KALPA presents the exhibition HANSHA exclusively at Amanzoe, featuring the Botanica Vitrea collection in Venetian glass by Italian artist Michela Cattai in dialogue with the Bronze Paintings of French artist Pierre Bonnefille.
Contemporary art from KALPA breathes into the timeless luxury resort setting of Amanzoe in Porto Heli, Greece, this season. From June to October 2024, in collaboration with Amanzoe, the KALPA-curated exhibition HANSHA presents a selection of sculptures in Venetian glass by Michela Cattai (Treviso, 1965) and of bronze paintings by Pierre Bonnefille (Saint-Quentin, 1958). Designed as an art experience embracing three exceptional settings – the Restaurant and Library in the main resort, and the Rotunda pavilion at the Beach Club – at Amanzoe, the exhibition title comes from the Japanese term hansha meaning reflection. It encompasses a broad semantic area, from the physical phenomenon of the ephemeral reflection of light to a state of inner contemplation and meditation.
The underlying conceptual narrative is strictly connected to the techniques used by both the artists as well as the translucent texture of their artworks. Absorbing and reflecting the warm sunlight that embraces Amanzoe, a peaceful hilltop sanctuary on the Peloponnese Peninsula, the exhibited sculptures and paintings mirror echoes and visions of the natural surroundings and architectural landscape. Across three exhibition spaces at Amanzoe, gold, umber and ochre are the prevalent colours, conventionally associated with divine and spiritual enlightenment.
The exhibition itinerary structures five iconic large-scale works by Bonnefille as part of the long-term series The Bronze Paintings, initiated in 2015. Taking inspiration from the unceasing and hypnotising motion of waves and the shimmering reflection of the Moon on water, the French artist transposes memories of waterscapes upon his pictorial work. Alongside the references to the key role that this natural phenomenon has in Japanese art and society, Bonnefille’s vision is nourished by a vast system of art references including the XX-century Western abstract movements, ukiyo-e style and traditional Chinese ink landscape paintings. In The Bronze Paintings, he only uses a specially created bronze powder in addition to silver and gold foils, which he liquifies to form a very personal medium. The materiality of the bronze finds itself just as suspended in a metallic mesh in vibration.
Presenting eleven refined glass sculptures, HANSHA provides a comprehensive overview of Cattai’s Botanica Vitrea collection. The natural biodiversity of the Venetian lagoon, comprising a multitude of animal and vegetal species that create a harmonious melody of sounds, colours, and motions, represents both the essence and main source of inspiration for this delicate corpus of work. Each series within the collection, namely Corolla, Bocciolo, Botanica Adriatica and Libellula, is a unique testament to the intricate and unpredictable rhythms of Nature, its organic contours and vibrant textures, capturing nature’s dynamic variations and moods. Crafted with meticulous attention in the Murano glass furnaces, each piece is unrepeatable and embodies the empathetic dialogue between the artist’s vision and the master glass maker’s hand.
With HANSHA, the contemporary acropolis of Amanzoe finds its pantheon of artworks that recall the heritage of the Adriatic and the Aegean seas, with the Mediterranean as their common root, encouraging viewers to immerse themselves in a stream of connections and suggestions, from the mystical atmospheres of the land to waterscapes and marine biodiversity.
JUNE – OCTOBER 2024
Amanzoe, Porto Heli, Greece
Curated by KALPA Galleries
Organised in collaboration with Amanzoe
*by appointment only
Photography: Daniel Civetta