05 Oct 2010

Pia Stadtbäumer at Castello di Rivara

Pia Stadtbäumer: OTHER GALLANT SCENES
OPENING Sunday 10th October 2010 from 6pm onwards

Five sculptures by the German artist are currently taking pride of place at the MUSEUM OF ITALIAN ART 1985-2010, located in the Medieval Castle.
Men ride horses like this (2007), Guitarman (2008), On stage/backstage (2009/2010), Other gallant scenes and The Hare in the field (2010). These sculptures stand like living beings restrained in plastic, they enliven and contrast with the other work displayed in the Museum which they currently call home, revealing their compatibility and inconsistencies with contemporary Italian art from recent decades.

Pia Stadtbäumer's sculpture is a point of aesthetic reference and semantics in the history of the last two decades of European art; it not only integrates together colour, but also a note of frivolity and ironic eroticism, which gives the modelled figures a feeling of baroque, tinged with elements of the grotesque and decadence.

Pia Stadtbäumer's work has previously been curated by Franz Paludetto and has been exhibited in prestigious museums and international galleries, including the Kunsthalle in Bremen in 1991; the Castello di Rivoli, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Lausanne, and the Sydney Biennial in 1992; the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin and the Nationalmuseum für Moderne Kunst in Oslo in 1995; the Deutscher Bundestag in Berlin and the Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf in 1998; the Liverpool Biennial and again in the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin and the Castello di Rivoli in 1999; in 2000 the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen; in 2001 the Shanghai Art Museum; moving to the Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf in 2003; in 2004 and 2005 the Kunsthalle in Hamburg; in 2008-2009 the Denver Art Museum; the Pinakothek der Moderne in Monaco in 2009; the Castello di Rivara in 1994, 1995, 2000 and 2002.