GR Gallery is proud to present a group show featuring five artists, represented by the gallery, who are now participating at the 57^th Venice Biennale: Alberto Biasi, Franco Costalonga, Nadia Costantini, Sandi Renko, Claudio Rotta Loria.  

Opening reception: Thursday September 7th, 6:00pm – 9:00pm  (Exhibition Dates: September 7th –October 8^th , 2017) Members of the press can contact GR gallery in advance to schedule a private viewing.

GR Gallery, 255 Bowery (btw Houston & Stanton) New York, NY 10002

This exhibition aims to underline the international relevance and attention that is now pointing at five outstanding artists represented by GR gallery, that are simultaneously attending the most important art event in the world: the Venice Biennale. All Italian, these artists are among the founders or prime representative of the Optical Art and Kinetic Art. An movement emerged in the early 50s in Europe and South America that rose quickly in the early 60s also in the U.S., peaked with “The Responsive Eye” exhibition at New York MOMA in 1965, and then faded within a few years. On both sides of the ocean, it has had a long and outsized influence on visual art, architecture and design. In the last few years, the art world has witnessed a deluge of Op and Kinetic art centered exhibitions by major international museums and galleries and the markets took notice.

The Show, curated by Italian art critic Giovanni Granzotto, puts together 20 artworks, including paintings on canvas and wood, works on paper, sculptors and 3D relieves executed between 1970 and early 2000’s, engaging in a conversation about the infinite possibilities on movement and dynamism. Mr. Granzotto is also the curator of the Venice Biennale exhibition hosted by Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa that is featuring the same artists in Venice

Alberto Biasi (1937, Padua). Is a leading figure of what is known in Italy as ‘Arte programmata’ and elsewhere as ‘Op art’ and ‘Kinetic Art’. In 1959, aged 22, he co-founded the Gruppo N in Padua with some of his contemporaries. Since that time his art has developed constantly within the field of perceptual investigation, both lyrical and scientific, through several series: from the early Trame to the Torsioni, from the Light Prisms to the Ottico-dinamici, and Assemblaggi, In addition to the twelve exhibitions of the Gruppo N, Biasi has been given over one hundred solo exhibitions in museums.

Franco Costalonga (1933, Venice). During the 1960s, he joined the Dialettica delle Tendenze group, and started employing different materials in the attempt to create new surfaces that could generate three-dimensional forms. In 1969 Peggy Guggenheim acquired for her collection Costalonga’s work Sphere, made of Perspex and chromium metal. Costalonga has been the recipient of many awards and honors for his work in the fields of furnishings and design and has taken part in many national and international art shows.

Nadia Costantini (1944, Venice). Nadia Costantini’s works as a painter and a sculptor, is focused on the dialogue between negative and positive space to create the illusion of movement and depth. In her paintings, colorful geometric and modulated striped structures emerge from backgrounds of pure black thus emphasizing the painter’s choice of vivid, vibrant colors.

Sandi Renko (1949, Trieste)’s work is therefore the result of a journey that started at the end of the 1960s in the field of programmed and optical art. By using undulated cardboard surfaces painted with acrylic colors, Renko creates tridimensional geometric structures that can be read from several angles, giving the impression of movement.

Claudio Rotta Loria (1949, Turin). His experimentation is concentrated on two dialectical focal points: programmed and kinetic visual structurality and the poetic value of geometry, aroused by the slightest perceptual and sensorial stimulation. The resulting works constantly portray spatial and objectual implications, the key to follow through the development of all the work he has produced to date.