VALENTINO VAGO
“La Bellezza della luce”
Milan – Andrea Ingenito contemporary art
May 16 – June 29
Opening May 16 h.18.30
On Thursday, May 16th, the solo show dedicated to the Lombard artist Valentino Vago (1931-2018) entitled: “La Bellezza della Luce” will open at the Andrea Ingenito Gallery in Milan.
The exhibition is the first stage of a busy promotion program in collaboration with the Valentino Vago Archive, followed by fairs, promotional activities and an ambitious exhibition project in an institutional reality.
The exhibition includes a corpus of about twenty works from the 1960s to the latest paintings of 2017, perfectly summarizing the long stylistic path led by the painter towards the representation of Beauty “which for me is above all joy illuminated” (Valentino Vago, 2008). His work is particularly appreciated by a cultured and selected public and is present in prestigious public and private collections. In this regard, for spring and summer 2019, a series of exhibition events are scheduled that will see him as protagonist together with some of the major modern and contemporary masters.
From May 4, his 70s production will be on display at Palazzo Sarcinelli (Conegliano), after a few days it will be the Mart in Rovereto, with “Miracle in Milan”, to tell the post-war Lombard artistic season also through his canvases; while in Pistoia the Palazzo Buontalenti will host “Italia Moderna 1945-1975. Dalla Ricostruzione alla Contestazione” with works by Vago selected from the collection of Banca Intesa Sanpaolo.
What makes his language unique and complete is the ability to harmonize tradition and innovation in a single poetic; while on the one hand it pays homage to the “ancient painters of light” especially as Beato Angelico, on the other it looks with interest at the chromatic experimentalism of Kandinskij, Klee and going beyond the spatial research of Lucio Fontana.
He starts from these ideas to enrich his personal vision of art, in which the limits imposed in the first place by the surrounding space are challenged, and in some cases overcome. He begins with the abolition of any form of “control” of the color on the environment, tending towards the invasion of light on the surface on which it works without nevertheless reaching however excessive or violent expressive results. Conversely, Vago caressing the color with grace and elegance, reaches the full fulfillment of his path by creating works of light only.
Expressing himself to the fullest in ever-expanding spaces, Vago soon trespasses from the canvas to the wall creating, starting in 1979, habitable works in public and private spaces. «Vago’s painting can in no way be confused with a” covering “of a surface; instead, it has specific plans and locations suitable for enhancing the effects of delicate spatial matter»
(Tommaso Trini, 1979).
This is an immaterial and otherworldly world in the continuous search for Beauty, a non-place where reference points are missing and the colors are not a fill but the totality of the painting, the pass for a journey beyond the boundaries of art » (Carlo Vanoni, 2014).
For the occasion, a catalog will be created by the gallery.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Valentino Vago was born in Barlassina in 1931; in 1958 he moved permanently to Milan. As soon as he finished hie studies at the Academy of fine Arts in Brera, he exhibited his first show at “VI Quadriennale d’arte” at Rome in 1955. In 1960 his first personal exibition took place at Salone Annunciata in Milan, he was presented by Guido Ballo.
Since then, his work was going to assert itself as one of most important examples of the italian painting in these last decades. He’s unequalled for light’s quality and the almost lyrical sign at his work. In is long artistic carrer, Valentino Vago mounted numerous personal exibition and partecipate sto private and public collections in Italy and abroad. Furthermore, it has to be recoected that Valentino Vago took part to exibitions orgnized by Bienal de S.o Paulo, Kunstmuseum of Cologne, Hayward Gallery of London, Grand Palais at Paris and also in many museum at Frankfurt, Berlin, Hannover, Wien.
From 1978 to the present Valentino Vago has continuously dedicated his time to mural painting, executing work for both public and private spaces in Italy and abroad. Many of this commissions have involved churches. The first of these was carried out in the parish Church of San Giulio in Barlassina in 1982; the largest work, which measures about twelve thousand square metres and is devoted to Our Lady of Rosary , was consecreated in Doha, Qatar, in 2008. The last, the
twenty-first, is that of San Giovanni in Laterano, Milan, completed in the summer of 2016, and which Vago described as ‘My Paradise’.
His Catalogue raisonn. 1948-2010 was published by Skira in 2011 with texts redacted by the scientific committee leaded Flavio Caroli. The Accademici of San Luca recommended Valentino Vago for the 2012 edition of the “Premio Presidente della Repubblica” as a prestigious recognition of his career. From 2014 he was a member of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca.
Vago died in his house in Milan on the 17th of January 2018. In April, his sons Mario and Valerio founded the Archivio Valentino Vago. The advisory committee, will undertake studies, appraisals and
research in order to safeguard the Valentino Vago’s artistic heritage, and confirms its exclusive authority for the certification of the authenticityof the artist’s works.
INFO:
Title: “La Bellezza della Luce”
Address: Galleria Andrea Ingenito contemporary art
Milan, Via Privata Massimiano 25 (Ventura Lambrate)
Dates: May 16th – June 29th 2019.
Opening: May 16th h.18.30
Tuesday – Saturday 3 pm – 7 pm
Contacts: ph: 081 0490829 | 02 36798346
info@ai-ca.com | milano@ai-ca.com | www.ai-ca.com