Marianne Boesky Gallery is pleased to present its second exhibition of the work of Pier Paolo Calzolari 'Abstract in Your Home'. Following the twenty-five year in depth presentation of 'When the Dreamer Dies What Happens to the Dream' last May in the combined Chelsea spaces of Marianne Boesky and The Pace Galleries, the artist’s current exhibition utilizes the markedly domestic setting of Marianne Boesky gallery’s historic townhouse, presenting works that are intimate in scale and well suited to the quiet contemplation that permeates his practice.
The exhibition’s title is taken from a 1970 blue neon work that starkly spells out “ABSTRACT IN YOUR HOME” set within a triangle. While this historic work does not appear in the show, it is an apt description of the included works, which span over forty years and utilize the artist’s elemental toolbox of salt, lead, tobacco, frost, fire and neon.
Hints of domesticity emerge in the works - from shoes, spectacles, buttons and spoons. Three sculptures with freezing elements are included in the exhibition. “Untitled (Scarpetta),” which translates to little shoe, is a suspended wax shoe where the frost extends down its preposterously long laces. There is a tall slender frozen belt and a layered still life installation. The element of fire is also present in this exhibition, seeming both votive and primitive rising out of oyster shells in two 1979 lead burner works. Two works from the Piombi Specchio (lead mirror) series are also included, comprised of glass and lead, these pieces appear as mirrors in which a collection of keepsakes and memories are forever trapped.
Works from the artist’s Mothia series assume a prominent place in the exhibition, inspired by the VII century BC Phoenician settlement that is now part of Sicily. While once a prominent maritime trading colony, the island is now known as an important source of Phoenician Punic Sculpture and sea salt production. Derived from the marble drapery fragments of excavated sculpture, the Mothia works are primarily comprised of salt with drips on their surface. While the drips are reminiscent of the folds of fabric, they also appear to suspend the transformation between solid and liquid states—a recurring preoccupation of the artist.
At once playful and poetic, a group of text works are as decisive as “non” written in neon against two tobacco leaves to “Time is Elsewhere” incised in salt. Whether monumental or jewel-like, Calzolari’s work is meditative, lingering through time and space.
