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Art Club #37 Caroline Mesquita
23.03 - 21.05.2023
March 24 – May 14, 2023
Curator: Pier Paolo Pancotto
In partnership with galerie T293
Since its creation in 2016, the Art Club series has brought works by international contemporary artists into dialogue with the centuries-old heritage of the Académie de France in Rome. Taking the form of visual and plastic interventions scattered throughout the strolling spaces of the Villa Medici (loggias, gardens, salons), the series Art Club series renews the experience of visiting a place where eras intermingle and unexpected connections arise. For the cycle’s first event in 2023, Villa Medici welcomes French artist Caroline Mesquita. Her sculptural work, which is also based on video installation and performance, will be exhibited in the Villa Medici Citerne, from March 24 to May 14, 2023.
Caroline Mesquita presents for this Art Club a selection of seven visual compositions and three videos created in 2022 and inspired by the vast repertoire of ancient sculpture in Rome and at Villa Medici.
These are eight “masks” in patinated brass, inspired by human faces(Romeo, Silvia, Billy, Georgia, Giorgio) or animals(Oiseau, Ippo, Toro). Translating their profiles and expressions into geometric solutions, Caroline Mesquita reworks these heads in her own way, inspired by the work of avant-garde artists ranging from cubism and constructivism to surrealism and the Bauhaus. These creations also recall the faces, portraits and busts of the Villa Medici, which resonate with the artist’s contemporary faces.
It also features a selection of videos in which the characters, halfway between man and machine, resemble bio-mechanical creatures. These video creations could be described as “retro-futuristic”: they take up the codes of science fiction, but with a patina of another time. Another characteristic of these works is the theatrical, cinematic tone that Caroline Mesquita imbues in the banal, everyday scenes she depicts, juxtaposing them with a large number of references.
Like the masks presented in this Art Club, these video creations address a range of themes at the heart of the artist’s creative journey from the outset.
THE ARTIST
Caroline Mesquita is a French artist working in a variety of media: sculpture, video installation, performance, visual arts… Drawing on a visual repertoire where science fiction and everyday life converge, she creates her own iconographic and iconological vocabulary to address contemporary reality.
In 2017, she took part in the White Night at Villa Médicis and won the Prix Fondation d’entreprise Ricard and, in 2013, the Prix de Sculpture Joseph Ebstein. Her work has been shown in monographic exhibitions such as Portraits at T293 (Rome, 2022), In vivo at Pivô (São Paulo, 2020) or Night Engines at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2018). She has also exhibited at internationally recognized institutions, including La Loge(Voici des fleurs, Brussels, 2018) and Palais de Tokyo(Futur, Ancien, Fugitif, Paris, 2019).
THE COMMISSIONER
Pier Paolo Pancotto has curated the Art Club exhibition program at Villa Medici since 2016. Previously, he curated the Fortezzuola cycle of exhibitions at the Museo Pietro Canonica in Rome in 2016-2018.
He has also led exhibition projects at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London; Galleria nazionale d’arte, Tirana; Lateral Art Space, Cluj; Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna, Rome; Museo H. C. Andersen, Rome; Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome; Nomas Foundation, Rome; Casa Scatturin, Venice; and La Fondazione, Rome. His publications include Artiste a Roma nella prima metà del ‘900 (2006) ; Arte contemporanea: dal minimalismo alle ultime tendenze (2010) ; Arte contemporanea. Il nuovo millennio (2013).
Initiated in 2016 under the curatorship of Pier Paolo Pancotto, the Art Club series presents the work of international contemporary artists at Villa Medici in a spirit of openness to the most varied forms of creation. Recent exhibits include Rosa Barba, Jean-Marie Appriou, Giuseppe Penone, Katinka Bock, Mircea Cantor, Namsal Siedlecki, Achraf Touloub, Arcangelo Sassolino, Julius von Bismarck, Marinella Senatore, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Cyprien Gaillard…
Photo credits:
Cover images:
Caroline MESQUITA, Billy, 2022, patinated brass 110x70x35cm. Courtesy of the artist and T293, Rome. © Luana Rigolli
Caroline MESQUITA, Romeo, 2022, patinated brass 115x94x24cm. Courtesy of the artist and T293, Rome. © Luana Rigolli
Caroline MESQUITA, Toro, 2022, patinated brass 61x56x25cm. Courtesy of the artist and T293, Rome. © Luana Rigolli
Portrait of Caroline Mesquita: © Elina Belou
Portrait of Pier Paolo Pancotto: © Daniele Molajoli
Practical Information:
Location:
Date :
March 24 to May 14, 2023
Curator: Pier Paolo Pancotto
In partnership with T293 gallery
Since its creation in 2016, the Art Club series has brought works by international contemporary artists into dialogue with the centuries-old heritage of the Académie de France in Rome. Taking the form of visual and plastic interventions scattered throughout the strolling spaces of the Villa Medici (loggias, gardens, salons), the series Art Club series renews the experience of visiting a place where eras intermingle and unexpected connections arise. For the cycle’s first event in 2023, Villa Medici welcomes French artist Caroline Mesquita. Her sculptural work, which is also based on video installation and performance, will be exhibited in the Villa Medici Citerne, from March 24 to May 14, 2023.
