Cristiano Bianchin, Figure

Project by Caterina Tognon

On the occasion of The Venice Glass Week 2018, the Gallerie dell’Accademia,
in collaboration with Caterina Tognon Vetro Contemporaneo, are proud to present a selection of glass sculptures by Cristiano Bianchin
(Venice, 1963).
For the second time, the Gallerie dell’Accademia take part in the international kermesse dedicated
to glass, exposing an artist who,
since 1992, has almost exclusively worked on the creation of art in this material and has worked with great continuity and dedication in the furnaces of Murano:
the Anfora furnace, led by Renzo Ferro with the master glassworker Andrea
Zilio and master cold worker Giacomo Barbini, has become his artistic residence. For Bianchin, glassmaking constitutes
a necessary analysis of his own artistic language, based on classic glassmaking techniques from Murano compared to contemporary experimentations.
Gold, red and black are the dominant colours of the sculptures selected to interact with the museum’s heritage, creating a fertile contrast with artworks ranging from precious gold ground paintings to Canova’s white
plaster casts.

Cristiano Bianchin responds to the whiteness of Antonio Canova’s plaster casts, which populate the Palladian hall, with the vibrancy of the Murano glass colours. As early as 1995 the Venetian artist had created a connection with
the great master of Neoclassicism in the Gipsoteca of Possagno: today, more than twenty years later, Bianchin reflects once again on the relation between his artwork and Canova’s plaster casts, presenting a Raccoglitore di pensieri (”Thought collector”), from the Lingam series, and a piece from the Riposapesi collection. The red glass Raccoglitore di pensieri abstractly evokes the urn exposed in the Tablinum where Canova’s heart and hand were preserved, whereas the two sculptures forming the Riposapesi, one white and one black, symbolize the contrast between opposites but also its solution through a cathartic and sensual embrace.

In the apse of the former gothic church of Santa Maria della Carità,
one of the most magical and evocative places of the museum, are presented six sculptures by Cristiano Bianchin’s series Crisalidi.

The sinuous and elegant anthropomorphic glass works bring
to mind figures of saints that emerge from the wood panels painted almost six hundred years ago in
Jacopo Bellini’s atelier, very likely in collaboration with his sons
Giovanni and Gentile.
Crisalidi, produced in Murano in the early 2000s, are intended by Bianchin
as contemporary idols and recall
the typical hieratic shapes of ancient statuary.
For the artist, black opaque glass, which is rarely used in glass art, symbolizes purity, order and sensuality.

The inauguration of this exhibition will take place on September 9th, from 4pm to 7pm, at the same venue

.