Velasco Lato4

Velasco’s new exhibition, titled LATO4 will be held in Milan from March to the end of April 2008.

Cityscapes and sculptures will be on show at ProjectB, not far from Aldo Rossi’s monument to Sandro Pertini, which will host a grand installation related to the exhibition.

A catalogue by Danilo Eccher will be published parallel to the exhibition.

The project for the exhibition has been carried out thanks to the patronage of

Comune di Milano.

Following five years of exhibiting in public spaces, Velasco Vitali returns to a private gallery, ProjectB Contemporary Art directed by Emanuele Bonomi with LATO4 a show made of urban landscapes and a large sculptural installation.

During the opening days, eight sculptures made of iron and bronze will be installed by Aldo Rossi’s monument to Sandro Pertini.

Milan is the subject of the eight canvases on show: urban spaces made of void and fullness where order and disorder coexist. Velasco does not research topographic definitions but rather a continuous tension toward a larger vision. As a result,

some of the city landmarks (historical and architectural monuments, even some renowned streets) such as Torre Velasca, Pirelli skyscraper, the Arena or via Larga and Corso Europa are no longer defined and recognizable in favour of a more extended perception more inclined towards chaos than order.

An installation of eight iron and bronze dogs will guard Aldo Rossi’s monument in Piazzetta Croce Rossa (between via Manzoni and via Monte di Pietà) whilst eight other dogs will be found in the box space within the gallery resting on pedestals inspired by Rossi’s monument.

“Artists who practice painting as Velasco does –writes Danilo Eccher in his catalogue titled “Images, Shapes and Nature of the Alps”, Electa 2007-often voice the courage or lack of conscience typical of those who accept the challenge of present times and do so through moving  and running as opposed to waiting still. This is the very challenge.No nostalgic kindness or lingering in front of the mirror are admitted, there is neither fear of competition nor any narcissistic pleasure in overexposed voyeurism.

Those who practice painting know full well to be using one of the many idioms of art; they are aware to be walking amongst dead and must not be afraid.”

According to Eccher: “A particular aspect of Velasco’s art is his approach to space, both in painting with rhythmic fading and the more physical one to be found in his sculptures and installations. In his canvases, the weaving of thick paste and pigments bring forward that very dynamism. It is thus enhanced by absences, voids of colour, which are toned down or exalted in the distribution of measures and weights. However, Velasco’s conceptual power and strong formal ability are best brought forward in his installations and sculptures. In them,a striking opus energy assails the sculpted figure stripping it to the bone, bending it deforming it to its needs and finally redistributing it into space with elegant ability. It is at this stage that one perceives with great clarity the installation concept that directs and orders the sculpting process. It is a conscious, cultured and measured action, one that models the environment until it has become the subject of the work of art.”

Velasco Vitali was born in 1960 in Bellano on Lake Como. His sphere of activity originally devoted to drawing and graphics soon developed to painting and sculpture.

The meeting with Giovanni Testori and his taking part in the exhibition Artists and Writers at the Rotonda della Besana marked his calling.

Following a number of one-man shows Velasco’s work began to concentrate on the tragedy that destroyed Valtellina at the end of the Eighties. The result was the exhibition Paesaggio Cancellato organized by Roberto Tassi in 1990.

A distinctive trait of Velasco’s work is his constant interest in portraiture which

has gained approval in exhibitions and publications. His relation to the group Officina Milanese, at the end of the Nineties reveals a new interest: he discovers Sicily and the south of Italy.

The result is a number of exhibitions such as Isolitudine (Charta) with Ferdinando Scianna in 2000 and Mixtura (Charta) with Franco Battiato in 2003.

In 2004, Electa publishes Velasco20, a monograph with an article by Giulio Giorello and Charta brings out the catalogue for Extramoenia an exhibition that travels from Milan to Palermo.

In 2006, a site-specific project is carried out for Teatro dell’Arte in Milan.

Private and public collections hold woks by Velasco: amongst them Collezione Farnesina of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Arts both in Rome.

In 2007, he is part of a group show Pittura Italiana 1968-2007 held at Palazzo Reale in Milan. In Sondrio (together with Marco Gastini and Simon Starling), he is in Danilo Eccher’s exhibition Images Shapes and Nature in the Alps (Electa).

At the end of the year he takes part with a grand installation to the group show Ultime Ultime Cena at the Cenacolo Vinciano,( Galleria Gruppo Credito Valtellinese and Piccola Sacrestia of the Convent Santa Maria delle Grazie in Mila).

Many have written on Velasco’s work, amongst them: Franco Battiato, Pino Corrias, Danilo Eccher, Luca Doninelli,Giulio Giorello, Alessandro Riva, Ferdinando Scianna, Vittorio Sgarbi, Roberto Tassi and Giovanni Testori.

Opening Wednesday 12th March 2008 from 7.oo p.m.

13^th March-24^th April 2008-03-08

Monday to Friday 11.oo-1.oo a.m. 2.oo-7.30p.m

Catalogue commented by Danilo Eccher