28th October – 20th November 2004
Roberto Pietrosanti develops an in-depth, rigorous investigation into spatiality, through intensely suggestive works playing on a subtle destabilisation of what is seen and perceived. In this show, the artist presents copper spheres which seem to engage in a spatial duel with the environment of the gallery; they interfere in the spectator’s perception of the location through a complex mechanism of action and reaction, of visual pushes and pulls. These sculptural elements manage to establish a relationship with their surroundings in a way which seems to be devoid of any narrative or existential notions.
Pietrosanti’s work is always an exploration, an analysis of artistic language, and seems to go beyond the limits of a given medium or artistic technique. He tackles the problem of the third dimension even in his work on paper. The pieces exhibited in this show are evidence of this, standing out in that very territory of metaphysical and spatial implications provoked by sculpture in the strict sense. The spherical sculptures were first shown in public in the show curated by Ludovico Pratesi Giganti, Contemporary Art in the Excavations of the Fori Imperiali (Rome 2000), where the archaeological remains acted as a sort of countermelody. The spheres were exhibited in 2001 in London, at the personal show held at the Andipa Gallery, and in December-January 2003 in Rome, as part of the project designed for the contemporary art space Volume!
Since the end of the Eighties Roberto Pietrosanti has had countless exhibitions in Italy and abroad: in 1989 he took part in collective shows in New York and Liège, and in the following years, had several personal shows, in Rome, Verona, Bologna, Liège, Perugia and London. In 1996 he took part in the 12th Rome Quadrennial; in 1999, he presented some small format drawings at the Galleria A.A.M. in Roma. They were executed with great rigour, using a few, essential elements which “took their place in a dimension of absolute lyrical abstraction” (Francesco Moschini).
Since 1999 Pietrosanti has also contributed to a series of important architectural projects. A marked “liveable feeling” can always be felt both in his three-dimensional and two-dimensional work: this is the case of the three monochrome bas-reliefs shown in the “Contemporary Art – Work in Progress 10” at the Rome City Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art (2000), in which “the experience of painting is annulled, and is replaced by an inclination towards architecture” (Barbara Rose).
“For Roberto Pietrosanti, architecture is more than just an interest, it is an attitude, a vocation. Because for an artist, to exhibit something is not just to show it, but to interpret a space” (Paola Magni). An outstanding example of his work with architectural studios is a square in Ravenna which will soon be opened; Pietrosanti worked on this for the Compagnia del Progetto side by side with the architects Franco Purini, Carlo Maria Sadich and Francesco Moschini. A monumental work by the artist, consisting of a bronze wall thirty-two metres long, will stand in the square.
In 2000 Pietrosanti was awarded the First Prize in the Idea Competition for the restructuring of Rome’s Piazza Augusto Imperatore. More recently the artist took part in the important art show entitled Monocromos – From Malevic to the Present Day, curated by Barbara Rose at the Reina Sofia Centre for Contemporary Art in Madrid (June-September 2004). He displayed an architectural piece specially developed for the occasion.

Press office: Susanna Fabiani: catalogue and photographs available
on request
susy@galleriailponte.com