Contemporary art trails in San Gimignano
Modern and contemporary painting and sculpture are now an integral part of San Gimignano, an inexhaustible source of artistic inspiration. The Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art is named after the Milanese painter Raffaele De Grada, who chose the Tuscan landscape as the place of choice for his art. The permanent collection includes accounts of 20th-century painters including: Niccolò Cannicci, Renato Guttuso, Raffaele De Grada, Mario Sironi, Giorgio De Chirico, Sergio Vacchi, Giannetto Fieschi, and Marco Gastini.
It continues in the historic center where the encounter between contemporary art and a context marked by the presence of medieval and renaissance art fostered a contemporary alternative route to the exhibition room. The project Affinity, since 1994, has left five site-specific works in the historic center. Walking around, artists Nunzio and Jannis Kounellis identified for their respective Untitled cross alleys and intimate spaces, while Giulio Paolini and Luciano Fabro preferred the wide spaces of Piazza Sant'Agostino and the courtyard of the Palazzo comunale for their Sundial e Italy at Auction. Finally, Eliseo Mattiacci admitted that he had the feeling that that ancient stretch of broken walls of the Rocca di Montestaffoli was waiting to accommodate Compromised Balance, a contemporary artistic intervention.
This experience conducted in historic places where conteporary art redeems its value has been treasured by the project Art to Art., promoted by the Arte Continua Association. Those who were unable to visit the historic center in the 1996 to 2005 editions can still admire the works that remained in permanent form. Proceeding toward the Piazza Sant'Agostino are manifested The chair in front of the door by Joseph Kosuth, Untitled by Jannis Kounellis, Underground by Anish Kappor. Finally appears The Rest of Time by Luisa Rabbia, suggested to the artist by the evocative power of ancient Medieval Sources.
There are numerous contributions from San Gimignano artists such as. The cinnamon tree, the Monument to the Martyrs of Montemaggio, the tile Elm by the sculptor Maurizio Masini, Traveller of Peace by ceramist Franco Balducci and the four panels on the facade of the Podesta Palace ,made in collaboration with Silvia Beghè, whose work Along the Path of Time again dialogues with Meeting Balducci's.
There is no shortage of private galleries opening San Gimignano to the international vision of avant-garde art, such as the well-known Continua Gallery. To the latter's efforts are owed the installations The Starry Sky Above Me by Letizia Cariello, Sun and Water by Nic Jonk, Jellow Girl by Kiki Smith.
The invitation is to come into contact with the works, through their aesthetic system and the environment that houses them, and experience a direct confrontation with them for a time of indefinite duration.
