DANTE mag. n.1 - luglio 2011

http://www.dantemag.com/

Aesthetic work can never be planned. I leave the pattern to unfold spontaneously so it can reflect its own identity.

“Genomi” was presented in 2005 at Exposition Now, Casalmaggiore (Cremona, Italy). Paul Malone took the whole show to the Tara Brian Gallery in London, and called it Primavera (Spring) 2006. The partnership with Paul Malone continues with three other collectives: Primavera 2007 in Amsterdam (Punt WG Gallery); Objects-room in Parma, and Perpetuum Mobile in London, in 2008 (APT Gallery – Art in Perpetuity Trust).
In 2007 I met Julien Ashner, who works for the Tate Modern Gallery. He introduced my work to the Gift Gallery that currently represent me in London.
Kairos v. Kronos in 2008 has been selected for the Biennial Exhibition of Europe and Mediterranean of Bari.

The passing of time makes a man powerless. Kairos becomes the image of a young dancer; the metal net that traps his movement is his alter ego Kronos.

In this work I represent “strangers” seen like fragments of time, tiny moments that capture our attention, the spark of thought that can resolve an enigma. Thanks to the Bari Biennale, I signed an exclusive agreement for the German market with S&G Gallery in Berlin. In 2008 and 2009, I participated at two collectives hosted by Adriana Gonzales. Amongst the works exhibited I’d like to remember Piccole anime ( the little souls) of Unknowns.

In 2009, I brought Querce (Oak Trees) to Berlin. The work had been exhibited previously in London in 2008.I also brought Supplications, made in 2004 and dedicated to Antonin Artaud’s writing on the clash of body and soul.

“The structure of the body and the imaginary world are the two different sides of the ego that better represent the instability of the human being.”

In Berlin, I also showed my work entitled Giuba esplorato, a tribute to the work of Italian explorer Vittorio Bottego. In the late 1800s, Bottego was the first to explore the Juba River in the Horn of Africa. This is another way to show the image of a soul, as the light that comes within; light as the vital element for the growth of three, from which I got the image projected on stripes of wood.

Vania Stukelj says: “While developing a technique on which he’s been working for a few years, Tentolini dissects and reassembles bodies that are printed out on transparent paper, playing with the effect that light creates on the background of wooden strips.

In 2010, Lorand Hegyi, the artistic director of Le Musée d’art moderne de Saint-Etienne, and the manager of Ludwig Foundation in Vienna included my work as part of a group of artists for Promenade, a travelling exhibition begun in Bratislava in 2008. So far the exhibit has traveled to Sarajevo, Budapest, Tel-Aviv, Palermo and Valencia. In Promenade I present Pure Morning, where I rework the technique as well as the carving previously experimented with in the Unknowns project. But in Unknowns, the character has been secretly photographed. In Pure morning I’ll explore this intimacy, as the subject poses in front of a camera.
In July 2010 I presented Net (a work I made on a PVC net) at an initiative at the University of London for experimenting with new artistic languages, begun by C4CC – Center For Creative Collaboration.

… I see the human body in two different ways: one as a complex network of blood vessels and nerves and also as a “neutral” individual included in a social network. I blend these two concepts with a light that comes from the base of the main figure and goes through the entire body structure gradually fading away, leaving the face in shadow. It is as if the subject loses its identity, and doing so, gives way to a more neutral object.

My last work is called Il Muro dei Muri, a video projection exhibited at Erased Walls during Mediations Biennale, in Berlin and Bratislava in autumn 2010.
The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima said “emotions don’t like fixed orders”.
I’m not able to concentrate on a single subject. Ideas come to me from people I cross paths with in everyday life. This is the fuel of my wandering mind and my artistic desire. Travelling around the world with my art, I have met many people who believed in my work. Besides those I previously mentioned, I’d like to thank Cristiano Boni, my travelling companion, assistant and co-maker and the member of my family that often takes my hand and walks along with me on my journey.
Italy is the country where my journey always begins and always ends. It is the essence of my being, the only place where I’ve ever been able to produce my works in peace and harmony

Many many many thanks to Lino Leonelli for introducing me to Massimo Gava

and to Massimiliano Briarava Cosati for helping me clean the mess in my mind :)