VENICE - A 13-star US flag hangs shapeless on the wall.
It is dirty, torn by bullets.
Maybe signs of a war.
Emblematic image of that continuous drama that invests humanity.
Behind a tear in the fabric, however, the face of the Child in the arms of the Madonna can be glimpsed, a visual fragment of a sacred painting from the 1400s.
Representation of the Christian ideal, of the sacrifice that has its fullness in the resurrection.
It is a work by the artist Danh Vo, son of Vietnamese boat people who emigrated to Denmark, part of the "Icones" exhibition, curated by Emma Lavigne and Bruno Racine, at Punta della Dogana, in Venice, from 2 April to 26 November forthcoming (MarsilioArte catalogue).
The exhibition, through a
The itinerary of "Icones" proceeds by ideal sections - the secular relationship between Venice and Byzantine sacred art is marked, its being a city source of inspiration, production or residence for some artists - with "meditation" rooms, "lay chapels" steeped in deep spirituality.
"It is a set of works that lead you to look beyond in an attitude of contemplation", underlines Racine.
Present "La Nona Ora", the wax statue of John Paul II hit by a meteorite, one of the most iconic works by Maurizio Cattelan.
The installation of golden threads (the color of several works) spread across the space by the Brazilian artist Lygia Pape has a great visual impact;
the two "chapels" with paintings by Robert Ryman and Roman Opalka are intense;
L'
video work by Philippe Parreno dedicated to the country house called "Quinta del Sordo" where Goya moved in the last years of his life.
The exhibition sequence includes, to name a few, the works of Lee Ufan, Donald Judd, Lucio Fontana, Agnes Martin, David Hammons, James Lee Byars, Francesco Lo Savio, Chen Zhen, Kimsooja, On Kawara, Sherrie Levine, Josef Albers, Rodolf Stingel and Joseph Kosuth.
The exhibition, with a high spiritual intensity that almost induces silence, in the Venetian projects of the Pinault Collection is the other side of a medal that has the other side at Palazzo Grassi with an exhibition, " Chronorama ", dedicated instead to photographic images " iconic" from the Condè Nast archives.
Over 400 images, between 1910 and 1979, "showing women, men, historical moments,
