Two protagonists of the 1970s and 1980s on display in Lucca: Cioni Carpi and Gianni Melotti

This fall, the Ragghianti Foundation in Lucca is doubling its exhibition offerings: in fact, from October 3, 2020 to January 6, 2021, two exhibitions are scheduled in the San Micheletto complex, the Foundation’s headquarters, dedicated to two protagonists of the second half of the twentieth century, namely Cioni Carpi (Eugenio Carpi de’ Resmini; Milan, 1923 - 2011) and Gianni Melotti (Florence, 1953), curated respectively by Angela Madesani and Paolo Emilio Antognoli and united under a single title, The Adventure of New Art. 1960s and 1980s.

The first exhibition delves into the figure of Cioni Carpi, scion of a family with solid artistic traditions: he was the son of Aldo Carpi, a painter and historic director of the Brera Academy, brother of Fiorenzo, a well-known musician, and Pinin, a writer and illustrator for children. Cioni, Eugenio’s nickname, began his journey in painting in the 1950s (after participating, in his twenties, in the Resistance), during a stay in Paris, and before reappearing in his native Milan he toured much of America, for he was in Haiti, New York, Canada, and then settled permanently in the Lombard capital together with the American-Ukrainian director Maya Deren, an important figure for his career since with her Carpi began film experimentation, he who moreover had already studied mime with Jacques Lecoq in Paris. So it was that for a twenty-year period, from 1959 to 1980, Cioni Carpi was very active in making artist films, some of which are preserved at MoMA in New York. A multifaceted artist, he also experimented with photography, theater and music (in this sphere he collaborated, among others, with Angelo Paccagnini, Giacomo Manzoni and Bruno Maderna, for whom, he made films and projections), he then became, the only Italian artist together with Franco Vaccari, one of the artists of the Narrative Art group. In 1978 and 1980 there were also two participations in the Venice Biennale, as part of two exhibitions curated by Vittorio Fagone, with whom, over the years, he had developed a relationship of esteem and collaboration. Cioni Carpi’s is, moreover, one of the few cases of artists who have deliberately decided to retire from the scenes: his retirement dates back to 1989, the year from which he would no longer produce a single work until the date of his death in 2011.

The exhibition in Lucca focuses on Carpi’s research from around 1960 to the 1980s, displaying about forty large-scale works including paintings, installations, photographic works, films, drawings, projects and books created by the artist in unique copies, as well as documents and catalogs on Cioni Carpi’s work. The first part of the itinerary will feature the experiments with surreal titles such as those made between 1963 and 1976: Me ne tornavo ai luoghi sfatti della memoria, Let me see a living cell of your brain, where Carpi, mindful of his past as a mime, self-portrays himself as a clown, and again Cadendo mi spezzai le braccia e le gambe mentre saltavo di palo in frasca. Paintings on canvas from the 1980s are then exhibited, such as those belonging to the cycle The Distant Cities, which are complex spatial utopias, or the Blue Paintings and Palimpsests, i.e., geometric forms that re-emerge from earlier paintings. The path ends with jute strips on which are applied photographs printed on paper or fabric and drawings, which propose the concept of tapestry in a contemporary key, and on which the artist has affixed long inscriptions explaining the work.

As for Gianni Melotti’s exhibition, works belonging to the Florentine photographer’s first decade of activity are presented here, from 1974 (the year he began working as a professional photographer for the production company art/tapes/22) to 1984, investigating both their development and their place in the context of the time and in particular in reference to the personalities with whom Melotti collaborated (among them, Bill Viola, Lanfranco Baldi, Luciano Bartolini, Giuseppe Chiari, Mario Mariotti and others). His experiments stemmed from his contact with big names in international art such as Vito Acconci, Chris Burden, Daniel Buren, Urs Lüthi, Joan Jonas, Joseph Kosuth, Jannis Kounellis, Nam June Paik, Giulio Paolini, and Robert Rauschenberg: working for art/tapes/22, Melotti documented their works. And it was precisely in the Florence of the time that a climate favorable to new research was born, based on the interaction between the most diverse artistic and cultural activities, such as radical architecture and design, publishing, artist’s cinema, video, contemporary music, and new forms of expression such as the record, the artist’s book, and the multiple. In this context, Melotti developed a conceptual language with results considered original and transgressive.

The Ragghianti Foundation is therefore exhibiting some 30 of Melotti’s works: space for his cameraless (i.e., without the use of a camera) black-and-white experiments, his colorful three-dimensional works made with cibachrome materials on decorated fabrics, his debut works such as 9.30/10.30, and then again Giallo from 1979, a site-specific installation with photographs and texts set in a Genoese parking lot; The Corners of the Biennale (1976), a series of photographs dedicated to Pier Luigi Tazzi referring to Irving Penn’s Corners Portraits; Come as you are / Jacket and necktie (1981), photographs and looped super8 film on the theme of the relationship between a couple; the series of five videographies Fluid Photo (1983); and the work Pelle/Pellicola (1987-1989), which consists of three works in transparent silicone, on the relationship between work and frame.

The two exhibitions are accompanied by two catalogs published by Fondazione Ragghianti Studi sull’arte. The exhibitions are sponsored by the Fondazione Centro Studi sull’Arte Licia and Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti with the support of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca and under the patronage of the Region of Tuscany, Province of Lucca and City of Lucca. Partners Lucca Film Festival - Europa Cinema. Opening hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. (last admission at 6:30 p.m.). Also open November 1, December 8 and 26 and January 1, closed December 25. Entrance fee 3 euros, free for children under 18; schoolchildren (primary and secondary); students of universities, art academies and conservatories with transcripts; teachers; groups of more than 15; members of the Italian Touring Club and the Lucca UNESCO Club; ICOM members; the disabled (and escort); one escort per group; military and law enforcement with ID; journalists and tour guides with ID. For info visit the Ragghianti Foundation website.

Cioni Carpi, Palimpsest 2 (1963; Mendrisio, Panza Collection). Ph. Credit Alessandro Zambianchi - Simply.it, Milan.

Gianni Melotti, Foto Fluida (1983; cibachrome photographs; Gianni Melotti Archives)

Two protagonists of the 1970s and 1980s on display in Lucca: Cioni Carpi and Gianni Melotti

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