Entitled "The Circle and the Clouds. Lorenzo Bonechi O' della Giovinezza" the exhibition that the municipality, together with Eletto Art tour, will open on Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Praetorian Palace in Figline (in Piazza San Francesco), featuring drawings, engravings, paintings and sculptures from private collections.
It is a tribute to Lorenzo Bonechi, an artist from Figlino who passed away at the age of 39 in November 1994, the same year he was invited to exhibit at the 46th Venice Biennale. The exhibition-which will be open until Jan. 6 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a. m . to 1 p.m. and 5 p. m . to 7 p. m ., with the exception of Dec. 15, when it will be open only in the morning-is part of a larger project, themed on youth and art, which is dedicated to Lorenzo Bonechi and also involves students from the Florence Academy of Fine Arts. It will take place in three steps, in partnership with Lions Host Valdarno and Caverni Assicurazioni: an exhibition at Palazzo Pretorio (the place where the artist first organized a solo show), an award dedicated to the students of the Academy, and an exhibition of their work at Casa Petrarca (Piazza Benassai, in Incisa, from December 15 to January 8).
At Palazzo Pretorio it will be possible to see works dating from between 1974 and 1982 and, therefore, to the 20-year-old Lorenzo. And it is precisely from the analysis of these works that the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, Lorenzo Bonechi's training ground, enthusiastically joined the project and asked its students to interpret the legacy of the artist from Figlino, through the creation of works inspired by him. Seventy were received, which will be judged by an internal committee before being forwarded to the municipality. Only 10 will go on to the finals, and the first place winner will be awarded 2,000 euros.
NOTES ON THE ARTIST - Lorenzo Bonechi, drawing inexhaustible and profound inspiration from his homeland, has attested himself on the international scene as a high interpreter of the
sentiments of his generation.
After studying at theAcademy of Fine Arts in Florence, he made his debut in 1979 in Figline in Palazzo Pretorio. This was followed in the early 1980s by exhibition appointments that established him originally close to citationist research. The recourse to figuration and the inspiration to the masters of the past are declined through a singular sacred iconography, set among the hills and cypresses of Valdarno, parish churches and hermitages of the Tuscan province.
The figures become elongated and silent, solitary or in groups of young companions, immersed in nature. These are years of happy painting, while his works are invited to numerous successful exhibitions in Italy and abroad: London, New York, Tokyo, Osaka, Washington, Vienna, in a pressing calendar of successes.
Since 1986 Lorenzo has been painting in flat inlays and pure colors, inspired by the sacredness of Byzantine icons and the symbolic value of form. With the Celestial Cities cycle, he chooses abstract forms in tight questions of metrics, searching for absolute and transcendent harmonies, with act of severe analytical distillation. In 1994, Jean Clair invited him to exhibit with a solo room in the 46th Venice Biennale, an event that would be an occasion of confirmation and momentum for his career as an artist, barely 39 years old.
Sudden death intervenes, in November 1994.
Below is the promo video of the exhibition:
