Gian Maria Tosatti. NOw/here.
A “sentimental retrospective” revealing the artist’s painting practice for the first time.
Read"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
The work of Gian Maria Tosatti (b. Rome, 1980; lives and works in Naples) is focused on the concepts of identity, collectivity, and his artistic practice usually consists of creating cycles of environmental works and large site-specific installations.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
With the intent of rereading the history of the Western world, the artist usually devises timeless landscapes and interventions in immersive architectures—domestic and industrial buildings, often abandoned—with the aim of exploring an existential dimension shared with the observer.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
For his solo exhibition “NOw/here,” Tosatti has created a new intervention in the Shed space, engaging with the pictorial dimension for the first time.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
The artist conceives the paintings as “mirrors” with a dual function: on the one hand they are devices for revealing reality, while on the other they raise open questions.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
Artworks trigger a space-time short circuit, as evoked by the title of the exhibition, which can be understood in the sense of the individual terms “now” and “here”, or the sequential “nowhere”.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
The exhibition narrative brings together two cycles of new paintings, Portraits (2022) and NOw/here (2023), encapsulating concepts that have pervaded his research over the last twenty years.
NOw/here #001 (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
According to Tosatti, this body of works is a portrait of the spirit of the time, its fragilities and tensions, but also a snapshot of the ideas that have characterized several artists of his own generation, offering a reflection on human civilization.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
Portraits consists of four paintings in gold and rust on iron panels assembled and installed on jointed pipe structures.
NOw/here #001 (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
They depict the contradictions of the contemporary human condition, a concept that is expressed through the juxtaposition of conflicting elements in material and symbolic terms.
Gian Maria Tosatti Portrait #004 Installation view at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2023 Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio. Gian Maria Tosatti “NOw/here” Exhibition view at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2023 Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
NOw/here takes the form of ten large compositions of graphite and white charcoal on canvas suspended from the ceiling.
Portrait #007 (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
The series represents a reflection on themes such as the relationship between humans and nature and references to the history of Western thought.
NOw/here #002 (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
The canvases depict blurred visions of abstract landscapes, in a pictorial representation of existence.
Gian Maria Tosatti NOw/here #001 Installation view at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2023 Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio. Gian Maria Tosatti “NOw/here” Exhibition view at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2023 Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio.
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
Many international institutions have presented works and site-specific installations by Gian Maria Tosatti, including: Tarlabaşi district, Istanbul (2021); Kuyalnik lake, Odesa (2020); A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town (2019); Palazzo Biscari, Catania (2018); Museo Madre, Naples (2016);
Castel Sant’Elmo, Naples, Museo Archeologico, Salerno, CCS Bard – Hessel Museum, New York (2014).
In 2022, the artist represented Italy at the 59th Venice Biennale.
He participated in important exhibitions such as Manifesta 12, Palermo (2018) and group shows like those at the Italian Cultural Institute, New York (2019); Galleria Nazionale, Rome, Petah Tikva Museum of Art, Israel (2017);
Fondazione Rivoli 2, Milan (2015); Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, Museo Osvaldo Licini, Ascoli Piceno (2014); Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona (2013); Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York (2011).
"NOw/here" (2023) by Gian Maria TosattiPirelli HangarBicocca
Tosatti was awarded the Frescobaldi prize (2020), the New York prize (2017), the Fondazione Ettore Fico prize (2016) and the Terna prize (2008).
Gian Maria Tosatti is also a writer and journalist: he collaborates with several newspapers and has published a number of essays, including Esperienza e realtà (2021) and New Men’s Land: Storia e Destino della Jungle di Calais (2017). He is the artistic director of the Rome Quadrennial during 2021–2024.
