THE PUZZLING CLASSICS SHOW | Venezia

THE PUZZLING CLASSICS SHOW 
Andrea Morucchio solo show 
A Bugno Art Gallery production
Exhibition space at Fondamenta Sant’Anna, Castello 996/A, Venezia
In collaboration with Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation
April 12 - June 22 2024

>>> Catalogue with texts by Toni Toniato, Stefano Cecchetto, Tobia Donà

The Puzzling Classics Show showcasing the digital artworks of Venetian artist Andrea Morucchio open to public during the first two months of the 60.Venice Biennale.  

The exhibition provides a captivating glimpse into Morucchio's "Puzzling" project initiated in 2015 when, during the 56th Venice Biennale, the artist presented the multimedia installation The Rape of Venice at the Museum of Palazzo Mocenigo. A distinctive element of the installation was thousands of photographic tiles, casually arranged to deconstruct the geometric, phytomorphic, and zoomorphic patterns of the floor mosaic of St. Mark's Basilica.

The Puzzling Classics project sees these tiles rearranged and repositioned in mosaic forms, creating fascinating reinterpretations of paintings by Renaissance masters. The exhibition features a selection of works from the Puzzling Renaissance series with reimagined subjects of paintings by Tintoretto, Giampietrino, Titian, Palma the Elder, Veronese, Giorgione, and Leonardo.

Among the exhibited works, "La Tempesta," of a landscape genre, stands out, while the rest belong to the portrait genre. The larger-scale piece, titled "Il Paradiso," takes on an "installative" dimension, expanding into the surrounding space; six square plates, affixed to the same wall, depict characters extrapolated from the main work, adding a layer of depth and engagement to the overall artistic experience.

*Bugno Art Gallery has represented Morucchio's photography and digital art work in Italy for many years by setting up a solo exhibition Puzzling Identities at Bugno Art Gallery, 2022, Venice and collaborating on several group exhibitions featuring Morucchio, including Beyond the Face: The contemporary portrait, 2020, Girona, Le Gallerie Veneziane e la Fotografia, Casa dei Tre Oci, 2015, Venice, MIA. Milan Image Art Fair, SuperstudioPiù, 2011, Milan, Grand Art Fair, The Mall, 2017-2019, Milan. 

*Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation's relationship with Morucchio began in ocasion of the first edition of the Majhi International Art Residency held in Venice in conjunction with the 2019 Biennale featuring Bangladeshi and Italian artists that would result in a group exhibition The Scent of Time; the exhibition in October of the same year was mounted for the 15th edition of the Giornata del Contemporaneo at the Edge Gallery in Dhaka in collaboration with the Italian Embassy. Also in 2021 Morucchio was invited by DBF to give a talk, The Evocation of Genius Loci at the third edition of Majhi AIR in Eindhoven. Some of Morucchio's important works of digital art belong to DBF's public collection.