"The Commedia dell'Arte": in Val Venosta, the solo exhibition of Wainer Vaccari

Castelbello Castle in Val Venosta devotes its autumn exhibition to painter, sculptor and draftsman Wainer Vaccari (Modena, 1949). From Sept. 17 to Oct. 29, 2023, the public has the opportunity to admire an overview of his wide and varied production in this evocative venue, in an exhibition entitled La Commedia dell’Arte, curated by Gabriele Lorenzoni.

The painter has made his art a contemporary mythology. His paintings are populated by a series of characters whose poses and expressions are alienating, dissonant and sometimes ironic. The scenes and compositions, characterized by a kind of forcing of reality, are set in a dreamlike, suspended dimension. The artist is familiar with the painting of the Old Masters, and in his works he often tends to recall the German New Objectivity, close to the Magic Realism of the great masters of the twentieth century. However, they also often refer back to autobiographical memories, such as childhood places. Made in two different centuries, the paintings of the first phase and those of the second are united by surreal representations, meaningless gestures, sexual allusions, metaphysical settings, and suspended atmospheres.

“Wainer Vaccari,” says Gerold Tappeiner, curatorial chairman of Castelbello Castle, “is an artist of international stature, as recognized in his native Italy as he is in the Swiss/Germanic world, where he grew up and where he developed his very important collecting, cultural and exhibition network. This exhibition captures at its core the mission of Castelbello Castle to think about the intermingling of Italian-speaking and German-speaking culture, deepening the points of contact.”

“Wainer Vaccari’s work,” says curator Gabriele Lorenzoni, “manifests itself in the interstitial space between psychological investigation and surreality, between dream and play, between fiction and chronicle. The artist is characterized by a stubborn consistency toward figurative painting, which for him is an obligatory option, a dedication that becomes devotion. The roots of this choice of field go back to the 1970s, a decade in which the figurative alternative was considered almost impracticable in view of the proliferation of the conceptual congerie, which from being an extreme (and minority) outpost of artistic debate had turned into a nebula comprising dozens of currents and trends, which in their overall action had so broadened the boundaries of the field of artistic action as to reach the threshold of the cancellation of the work as a material object.”

“Today’s exhibition,” Lorenzoni adds, “presents works from various periods, able to give an account of the artist’s different creative phases, on recurring themes as well as favorite subjects. Great was the artist’s direct commitment to the creation of a nucleus of works conceived and created especially for this exhibition appointment, which the public will be able to admire as a preview and exclusive. The cosmos he creates seems to be isolated from the rest of the world, just as the exhibition space of Castelbello Castle seems to be a parallel reality, out of touch with everyday life. But on closer inspection, just as the castle is embedded in the flow of history and bears its traces, so Vaccari’s works open glimpses into scenes not so distant from the lucid madness of the contemporary world, with its petty perversions, tics, and crises.”

The exhibition in Castelbello Castle thus aims to acquaint the public with the artist’s creative journey from the 1990s to the present and his universe made up of unique suggestions, places, characters and atmospheres.

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m.; Sunday and holidays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Mondays, except holidays.

"The Commedia dell'Arte": in Val Venosta, the solo exhibition of Wainer Vaccari

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