MUVE Contemporaneo

Barry X Ball
Medardo Rosso Project, Catalogue Raisonné

9 May – 22 September 2019
Venezia, Ca’ Pesaro Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna

Curated by Elisabetta Barisoni

In collaboration with Studio Barry X Ball, New York e Fergus McCaffrey Gallery

A master of international contemporary sculpture and one of the most interesting conceptual artists of the 21st century, Barry X Ball confronts the history of art and museums through the reinterpretation of masterpieces from the past.

Since 2012 he has been engaged in a 3D scanning project of the works of Medardo Rosso held in Italian public collections. One of the largest nuclei, located at Ca’ Pesaro, includes La portinaia (1883), Bambino alle cucine economiche (1893) and Madame X (1896).
The outcome of Barry X Ball’s long, in-depth scrutiny of Rosso’s output is Catalogue Raisonné: ten works by the American artist based on Rosso’s original sculptures and created with the aid of CNC (computer numerical control) technology. Barry X Ball renders Rosso’s complex forms in minute detail, “reinvented, almost revisited” in various materials, from golden calcite to pink and white Iranian onyx, or highly transparent materials such as Mexican white onyx.

The results are striking three-dimensional pieces that mirror Rosso’s sculptures. The charge of energy and mystery that the brilliant Italian artist embodied in his creations remains intact and is coupled with a contemporary vision that examines the potential and limits of forms and materials. The result is a virtuoso dialogue with Rosso’s works and with the masterpieces of sculpture in the Venetian museum’s permanent collection.