Long before the era of museum commissions and mega-galleries, the Catholic Church was at the epicenter of the European art world. Renaissance patrons, eager to curry favor with a powerful papacy and flaunt their wealth, poured their money into lavish paintings and sculptures that were given as gifts to the Church, and artists made their living depicting biblical scenes and figures. A version of this system can be seen today in Venice, Italy at San Giorgio Maggiore, a divine basilica designed by architect Andrea Palladio and built between 1566 and 1610. During the 61st Venice Biennale, San Giorgio Maggiore is opening its doors to the public to see two collections of works of art: newly restored paintings by the Renaissance master Tintoretto and “The Shape of Time,” an exhibition spanning the American sculptor’s career Barry X Ball inspired by the role of religion in art and classical art history seen in a contemporary context.
After a short vaporetto ride across the Venetian lagoon, one arrives at the front steps of the multi-storied basilica, which, in addition to housing a functional Benedictine monastery that predates Palladio’s building, invites artists to display their work in the magnificent abbey; past collaborators include Luc Tuymans, That Weiwei AND Michelangelo-pistoletto/” title=”Michelangelo Pistoletto” class=”company-link”>Michelangelo Pistoletto. Curated by Bob NickThe Shape of Time matches the majesty of the basilica with Ball’s classically inspired designs, high-tech studio techniques, and ultra-luxurious materials, including onyx, rare marble, and chrome and gold that shine in a way that matches the ancient splendor of this Renaissance-era church. The first part of the exhibition is Pope enthroned, reflected (2013-24), an extraordinary but somewhat impenetrable plinth of Mexican onyx and mirrored gold-plated scaffolding on a mirrored base. Although it lacks some of the deeper meaning in the other 22 works in the exhibition, it sets the tone for a collection of contemporary works sure to please Renaissance patrons and popes alike.
In a side hall that connects the basilica and the sacristy, Balli displays ten of his works Medardo Rosso project (2012-), a series that highlights the artist’s technical excellence and ability to reinterpret art history. Starting from three-dimensional scans of the works of the Italian sculptor Medardo Rosso (1858-1928), he abstracted the originals, relying on the shadows and innate qualities of the stone to create the image. Take Ball’s sculpture Sick child (2013-22): based on Rosso’s bronze Sick child (1893-95), the bust features a child with an upturned gaze and a small thin bronze “halo” created in the vertical layer of the cast—a flourishing signature in Rosso’s work that is also present in many of Ball’s portrait busts. of the ball Sick child the sculptures highlight the unfinished, ambiguous nature of Sick child embracing the characteristic structure of Mexican onyx “wounded”, shaping the child’s features with the natural spots on the surface of the stone. IN Baby at breast (2013-19), defining features of Rosso’s The child at the breast (1889-90) are made legible only by the shadows cast on the rugged calcite surface of the golden honeycomb.
The sacristy of San Giorgio Maggiore holds three works featuring one of Balli’s main motifs: the Buddha. Three Buddha figures –Buddha (2018-25) and the duo Mirrored Buddha Herms (2018-23) – are oriented towards the center of the room and look at each other. Buddha is adapted from New PalmS ‘ Presentation of Jesus Christ in the Templean oil on canvas from the late 1500s. In what Ball tells the Observer is one of the only instances of a Catholic Church allowing Buddhist imagery on its premises, this combination of religious imagery reflects a “cross-cultural ecumenism that runs through the show … we have Christianity, Judaism, Islam, the Abrahamic religions, and that extends to Buddhism.” Another work that explores this connection between different religious beliefs is that of Balli Compassion (2011-22), presented in the right transept of the basilica. Based on Michelangelo Rondanini Pietà (1555), Balli’s version is both a tribute to the Italian master and a reflection on the mournful obscurity of the original work, which was thought to have been completed in the last days of the artist’s life. it Compassion it’s stark and sad, feelings heightened by Balli’s use of alternating textures of smooth surfaces and Mary’s pained attitude. During an exclusive briefing, Ball said that, in addition to replacing the face of Jesus with that of an older Michelangelo, one of his main interventions in the original work was a newly designed and constructed base incorporating images of “pagan” folklore. Ball also told the Observer that he is proud that many of these works are carved from Iranian onyx, a tribute to the Iranian craftsmen who have received the artist’s raw materials throughout his career and are now embroiled in heated conflict.
The other figure elevated to Michelangelo’s status in The Shape of Time is that of Pope St. John Paul IIthe view of which is the focus of a sculptural work featured in the wood-panelled Choir behind the basilica’s high altar. Perhaps the central part of the exhibition, Pope St. John Paul II (2012-24) is a larger-than-life bust of the late Pope. Swirls of gold, silver, aluminum and steel shape his face and womb. Although impressive in its scope and pure craftsmanship, its precious metals Pope St. John Paul II are out of place among other onyx and marble sculptures – not only in the medium, but also in the way Balli teases out the stone figures with their natural, untouched qualities. Ball’s careful balance between the artist’s hand and the beauty of nature is lost, overtaken by the spectacle of the studio.
AROUND Pope St. John Paul II it’s a tribute to a man who feels more in tune with Ball’s decades-long practice. Pseudogroup i Giuseppe Panza (1998-2001) is a series of nine photorealistic head sculptures by the titular Panza, a well-known patron of Italian art who, before his death in 2010, amassed an impressive collection of Balli sculptures. Each a slightly different size and carved from pristine, shimmering Macedonian marble, the nine heads are arranged in a semicircle facing each other. Pope St. John Paul II. Perhaps one of the last Italian collectors who could match the rigor of his Renaissance counterparts, it is fitting that Panza is also portrayed in The Shape of Time as a patron saint, a link between the past and the present, and perhaps most importantly, the secular and the sacred.
Barry X Ball’s “Form of Time” is on view at the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore during the Venice Biennale.
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