The last places of Andrea Chiesi, in Ravenna the artist's production from the early 2000s to today

Last week for the exhibition I luoghi ultimi, a solo show with which Andrea Chiesi (Modena, 1966), one of the most appreciated contemporary Italian painters and winner of the Cairo Prize in 2004, brings to Ravenna, to Palazzo Rasponi dalle Teste, a significant part of his production, from the drawings of the early 2000s to more recent works, such as those that populate the Eschatos series. Almost all of them have at their center the “ultimate places” of the title: “places painted at the end of an era,” as the presentation of the exhibition points out, “suspended in time, waiting to be reborn in a new form and life,” and again places that “stop being part of the landscape, reborn in a silent world, a mental abstraction out of time.” Accompanied by Tomat Petrella ’s industrial music selected as background, the exhibition opens with a first room displaying some paintings from 2018, taken precisely from the Eschatos series: works characterized by the same meticulousness that distinguishes Chiesi’s mature production, and in which this time nature reappropriates the spaces abandoned by man (who never appears in the Modenese artist’s most recent works). In the next room, the public will be able to linger and watch a documentary video made by Andrea Nocetti and Giulia Caverni and dedicated to the artist’s life and work, which will also allow the public to immerse themselves in his studio and understand the process that leads to the birth of Chiesi’s paintings.

The third room, the largest of the exhibition, is the one that shows visitors the works of the Chaos series as well as some works from his debut works. Chiesi, whose painting focuses mainly on contemporary landscapes and particularly on abandoned places (large disused industrial warehouses, factories, gas stations, urban suburbs), began his career by drawing ink sheets that were a reflection of the punk culture in which he was formed (a similar production survives in his notebooks, some of which are on display in the exhibition). To evoke the early stages of the artist’s production, Ravenna also features the record covers he designed in the 1990s, which occupy an entire showcase: these are works created for albums by artists such as CSI - Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti, Officine Schwartz, and Andrea Chimenti. The room also features a rare Self-Portrait from 2004 painted in oil on linen.

The last two rooms display more recent works, from series such as Eschatos (which therefore also returns in the exhibition’s finale), Karma and Uchronie. Also appearing are works dedicated to interiors, Andrea Chiesi’s reflections on memory and its preservation: these works depict abandoned libraries and archives. The exhibition closes with works dedicated to sanatoriums, another recurring subject in Chiesi’s production. The exhibition, however, does not end with his works: in fact, Chiesi, as a professor of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna, saw fit to dedicate two rooms to the works of his students. The city is then also paid homage with some new works, exhibited in the first rooms, dedicated to Ravenna’s Darsena, another of the “ultimate places” depicted by the painter in his works: near the Darsena, moreover, the Academy is based.

The exhibition was presented last Feb. 24 by Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, historic voice of first CCCP and then CSI and PGR, as well as a friend of Andrea Chiesi. “Of your being an artist, of your art,” Ferretti wrote in the presentation of the volume Eschatos, the latest monograph of Andrea Chiesi, just published with Silvana Editoriale, “I find commendable the daily discipline to which you have forced your talent. Well-defined limits in the choice of subjects, technique, down to the spectrum of colors used. Absolute dedication that has allowed you to master the eye and the hand. Your eye breaks down and your hand recomposes what you contemplate. You unveil and reveal. You do not look at randomly, you contemplate your investigating. It takes predisposition but it is not enough, you have to train yourself, fortify yourself, a dedication in daily discipline for a lifetime.”

Below are some images from the exhibition.

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

Images from the exhibition The Last Places by Andrea Chiesi

The last places of Andrea Chiesi, in Ravenna the artist's production from the early 2000s to today

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.