); Castello Sforzesco, Milan (2008); Biennale, Venice (2009, 2011); All Visual Arts, London (2012); Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague and Beck & Eggeling, Düsseldorf (2013); Palazzo Te, Mantua (2014); Expo, Milan and Mambo, Bologna (2015); GAM, Palermo and Macist, Biella (2016); Museo di Palazzo Poggi, Bologna and Pinacoteca Civica, Ascoli Piceno (2017); Rossi & Rossi Gallery, Hong Kong (2018); Marca, Catanzaro and Museo Morandi, Bologna (2019); Complesso di Sant’Agostino, Pietrasanta (2020); Sperone Westwater, New York (2021); Mart Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (2022).

For all information, you can visit the official website of CARLOCINQUE Gallery.

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Milan, the duo Bertozzi & Casoni at Carlocinque Gallery with their stunning ceramics

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