Via di Mezzo

I PROGETTI:

David Tremlett

2019

The intervention by David Tremlett's in Ghizzano originated during a walk that the artist took
through the streets of the town. One of these in particular, Via di Mezzo, attracted his attention for
the anonymous character that distinguishes it, as compared to the beauty of the landscape
surrounding it. It is a first impression but based on that, the artist, after an impressive work in the
area (at the Legoli landfill in 2018), developed a project that provides for a series of wall drawings
to be made on the façades of the houses. The choice of colours, brown and green, is determined
after observing the gentle hills that surround the town. A strategy that will make the transition from
the natural to the urban dimension less clear and that will bind Ghizzano more to the surrounding
area.

As for other outdoor works in the past, the English artist (who created some important interventions
in London at Tate Britain in 2011 and at the Bloomberg London Building in 2017) used acrylic
colours intended to last over time (developed together with a team coordinated by Ferruccio Dotta)
also for the wall drawings in Ghizzano. Against the monochromatic background of each single
facade, each window and door was highlighted by short vertical and horizontal lines that create
visual counterpoints and that support the compositional structure.

Starting in the 70s from a minimal lexicon, Tremlett has strengthened his interest in colour over the
course of his career, until this has become essential, thanks also to his knowledge of great Italian
masters, such as Giotto, Piero della Francesca and Mantegna. Thanks to them, he perceives the
expressive potential of the pictorial medium applied to the wall and its strong seductive role.

Tremlett's "opening" towards this direction becomes even more surprising, resulting from a
profound and vital need. His works are characterised by a true explosion of coloured surfaces,
polychromatic structures that dynamically modulate the space.

"As far as I'm concerned - therefore analysing the situation from the point of view of an artist - it
was important to be able to have the perception of the street as a single unit, a single way, from start
to end. The use of one only colour on each side of the street would ensure the feeling of a sequence,
from light to dark and vice versa.

I decided to use green for one side of the street (for the surfaces of most of the houses), even though
it is not the typical paint colour of house walls, because I liked the idea of bringing a little of the
surrounding landscape into the road. As for the other side, there are fewer houses on which to work
due to the presence of large portions of walls made in bricks, so I decided to use brown as the
predominant colour. The change from light to dark in the colour tone can be interpreted in different
ways but will serve above all to reinforce this feeling of 'passing through' and to better perceive the
beauty of the Via di Mezzo." (David Tremlett)

PHOTOGALLERY

SCHEDA OPERA

Artista	David Tremlett
Titolo Opera	Via di Mezzo
Data	2019
Tecnica
Tipologia	Installation

DOVE SI TROVA

Ghizzano