PALAZZO DEI PRIORI, VOLTERRA, TUSCANY, ITALY
10 JULY - 15 SEPTEMBER 2024
Last year KALPA Gallery invited Eleanor Lakelin to bring her work into dialogue with artefacts from the Etruscan Museum Guarnacci. The completed sculptures will be exhibited alongside a selection of Hellenistic (III-II BCE.) ceramic vases, amphoras and vessels of different sizes and purposes from the Museum’s un-exhibited collection. ESSENTIA is the final chapter of 'Timeless Encounters | Etruscan and Contemporary Art' and will be exhibited at the historical setting of Palazzo dei Priori in the heart of Volterra. ESSENTIA is curated by KALPA Galleries in collaboration with Association Anima Silvae and Guarnacci Etruscan Museum.
"Mysterious fluids flow from these stones, these objects, these images, undoing the abyss of time."
- Massimo Pallottino, 1963
"From micro to macro, indulging in the leading concepts of multiplication and repetition of forms, millenary customs and creative sensibilities, ESSENTIA focuses on the mysterious and yet present discourse on the true essence of matter, its infinite ramifications and transformations.
The selected archeological and contemporary objects explore the dual function of matter, which is both container and skin, a membrane that allows communication between the exterior and the interior. The Etruscans believed that amphoras, craters and other shapes of vessels, in addition to their specific functions, could house spirits in their cavities of all kinds and otherworldly meanings. Lakelin's work deepens the ancient concept of the vessel as a metaphysical device that carries the human soul: her sculptures transcend the object's function of cointainer, bringing the artwork to relinquish its material integrity to reveal what lies beneath the exterior cortex. The vessel thus becomes a portal."
Following the exhibition at Palazzo dei Priori, works from 'Essentia' will be exhibited at Kalpa Gallery in Autumn 2024.
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