GIUSEPPE PENNONE _ “EBBI, AVRO, NON HO” AT MARIAN GOODMAN LONDON

A slection of works emblematic of Penone’s interest in the metaphysical relationship of his body to the living ecosystem is currently on show at Marian Goodman
Galleries in Paris and London.

These simultaneous exhibitions of works by Giuseppe Penone revolve around the relation to the sense of touch taking their form from from specific gestures made by the artist’s hand. Laurent Busine notes: “There is no gesture more intensely Giuseppe Penone’s than the fist: that is, the quantity that a hand can grasp, or that a handcan squeeze and crush, that a hand can hold and keep, or that a hand can stroke and caress.”

The works presented in both exhibitions reveal that for Giuseppe Penone gestures and tactile perceptions are connected to individuality and time: “A form without a human gesture is a collective present; with a gesture, it is an individual present.”

The Paris gallery presents a selection of works where Giuseppe Penone makes the human body’s relationship to the natural world palpable with the clear and resonant print of his hand. The golden leaf of Spoglia d’Oro (2001) is formed by the artist, leaving the imprints of his palm. In Germinazione (2005), a series of six hanging wall sculptures in acrylic resin, the imprints of the artist’s hands are preserved in casts of tree trunks and branches.

The body of work entitled Avvolgere la terra (To unfold the earth) (2014) presented in the ground floor gallery combines terracotta with distinct materials such as engobe of quartz color, resin, leather and aluminum. The terracotta shape originates from a simple gesture of the artist’s hands: “the action of unfolding earth with the hands, containing it ”. This gesture underlines the intimate,  complex connection between humans and nature.

The handful of terracotta or compressed graphite represents the presence of the body. Playing on the relation between the container and the contained, the sculptures Il vuoto del vaso (2005) installed in the lower gallery, brings together terracotta vases and x-ray plates. While the pots bear witness to the pressure applied on clay, the accompanying x-rays reveal the artist’s hands, making visible an invisible and fleeting process. A series of black and white photographic negatives Geometria show Penone’s hands holding small geometrical wooden shapes, repeating the gesture he made already in 1979
MARIAN GOODMAN GALLERY
GIUSEPPE PENNONE
THRHOUGH 22 OCTOBER
PARIS AND LONDON