This exhibition arose from the need to promote and showcase the work of various artists active in Bologna by analysing a particular aspect of their production, namely their perspective on nature and, specifically, plants - a perspective that does not settle for the more predictable and obvious forms, from flowers for ornamental purposes to immaculate fruit for still lifes, but addresses the structural elements, such as leaves, branches or roots, understood as ideal nuclei of abstract and transformative processes. And these processes, through plastic or conceptual creation, distil unexpected forms and new meanings from the initial model.
By underlining this aspect in female artistic production, we can deconstruct the stereotype of women adopting a prudish, emotional or merely decorative approach to natural forms. In general, the world of plants and flowers has fascinated artists of all ages and continues to do so today, in terms that are not those of a naive naturalism, but of an ongoing reconsideration of the relationship between nature and culture. In the history of Bolognese art, plant forms have taken on a not insignificant ideational relevance with the neo-naturalism of the mid-twentieth century, while remaining entangled in the gestural and material vigour of informal painting and its derivations. By means of local sampling, the itinerary outlined in this exhibition aims instead to illustrate a later historical phase, by distancing itself from cultural climates still enshrined in a masculine perspective in order to tell the story of women's inventiveness, which asserted itself in the following decades.
For centuries, art history was an all-male affair but, since at least the 1980s, things have changed and today, women outnumber and even outperform their male colleagues. For this reason, the exhibition starts with some of the artists already active in that period and ends with the most recent, creating a stunning mosaic that summarises a situation that is far from unified but, precisely for this reason, is all the richer and more stimulating. As proof of this cross-cutting approach, the exhibition brings together ten artists from different generations, while illustrating their specific creative approaches and poetics.
The invited artists are: Sergia Avveduti (1965), Pinuccia Bernardoni (1953), Mirta Carroli (1949), Valentina D'Accardi (1985), Giulia Dall'Olio (1983), Sabrina Mezzaqui (1964), Sabrina Muzi (1964), Francesca Pasquali (1980), Greta Schödl (1929) and Sissi (1977). The pieces range from steel sculpture to installation art, from photography to drawing to the most radical conceptual research, with the aim of illustrating the many avenues of female creativity in the city of Bologna, going beyond stereotypical views and tackling a highly topical theme - our relationship with the environment and understanding the boundaries between the natural and artificial dimensions.
Excerpt from the catalogue text by Pasquale Fameli
