We couldn’t be more honored to have had the opportunity to engage in such a rewarding collaboration with groundbreaking artist, Mel Bochner. Through this exhibition, in which he is both artist and curator, Bochner symbolically reunites himself with two of his most cherished late colleagues and sources of inspiration: Alighiero Boetti and Lucio Fontana. This transatlantic triumph affords viewers the invaluable opportunity to see each of these works within a unique and stimulating context, and I am obliged to express our deepest gratitude, in particular to David Totah of Totah Gallery in New York, the Fondazione Fontana in Milan, the Archivio Boetti in Rome, as well as Tornabuoni Arte for the outstanding generosity and support they have shown us since the project’s early stages of development.
Bochner Boetti Fontana marks a significant point of transition for Magazzino in that it has afforded us the opportunity to elaborate upon and affirm our overarching mission as an institution committed to fostering cultural connections between Italy and the U.S. This is, in fact, not only our first exhibition to feature the work of an American artist but also our first artist-curated exhibition. These steps into uncharted territory have empowered and inspired us to promote new interpretations of Italian art through our future programming and facilitation of scholarship in the field.
The exhibition promotes a broader understanding of the avant-garde and a keener recognition of the parallel artistic careers that developed on either side of the Atlantic over the last fifty years. This experience has encouraged us as an institution to take into account a diverse range of working definitions of Italian art and to further consider the complexities within the narratives that shape it.
The juxtaposition of the works on view reveals striking relationships that illuminate how drawing connections among artists, especially internationally, can deepen our understanding of the influences and exchanges that have contributed to such seminal works of art both in Italy and the U.S. This nuanced perspective, in turn, has the potential to fuel richer and more fulfilling conversations surrounding the subjects in focus.
Bochner Boetti Fontana affirms the significant role that both institutions and artists can have in encouraging artistic exchange globally, allowing us to embrace new ways of looking at art. For all of this, we are thoroughly grateful to Mel Bochner, whose trust and dedication have been the strongest driving force behind the success of this collaboration. He has brought his profoundly human touch to the space, rendering the works on view as much ore than a selection of static objects; instead, they are indicative of a living history that gives insight into the past while revealing the influences that contribute to our definitions of contemporary art today.