On the 23th of April Galleria Antonella Villanova opens the solo show of Giampaolo Babetto.
This little anthology will show jewellery pieces accompanied by drawings and objects of the paduan artist. Works created from the early seventies until today.
As it occurred before the exhibition spaces in Palazzo Ricasoli, Piazza Goldoni 2 will be “shared” with Galleria Alessandro Bagnai, which will be showing the inedited installation of Gianni Dessì during the same dates.
An “encounter” of the two works will take place in the first room of the exhibition.
Giampaolo Babetto’s work has always been defined by major critics in terms of “modeled objects” or “cultural objects”, rather than mere pieces of jewelry.
Yet jewelry is exactly what Babetto does – he makes finely-crafted artistic jewelry, with the sort of “quirk” that keeps them from slotting fully into either the world of art or that of jewelry-making. Or rather, it makes him an eccentric in these two worlds into which he has inevitably made his way, and in which he is indisputably recognized as a master.
Babetto’s works evoke the pared-down foundations of much contemporary art and design, especially those linked to the 1960s and minimalism, but unlike sculpture, they must be worn to be complete – only thus do they attain their true dimension and emit all of their energy.
Babetto works directly with the material (gold, silver and sometimes other metals), and through this continuous manual and mental effort, achieves a fusion of harmony, form and beauty in which even unfilled space regains its function.
In a panorama marked by a tendency to keep genres separate and give different values to forms of experimentation that in fact share many points of origin, Giampaolo Babetto is one of the few protagonists of contemporary cultural who has been able to challenge – not just occasionally, but as the basis of his work – all classifications and seek new perspectives without the slightest hint of reverential angst, mixing art, design and jewelry making.