FACING GRACE

Ca' Robegan, Musei Civici di Treviso · Treviso, Italy
15 December 2023 – 11 February 2024
Solo Exhibition
Curated by Sandrine Welte and Pasquale Lettieri · Organised by Cris Contini Contemporary in collaboration with the Municipality of Treviso

Euphrosyne, Thalia and Aglaea – joy, youthful beauty and elegance. For Facing Grace, Simon Berger turned to The Three Graces, one of the best-known works of the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova.

Berger took the group apart. He separated the three goddesses and set each one on its own pane of fractured glass, in the approach he calls morphogenesis. The result is a series of portraits that are flat and sculptural at once.

The works were shown in the historic rooms of Ca' Robegan, part of the Musei Civici di Treviso, where visitors could approach them from many angles and perspectives. Between Canova's classical ideal of beauty and Berger's way of building an image from fractures, the exhibition drew a line across two centuries. Treviso's mayor, Mario Conte, described Berger's art as a synthesis of painting, sculpture and drawing.

Credits

Musei Civici di Treviso · Cris Contini Contemporary · Municipality of Treviso

Photography: © Jessica Zufferli