Vistamarestudio is pleased to present Quattro forme, a group exhibition that brings together works by Mario Airò, Joana Escoval and Ettore Spalletti, illuminated by an installation conceived by Michael Anastassiades, transforming the lighting conditions of the gallery.
In the purity of their materials and the simplicity of their forms, the works in the exhibition share a minimalist aesthetic and a search for equilibrium.
At first glance it might seem that what unites these pieces is a reductivist yet poetic tendency, an inclination towards economy of means. On closer inspection, however, each of these works reveals the hint of an opening, a possibility glimpsed, an intimation of a landscape or of the beauty of a moment yet to unfold.
Base di colore (1991) by Ettore Spalletti suggests the idea of a horizon contained within a geometric piece of alabaster and revealing itself through the light blue pigment.
Calla (2011) by Mario Airò traces out a precious arabesque which reaches out through the surrounding space simply to offer a flower to the ceiling.
Made to accompany the sound of a storm I & II (2019) and I would rather be a storm (2020) by Joana Escoval map out an almost imperceptible geography, a landscape as stylized and abstract as it is intuitive and present.
Finally, One Well-Known Sequence (2018) by Michael Anastassiades uses light and geometry in a rhythmic delineation of the space of the gallery, transforming its of mapping into an exercise in sensitivity. The same sensitivity that we can find in the reflective surfaces of Beauty Mirror and Fairest, which, together with the lights and the space, flatter the viewer.
Quattro forme is a quiet adagio formed of pauses and caesuras, a spontaneous dialogue between works in which what often seems remote is brought a little closer.
And it is this poetic tension – between interior and exterior worlds, between the intimate spaces of domestic life and the expanses of an elsewhere often only glimpsed in our imagination – that the works in the show bring to the viewer.

Mario Airò was born in Pavia in 1961. His approach experiments and reinterprets different artistic means with a continuous cross-over between disciplines. His work is in the collections of many institutions, including MAXXI, Castello di Rivoli, GNAM Roma, MaMbo, Museion Bolzano amongst others. He lives and works in Milan.

Michael Anastassiades founded his studio in London in 1994. His practice in lighting, furniture and products is characterized by a poetic yet rigorous interpretation of technology, materials and function. His work is featured at the MOMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, the V&A and the MAK in Vienna amongst others. 

Joana Escoval was born in Lisbon in 1982. Her practice circumscribes both visual and aural in the form of sculpture, collective walks, installations, and printed matter. In 2020 her work has been the subject of a solo exhibition at Museu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon. A selection of exhibitions and projects include: S.M.A.K. Gent, Belgium (2019); Tenderpixel, London (2019); Fiorucci Art Trust, London (2018); La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2017); Fondation d’entreprise Ricard, Paris (2015); Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2014). She lives and works in Lisbon

Ettore Spalletti (Cappelle sul Tavo, Pescara, 1940 – 2019) developed a singular, solitary voice and a resultant body of work that exceeds any movement that circumscribes an artist to regional or ideological boundaries. Spalletti’s formal vocabulary has always melded and balanced painting and sculpture, form and color, interior and exterior space. His work is in the collections of many institutions, including MUMOK, Vienna; SMAK, Gent; Centre Pompidou, Paris; ARC Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Kleve; Castello di Rivoli, Turin; Museo di Capodimonte, Naples; GNAM, Rome; Guggenheim Museum, New York, amongst others.