Press release
The Multifaceted Art of Diego Birelli at Spazio Thetis
17 June 2011 – On 23 June at 17:30, a solo exhibition of works by Diego Birelli will open at Spazio Thetis in the Venice Arsenal, adding to the numerous exhibitions for the 54th International Art Exhibition already on display at the venue.
The exhibition opening will feature the screening of a documentary by Ennio Chiggio and speeches by Giandomenico Romanelli, director of the Venice Civic Museums Foundation, as well as Nico Lucani, Roberto Masiero, Gianluigi Pescolderung and Sergio Polano.
In his essay introducing Birelli, Giandomenico Romanelli states: “For some time now, Diego’s work has possessed a new dimension that bridges all of the other dimensions present – memory, or rather the relationship between shape and time, between recollection and depiction, between dreams and dematerialization. While exploring this path, his creativity has yielded results that have a clear, and at times surprising, originality. Ideas apparent in his earlier works (light and shadow, size and proportion, solids and voids, as well as characters and illustrations, accuracy and paper thickness, solarisation and blurriness, etc.) are revived and given new meaning, acquiring an unusual, novel depth, displaying clear gradations and strokes, metamorphosizing and oscillating between nightmare and phantom, between delirium and anamorphosis”.
Inviting viewers to explore the introspectiveness of the artist’s works, Romanelli states: “Birelli’s imagination is, both for him and for us, a seductive and boundless Pandora’s box capable of releasing either the delicate wafts of wildflowers or immense, irresistible psychological tsunamis. All can delve into it, and none return without discovering meaning or emotion – it is the new charisma of Diego Birelli, the young necromancer changing shape and time”.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in Asti in 1934, Diego Birelli spent his childhood in Venice, attending various schools in the Veneto Region. In 1959, he began a three-year course of study at the Architecture Institute in Venice, while simultaneously studying at the Industrial Design Institute in the same city.
In 1961 he had his first solo exhibition at Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa. This was followed by solo and group exhibitions in Milan and Rome, at Toninelli Gallery and L’Obelisco Gallery respectively.
Beginning in 1963, he began working on photography projects and political posters. From 1966 to 1980, he was the artistic director for Electa, a publishing house in Milan, collaborating with the Italian Touring Club on four series of books. He provided the photographs and graphics for a monograph on Sansovino by Manfredo Tafuri (Marsilio Publishers) and one on Palladio by Leonello Puppi (Electa Publishers). He collaborated with Luigi Nono on a set design project for an opera that was to be performed at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (but was unfortunately cancelled).
In 1986 he had a solo exhibition in Milan, followed by three solo exhibitions and two group exhibitions in Venice and Treviso.
In 1992, he collaborated with Roberto Masiero on an exhibit entitled “Il Mito Sottile” at the Revoltella Museum in Trieste. He also was responsible for the exhibit’s catalogue and promotional material.
Since 1994, he has been involved in a single work, which currently consists of 3600 drawings, inspired by his discovery of four group photographs of adolescent students.
Exhibition hours: Until 22 July 2011, Monday to Friday, from 10:00 to 18:00
Spazio Thetis
Castello Arsenale – Bacini stop
Lines 41-42, 51-52
Press Office
Knowledge Management Office and Press Office
Thetis SpA
tel. 041 2406111
fax 041 5210292
Contact: Giannandrea Mencini
mobile 347 2823781
Michela Raccanello
Orange PR – Gruppo REM
tel. 0432 179 33 50
fax 0432 179 33 60
Alberto Rochira
mobile 347 3354320
Anna Maria Toldo