Flashback 2022 in the new venue: the 6 best booths

Opening in Turin, until Nov. 6, is the Flashback fair, by now a traditional event of Turin’s art week: a new venue, that of Corso Lanza 75 a stone’s throw from the historic center, some important returns (including that of Gian Enzo Sperone) but also defections that are noticeable compared to last year. The formula is similar to that of 2021: compared to the Pala Alpitour editions, Flashback relies on a reduced number of exhibitors (about 30) and a venue far from those usually associated with an exhibition context: better than last year’s barracks, but this year exhibitors will line up their works in the premises of what was once a pediatric clinic later converted into a brefotrophy. Not an easy venue for an art fair, in short, and a proposal from the stands that seemed to us to be of lower quality than last year’s. There are, however, extremely interesting situations for which a visit to Flashback is definitely worthwhile. Here then are in our opinion the best booths.

1. Gian Enzo Sperone

Gian Enzo Sperone returns to Flashback (his last presence was in 2019) and stands out for the best contemporary proposal in a fair where “art is all contemporary,” as the claim goes, but where contemporary is struggling to make its mark this year. Sperone stands out for the presence of works by Nicola Bolla (there is one of his classic mandalas made with playing cards) and Bertozzi & Casoni, who present some clearings and a more articulate vanitas that takes up half the booth. In the other room (Sperone is one of the few galleries that takes two rooms) are large works by Aldo Mondino that complete Sperone’s proposal, along with, just inside, a large Giudizio di Paride on paper by Giuseppe Santi.

2. Orsi Gallery

A heterogeneous selection, but of very high quality, that proposed by Carlo Orsi: a Portrait of a Gentleman by Antonio Campi stands out in particular, displayed next to what seemed to many to be one of the most interesting works in this Flashback, the Lamentation by Gasparo Cairano, an important Lombard sculptor active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. But Carlo Orsi’s is a singular journey through the centuries made up of works of rare beauty and singularity: in fact, it goes through a splendid Madonna Enthroned by a rare painter, Simone da Cusighe from Belluno (his catalog presents only one work that can be dated with certainty), to the oriental-like Cactus by Alberto Pasini from Emilia, a work from the second half of the 19th century. It is certainly on the podium of the best antique art stands.

3. Benappi Fine Art

Benappi’s offering also spans the centuries, with high-sounding names. It starts with a Madonna and Child by Cola dell’Amatrice and leads to anAdoration of the Magi by Filippo Napoletano: in between is a St. Jerome in Meditation by Palma the Younger, there is a marvelous Lot and the Daughters by Valerio Castello, but above all there is a St. Sebastian and St. Roch by Bernardo Strozzi, of which the collections of the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna preserve a replica, of lesser quality and probable workshop work, from the Zambeccari collection, one of the most distinguished picture galleries in eighteenth-century Bologna, testifying to the significance of Benappi’s work. Also of note is the carved wooden translation of Bernini’s David, a work given to the circle of Giovanni Battista Foggini.

4. Flavio Gianassi - FG Fine Arts

Three small tondi, a Vir Dolorum with the Virgin and St. John, splendid gold backgrounds by Bicci di Lorenzo, capture the attention in the booth of Flavio Gianassi, who, like his colleagues, offers a proposal that spans the centuries and finds moments of great interest in a Madonna and Child by Domenico and Francesco Morone, a St. Sebastian attributed to Girolamo Genga and above all a Jael and Sisara by Domenico Guidobono of illustrious provenance: it was in fact in the collection of Giovanni Battista Sommariva, Canova’s famous patron. The work figures among the most important ones made by the Ligurian painter.

5. Flavio Pozzallo

A constant presence at Flashback, this year Flavio Pozzallo, in addition to the classic proposal on wooden sculpture from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, a sector in which the gallery specializes in (of note are a fine Adoration of the Magi from the German area of the early 16th century and a Sepulchre of the Resurrection of Christ by Giovanni Pietro and Giovanni Ambrogio dei Donati), is presenting at the fair a predella by Bernardino Lanino from the parish church of Saints Peter and Paul in Borgosesia, one of the most beautiful pieces of this edition of the Turin kermesse.

6. Aleandri Modern Art

The Aleandri gallery stands out for its research in early 20th-century art and brings to the exhibition a large body of works by Piero Persicalli, a singular and wandering artist who fuses Divisionist and Symbolist instances, giving rise to a very original language, which the Roman gallery itself is launching with an important work that has already led to a publication and will soon lead to an exhibition. Aleandri also brings to Flashback an interesting selection of coeval works: drawings by Amleto Galli and Alberto Martini are not to be missed.

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