ICARUS’ DREAM, exhibition + catalogue

by Nino Florenzano | [versione it]

 

Catalogue of the exhibition at Palazzo Dona’ dalle Rose, Venezia

Sept 4/Nov 24 2024

The history of art and the evolution of humanity are intertwined with the indispensable practice of disobedience: the yearning to rise above leads the artist as a demiurge to metaphorically subvert the laws of physics and challenge the wrath of the gods.

In Accardi’s installation, the large black ostriches represent the guardians of the threshold, watching over the ostriches confined in golden aviaries, ensuring they do not escape their destiny as dreamers. This symbolic representation suggests a duality between freedom and control, with the large black ostriches as emblems of restrictive forces and those in the golden aviaries as a metaphor for dreamers trapped in a gilded but limiting reality.

Today, we have an apparently perfect world where generations, orphaned of dreams and ideals, live in a golden and satisfying self-imprisonment, devoid of the passion and energy that characterized the 1980s. During that decade, the spirit of the times induced exaggerated dreams, and “aiming high” was the rule. Those years also served as an antidote to the climate of social and political tensions of the 1970s, marked by conflicts and radical changes.

By Revenews art, interview by Marco Del Bene [https://www.revenews.it/mostre/2024/08/20/icarus-dream-angelo-accardi-venezia-palazzo-dona-dalle-rose] – Reative Commons CC BY-NC-ND, attribution, noncommercial, nonderivatives, link at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en.

The idealistic utopias of the twentieth century gave way to the materialistic dreams of a generation that elevated hedonism to a secular cult, expressing a total freedom newly conquered.

This generation challenged the ideological and cultural dictates that had permeated society up to that point. “Icarus’ Dream” bears witness to the artist’s tribute to that magical period that brought forth the best Italian talents, marking the style of the time under the banner of Made in Italy.

Giorgio Moroder revolutionized music with Dance Music, turning the world into an enormous Mirror Ball. Elio Fiorucci, with his dazzling concept store in Manhattan, seduced the protagonists of the New York art scene, while Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace conquered the world by changing the rules of elegance with their innovative fashion visions.

Achille Bonito Oliva and Lucio Amelio celebrated the return to painting with the Transavanguardia, after years of conceptual rigor that had relegated pictorial talent to mere technical exercise.

Icarus’ Dream is the sentimental and imaginative autobiography of the artist, evoking the period of his life when everything began. It is a contagious suggestion, like the nostalgia for the future of those who aspired to realize their ideal of life in that era – even simply to become rich -without feeling guilty or suffering moralistic reprimands.

Today, when economic migrants are referred to almost disparagingly, we forget that our grandparents were mostly economic migrants who dreamed of a better future for their families and worked hard to achieve it. It’s no coincidence that Latinos attempting to cross the US border today are called Dreamers, echoing the same aspiration for a better future that animated our ancestors.

 

| BIO NOTES |

Angelo Accardi is an internationally renowned painter and sculptor, recognized as a leading figure in Pop Surrealism. Born in 1964 in Sapri (SA), he began his exploration of new figuration and experimented with techniques and materials for his sculptures in the 1990s. In the early 2000s, Accardi created the “Misplaced” series, where he introduced the figure of the ostrich for the first time. In 2006, he connected with the new avant-garde group “Tantarte” and exhibited in Shanghai. Art historian Marco Vallora selected him for the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. A major exhibition in New York in 2017 marked the beginning of his partnership with Eden Gallery, followed by exhibitions in Miami, Mykonos, and Tel Aviv. In 2022, Accardi promoted a public art project with simultaneous installations in Milan, Palermo, and Venice of” Poetry,” a monumental sculpture featuring the word “PUCK”. In October 2022, he was a key figure in the exhibition “From Banksy to Warhol” at Palazzo Lucca, Fiorenzuola: this exhibition, curated by Deodato Arte, provided an overview of the origins of Pop Art to contemporary art inspired by Pop, featuring works by Obey, Mr. Brainwash, Keith Haring, Banksy, and Warhol. In 2024, Accardi will be featured in the 60th edition of the Venice Art Biennale. On May 25, 2024, the scientific committee of the Atlas of Contemporary Art, Corporate Patron of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, selected his work “Violet” for the cover of the new edition of the volume (published by Giunti). Currently, his works are exclusively represented by Eden Gallery, with locations in New York City, Miami, London, Aspen, Las Vegas, Dubai, and in Italy by Deodato Arte.

Angelo Accardi Icarus Dream, Catalogue of the exhibition which will be held from September 4th to November 24th 2024 at Palazzo Dona’ dalle Rose, Venice, Italy
© 2024 Chloe Art Works of ANGELO ACCARDI
Reproduction prohibited, all rights reserved under copyright law.
Art Direction: Nino Florenzano. Artworks Management: Gennaro Verdoliva. Photo: Gennaro Verdoliva Marco Deodati Samuele Seguso I Vincenzo Finizola. Art Advisor: Luca Carniato. Staff: Alessio Lungu I Sabrina Accardi Andrea Cimmino I Pompeo Ierace I Stefania Furgione Marco Deodati I Flavia Accardi I Marco Costanzo Faris Carniato I Mario Costanzo
Sponsored by 1 ATTIMO IN FORMA
Printed by Trevisostampa
Publisher: ODE Multichannel Editions & Communications, www.ode.mobi
IBSN: 979-12-985236-9-2