The Italian artist provides a commentary on European and American cinema at the Modern Art Museum Shanghai .
In March, visitors to the Modern Art Museum (MAM) Shanghai were immersed in a world of cinema and artistic interpretation with the opening of Francesco Vezzoli’s Divas.
The exhibition is a culmination of twenty five years of work and marks the first time that Vezzoli will be showing art in China. Vezzoli, an Italian artist and filmmaker who previously studied at Central Saint Martins in London, often explores dimensions of popular culture through his art. His new exhibition Divas is no different, with Vezzoli providing commentary and layered perspectives on European and American cinema.
“The exhibition unfolds along two interwoven trajectories: a historical narrative and a deeply personal reflection — both aesthetic and emotional — on cinema and its enduring legacies.”
Francesco Vezzoli
“It is with great enthusiasm that I present Divas at MAM Shanghai,” says Vezzoli. “The exhibition unfolds along two interwoven trajectories: a historical narrative and a deeply personal reflection — both aesthetic and emotional — on cinema and its enduring legacies.”
In order to create the exhibition, Vezzoli embroidered his own version of film posters and portraits of movie stars. Hollywood “divas” and Italian movie stars such as Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren and Silvana Mangano are embroidered and displayed alongside original film posters. The embroidery by Vezzoli is primarily in black-and-white with pops of color used to portray emotions on the faces of the movie stars, often in the form of tears.
The side by side of Vezzoli’s embroidery and original movie posters allows museum-goers to understand the historical and emotional dimensions of film, while also exploring the effects of stardom. Fetishism surrounding movie stars and found throughout cinematic styles such as Italian Neorealism and the French New Wave is evident, and Vezzoli explores the effects of gaze by showcasing multiple versions of portraits and film posters.
As a lover of cinema and popular culture, Vezzoli’s artwork also allows him to pay homage to the films he watched growing up. By embroidering film portraits, he is able to weave his own touch into the films that have impacted his life.
The exhibition was curated by Nancy Spector and Shai Baitel, who is the Artistic Director of the MAM Shanghai. As a global institution, the museum hopes to share culture and art from around the world, and both Spector and Baitel are excited to bring Vezzoli’s work to a new audience in China. “We are delighted to debut Francesco Vezzoli’s work in China with an immersive cinematic experience. In Divas, Vezzoli reveals hidden truths within each portrait and invites viewers to question what is real and what is performative for the screen, bringing the power of Vezzoli’s mastery of intervention as both a material and philosophical act to the forefront,” says Baitel.
The exhibition is showing at the MAM Shanghai now until June 2nd. All images courtesy of Karla Otto PR.
