“The Essence of Light: Dialogs between Luisa Lambri and Ettore Spalletti” is an exhibition by Luisa Lambri in which the artist engages in an ideal dialog with some works by Ettore Spalletti.
Lambri’s photographic works often explore interiors, capturing the subtle interplay of light and structure in some of the seminal moments in the history of modern art and architecture, emphasizing the ephemeral and transient nature of our perception. Her artistic research reflects on the sensitivity of space towards light and rethinks historical experiences such as those of Lucio Fontana and Minimalism, which have profoundly redefined the boundaries between painting and sculpture, two-dimensionality and three-dimensionality, surface and perception.
On this occasion, Luisa Lambri initiates a dialog that transcends time with the serene color compositions of Ettore Spalletti, an artist who was able to capture the meditative dimension of colors and shapes and consistently sought the tension between light and space, between human experience and abstraction. Though distinct in their mediums and methods, Luisa Lambri’s and Ettore Spalletti’s artistic practices both reveal a contemplative conception and an aspiration towards purity, transforming formality into an inner experience.
Next to works from previous series—made in buildings by Alberto Campo Baeza and Richard Neutra—the exhibition presents new works, conceived with the desire to relate to Ettore Spalletti’s sensitivity and artistic practice, especially the possibility for color to convey light and for light to become space.
The reflective photographs made by Luisa Lambri for the occasion, challenge the more common definitions of photography and connect with a practice known as Cameraless Photography, an approach which examines the potential relationship between photography and abstraction, eliminating the camera itself from the process.
The artist examined the use of gold and silver in Ettore Spalletti’s paintings and sculptures and sought to recreate the luminous intensity of those “colors” at her computer, aiming to achieve similar brightness and density.
Through an installation that responds to the gallery’s architecture and to the presence of a skylight and through the dialog between the artworks, the exhibition is a meditation on light and space, on surface as a place of heightened sensitivity and on art as a form of dialog through time.
at Vistamare, Milan
until November, 2024