Black on Black at Villa Bardini

Linked to the absence of light, black has always been associated with shadow, with secrets and misteries, with evil and sin, with emptyness and death.
This negative notion though, is often overturned when talking about art and especially fashion, in which it has played an important role. That's why the sole theme of the new exhibition at Villa Bardini is the colour black, seen in a range of variations through a selection of 31 masterpieces by renowned artists that are representative of the history of italian contemporary art.
So the exhibition, a collaboration between the gallery Tornabuoni Arte and the Museum Fondazione Roberto Capucci, explores the different ways in which modern and contemporary Italian artists have used this non-colour.
We start with Lucio Fontana's Spatialism and his famous cut canvases, then we see the Informal works of Alberto Burri, the Arte Povera of Mario Ceroli and Jannis Kounellist, and four artworks of italian Pop Art by Tano Festa and Franco Angeli. But it doesn't end here, there are also the works of Enzo Cucchi, Gino De Domincis, Nunzio, Omar Galliani, Nicola Samorì, Lorenzo Puglisi, Iacopo Raugei and the neoprene textures by Francesca Pasquali.
The exhibition itinerary culminates with a selection of black clothing by designer Roberto Capucci, in dialog with the artworks of Alberto Burri, Enzo Cucchi and Omar Galliani, as closing the circle.
Carbon black, ivory black, mars black, peach black... there are so many variations of the color, and yet, this extremely interesting exhibition has only started to scratch the surface of the "culture of black." It shows us the infinite ways this colour can be used, and leaves us fantasizing about how it will be used in the future. For we can be sure on one thing: black never goes out of style!

Nero su Nero. Da Fontana e Kounellis a Galliani
Villa Bardini, Costa S. Giorgio, 2, Florence

Until July 9, 2017
Tickets: 8 euro
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-7pm (last entrance 6pm)
www.bardinipeyron.it