Events/Openings

401contemporary is excited to show Manuele Cerutti's (*1976 in Turin) second solo exhibition MODI DI ESISTENZA.

In his paintings Cerutti depicts smaller objects, such as pieces of wood, stones, paper, or bones. The aim of the artist is to paint these objects in such a neutral way that they are relieved of any cultural symbolism and functionality and only their MODI DI ESISTENZA remain. On these "ways of being" lies the focus of the exhibition. Cerutti tries to understand the object's state of being so that he can reveal their inherent meaning in his paintings. He even goes as far as to attribute to them an independent and critical existence. It is about the effort of the object to take an independent existence instead of a function, to claim a forma vitae.

The central positioning of these objects on the canvas and the reduced color choice of the artist facilitate this renunciation, this departure from the known, which is usually associated with the object. The more the object removes itself from it's forced upon function, the better it can reveal his own essence.

Manuele Cerutti repaints his canvases often several times, but lets the painted past literally shine through into the present. This affects the mood of the image and emphasizes it's philosophical approach. In his poetics of image Cerutti represents a present that is interwoven with many layers of history. These time overlaps of layers of meaning and layers of paint create an often uncanny mood which the spectator finds hard to withdraw from.