GART Arte Contemporanea is pleased to announce the opening of the new exhibition season with ‘Indagine II’24‘, the solo show of Spanish artist Octavio Floreal, which extends from the gallery’s rooms to the spaces of La Sbornia in Verduno. The official opening will be held on Saturday 10 February at 6 p.m. in the spaces of the Neive venue, in Via Rocca 31.February 10th, at 6:00 PM at the Neive location, Via Rocca 31.
The exhibition presents the black and white universe of Octavio Floreal, an artist native to the Canary Islands. A selection of emblematic works of his career, three previously unexhibited works and a site-specific installation realised in the gallery’s spaces, lead to the four large sculptures housed in the gardens and interior spaces of La Sbornia a Verduno. The exhibition, extended among the hills of Langhe, thus explores one of the key aspect of the artist’s work, named ‘Indagine (Investigation)’.
“Investigation” by definition is “a theoretical and practical activity directed towards the knowledge or discovery of something. [(Sin.) analysis, examination, exploration, observation, research, study]. This word contains within itself the mother principle that has driven Floreal’s art since the beginning of his studies and career, which began in the mid-1990s. Through this corpus of work, from which the exhibition takes its title, Floreal has created a symbolic alphabet by manipulating one and only one iron wire. His icons, originally born from drawing, are visual syntheses of existential concepts, interweaving tales of human history and art with personal experiences. The codification of these symbols led the artist to express himself with what can be called the ‘12 universal elements‘, which are always present in every artworks. These are welded together to create a play of harmonious compositions, ‘visual poems that are structured in space‘. The depth of his personal sculptural line can be perceived in his ability to give each individual figurative element a ‘simplicity of interpretation’. This aspect invites viewers to approach and investigate the meanings, discovering and recognising themselves in the iconic symbols that, although unique and personal, speak to us as if they had already been absorbed into our collective imagination.