Caroline Mesquita presents for this Art Club a selection of seven visual compositions and three videos created in 2022 and inspired by the vast repertoire of ancient sculpture in Rome and at Villa Medici.
These are eight “masks” in patinated brass, inspired by human faces(Romeo, Silvia, Billy, Georgia, Giorgio) or animals(Oiseau, Ippo, Toro). Translating their profiles and expressions into geometric solutions, Caroline Mesquita reworks these heads in her own way, inspired by the work of avant-garde artists ranging from cubism and constructivism to surrealism and the Bauhaus. These creations also recall the faces, portraits and busts of the Villa Medici, which resonate with the artist’s contemporary faces.
It also features a selection of videos in which the characters, halfway between man and machine, resemble bio-mechanical creatures. These video creations could be described as “retro-futuristic”: they take up the codes of science fiction, but with a patina of another time. Another characteristic of these works is the theatrical, cinematic tone that Caroline Mesquita imbues in the banal, everyday scenes she depicts, juxtaposing them with a large number of references.
Like the masks presented in this Art Club, these video creations address a range of themes at the heart of the artist’s creative journey from the outset.
THE ARTIST
Caroline Mesquita is a French artist working in a variety of media: sculpture, video installation, performance, visual arts… Drawing on a visual repertoire where science fiction and everyday life converge, she creates her own iconographic and iconological vocabulary to address contemporary reality.
In 2017, she took part in the White Night at Villa Médicis and won the Prix Fondation d’entreprise Ricard and, in 2013, the Prix de Sculpture Joseph Ebstein. Her work has been shown in monographic exhibitions such as Portraits at T293 (Rome, 2022), In vivo at Pivô (São Paulo, 2020) or Night Engines at Centre Pompidou (Paris, 2018). She has also exhibited at internationally recognized institutions, including La Loge(Voici des fleurs, Brussels, 2018) and Palais de Tokyo(Futur, Ancien, Fugitif, Paris, 2019).
THE COMMISSIONER
Pier Paolo Pancotto has curated the Art Club exhibition program at Villa Medici since 2016. Previously, he curated the Fortezzuola cycle of exhibitions at the Museo Pietro Canonica in Rome in 2016-2018.
He has also led exhibition projects at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London; Galleria nazionale d’arte, Tirana; Lateral Art Space, Cluj; Galleria nazionale d’arte moderna, Rome; Museo H. C. Andersen, Rome; Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome; Nomas Foundation, Rome; Casa Scatturin, Venice; and La Fondazione, Rome. His publications include Artiste a Roma nella prima metà del ‘900 (2006) ; Arte contemporanea: dal minimalismo alle ultime tendenze (2010) ; Arte contemporanea. Il nuovo millennio (2013).
Initiated in 2016 under the curatorship of Pier Paolo Pancotto, the Art Club series presents the work of international contemporary artists at Villa Medici in a spirit of openness to the most varied forms of creation. Recent exhibits include Rosa Barba, Jean-Marie Appriou, Giuseppe Penone, Katinka Bock, Mircea Cantor, Namsal Siedlecki, Achraf Touloub, Arcangelo Sassolino, Julius von Bismarck, Marinella Senatore, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Cyprien Gaillard…
Photo credits:
Cover images:
Caroline MESQUITA, Billy, 2022, patinated brass 110x70x35cm. Courtesy of the artist and T293, Rome. © Luana Rigolli
Caroline MESQUITA, Romeo, 2022, patinated brass 115x94x24cm. Courtesy of the artist and T293, Rome. © Luana Rigolli
Caroline MESQUITA, Toro, 2022, patinated brass 61x56x25cm. Courtesy of the artist and T293, Rome. © Luana Rigolli
Portrait of Caroline Mesquita: © Elina Belou
Portrait of Pier Paolo Pancotto: © Daniele Molajoli
