LAGUNA

Francesco De Grandi, Katharina Maderthaner

Info: LAGUNA is the name of the exhibition that inaugurates the new venue of RizzutoGallery in Düsseldorf. It is a duo exhibition featuring a series of recent works by two artists of the gallery: Francesco De Grandi (b. 1968 Palermo, Italy) and Katharina Maderthaner (b. 1982 Meerbusch, Germany). LAGUNA, as well as being the title of an installation by Katharina Maderthaner, it is also a reference to the film Blue Lagoon (1980) that focuses on discovery and growth, on the power of nature, feelings, emotions and eroticism. These topics are present in the works of both artists, even if they are carried out differently. The title LAGUNA also fits well with the gallery’s step of entering the cultural context of a new city: from Palermo to Düsseldorf, in a new territory, that still has to be discovered and that is very different from where we come from. Just as different are the two artists we are presenting. She a sculptress, he a painter; different in geographical origin, education, generation, conceptual research, formal approach. The philosopher and geneticist Albert Jacquard wrote that »the other is precious to us to the extent that he is different from us«. If this is true, I am sure that this creative encounter between two excellent artists will truly enrich them as well as us. After all, diversity is the only feature that unites us all. – Eva Oliveri and Giovanni Rizzuto