Textures of the Contemporary

A day, a livelong day, is not one thing but many. It changes not only in growing light toward zenith and decline again, but in texture and mood, in tone and meaning, warped by a thousand factors of season, of heat or cold, of still or multi winds (…)

Galleria Renata Fabbri arte contemporanea is delighted to host the group show Textures of the Contemporary. The four multidisciplinary artists will present a manifold of works, ranging from painting to sculpture to sculptural paintings, as well as site-specific installations. Veronika Hapchenko, Stephen Kent, Shinoh Nam and Lena Valenzuela exhibit in Italy for the first time.

Textures of the Contemporary asks questions of fitting and being fitted, of watching changing forms, converted dimensions, taking over spaces. The positions each tackle the fascinating notion of texture, it’s feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or substance. Not only within their own works, the concept is being exaggerated into the exhibition space and further into a metaphorical state of the contemporary whole – those dreamy instants surrounding our very existence when moments of fleeting seconds and of flickering air become tangible; soundtracks of the inner city crying out to be touched.

Like these almost-touchable instants, the presented works will – correlating with the architectural character of the gallery – directly and indirectly comment on contemporary surfaces and its boundaries, challenging the known and familiar. These interventions are both invisible and unmissable: behind glass, finding indents, intervening staircases, integrating and exaggerating. That means: layering upon layers, disclosing positions, surfaces and haptics.

Either through sculptures, spaces, walls, clay, plastic, stones, reflection or windows, the exhibited works will interrupt discursive structures. As an outcome, not only the visitors but also their own practices will be enabled to alternative, divergent views and insights into what it means to tackle alternative narratives of physical features and their textural functionality – and give a feel to the invisible. At Renata Fabbri Veronika Hapchenko, Stephen Kent, Shinoh Nam and Lena Valenzuela showcase their potential in representing the ever-changing view onto this world far from limitations, introducing new surroundings in familiar spaces.

(…) And as a day changes so do its subjects, bugs and birds, cats, dogs, butterflies, and people.
John Steinbeck: The Winter of Our Discontent (1961)