From 21 June until 14 September 2013 Antonella Villanova, in collaboration with the Galleria Alessandro Bagnai, presents “Interno”, Lucia Massei/Pizzi Cannella in the gallery at Palazzo Ricasoli, Piazza Goldoni 2, Florence.

The exhibition will take place over four rooms.

A large, pure silk wall covering (3.50 x 3.50 metres), featuring a printed chandelier taken from a work by Pizzi Cannella entitled Salon de Musique is present in the first room. This silk wall covering is the first of three specimens, and was debuted in at Design Miami/Basel 2013 at the Antonella Villanova Gallery stand.

The other three rooms display jewellery by Lucia Massei created in gold, epaulettes, 18th century cloth, and pure silk, in addition to three new works in oil on canvas by Pizzi Cannella. The pieces of designer furniture present in these rooms have been kindly provided on loan by the Galleria O. of Rome.

“Interno”, the title of the exhibition (interior in English) underlines the desire to recreate a private, intimate atmosphere, where the works by the artists can engage in an artistic dialogue and merge with the surrounding space, creating an environment where everything is suspended and evocative.

Lucia Massei has created her pieces of jewellery by layering the gold and natural pigments. The materials overlap, both unveiling and disguising in a continual cross-reference, creating an effect similar to that found in the oil paintings by Pizzi Cannella. This method alters the form and colour of the creation and in fact this process is very similar to the “symbolic and intimate twisting of the images in the iconographical portrayal of collective memory, the mixing the real and the dreamlike” (E. Nobile Mino) described in Pizzi Cannella’s work.

The pure silk used to create the first of the three specimens mentioned above was produced through the invaluable work of the Antico Setificio Fiorentino. The Antico Setificio Fiorentino is one of the oldest laboratories in the world, founded in 1680 by some of Florence’s most important noble families. In 1780 Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany donated a series of looms to the laboratory, allowing them to increase their production considerably. These same looms are still used to this day, and the silk is coloured using completely natural dyeing techniques that reject the use of chemical processes.