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Stepping onto the ground floor of the stunning interiors of Molteni Pavilion, visitors are welcomed by an elegant and textural arrangement of contemporary artworks curated by Tuscan-based art gallery KALPA, in dialogue with the modernist-inspired architecture designed by Vincent Van Duysen. The clean lines and open layout of the building immediately convey a sense of balance and order and set the stage for art installations, where each work is thoughtfully positioned to create moments of discovery and reflection.
The 2024-2025 exhibition Elemental, featuring the work of contemporary artists Akiko Hirai (Japan/UK), Eleanor Herbosch (Belgium) and Tom Palmer (UK), is the second yearly art project curated by the Gallery for the Pavilion following the first exhibition Perenni, 2023-2024. With the clear intent of transforming this vibrant living space into an art sanctuary that encompasses personal connections and enhances the daily experience of the passersby, the two exhibitions are drawn as emotional visual journeys where the languages of art and craft suffuse the spirit of architecture.
Designed as an elegant display in many areas of the Pavilion, the new exhibition incorporates three bespoke paintings by Eleanor Herbosch's Raw Umber series in raw earth. Informed by a profound connection to nature and the art of Japanese calligraphy, Hersbosch’s creative gesture, to be found in her ritualistic practice, resembles a fracture and alternation of pause and motion. The artist uses earth as a form of paint that she dehydrates and grinds to create a powdered clay pigment then to be mixed with ink.
When she creates, the artist uses earth as a form of paint that she dehydrates and grinds to create a powdered clay pigment then to be mixed with ink. Pursuing an intuitive and tactile method of work, she explores a variety of patterns and pigments from differing geographical locations transposing their primordial energy inside a frame, and offering it to the viewer. The Raw Umber series seems to pulsate with life, as it embodies the millenary history and beauty of the ancient city of Volterra's mineral-rich land. The natural umber tone draws viewers in, creating a tactile connection to the ground beneath our feet.
Tom Palmer’s alabaster Vault Vessels capture and echo an interplay of light and shade through their dynamic concave and convex surfaces, reflecting the verticality of the architectural lines of the Pavillion and amplifying the beauty of the other. The form of these vessels recalls some of the key elements in British Romanesque-Gothic religious architecture, such as the archetypal pointed arches and junctions, the alternation of lines and nuances, and above all the energetic movement upward.
The final dimensions of these vessels are in many ways dictated by the shape of the natural quarried stone. During the carving process, the artist is in constant dialogue with the piece, as the natural qualities and features of the stone are slowly revealed. Because of the malleability and translucency of the material itself, alabaster is particularly well suited to render evocative details and dramatic earth inclusions, as well as to indulge the creative vision of the sculptor. Purposively in dialogue with Herbosch’s paintings, Palmer’s Vault Vessels create a subtle contrast: while the paintings evoke earthbound solidity, the sculptures seem almost weightless, because of their translucent surfaces. As light dances across these geometrical sculptures, they consequently seem to shift and evolve, echoing the dynamic lines of the Pavilion itself.
The exhibition concludes with two ceramic sculptures of Akiko Hirai’s signature series Moon Jars. These asymmetrical forms, inspired by traditional and calmer 18th-century Korean moon jars, are imbued with a sense of timelessness. Organic and evocative, they fully embrace the principles of wabi-sabi in which beauty is found in cracks and variations, imperfection and contrasts, leading the viewer into a dreamlike world created by the artist's spontaneous act of creation.
The vision behind these new sculptures, part of her recent Dormant series, stems from the fundamental and regenerative role of the act of sleep, in which the mind and body are engaged in a constant quest to process the complexity of human emotion. It is in this moment that Hirai finds solace, particularly in the REM phase, when emotions are regulated and deposited in memory like snowflakes and petals gently falling in our minds.
To the artist, the Moon Jars are metaphors for human life itself. They are containers of a story, witnesses to the passage of time and the events that shape us. All surprising and unique, they foster a sense of balance and tranquility in the overall ambiance, as well as act as a reminder of humanity’s long history with the forces of earth and fire.
Overall, the artworks selected for Elemental delve deeply into the intrinsic qualities of mineral and earth. These primal substances have been intricately woven into the fabric of human civilization, as well as being a wellspring of creativity and a testament to the enduring bond between humanity and the very ground upon which we stand. Each work is imbued with these reflections and inspired by ancestral gestures and objects, inviting viewers to reconnect with the elemental energies that shape our being.
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