nehme nicht teil am marathon

Philipp Gentili

21.12.22 - 17.02.23

curated by

Maximilian Pellizzari & Leonardo Cuccia

The exhibition nehme nicht teil am marathon presents a selection of new works by Philipp Gentili (b. 2001 in Bolzano/Bozen, Italy) showing the latest developments of his painterly research with both informal and biomorphic shapes. Canvases are presented along works on paper, painted geographical maps and documents of Ministero dei Beni Culturali. In the exhibition nehme nicht teil am marathon Gentili explores different formal and political implications that abstract painting can take, questioning representation and how cancelling can become a mean to act in a subversive way.Philipp Gentili’s most recent works are pictorial explorations in which he refuses to strive to represent forms from known reality. His painting process can start from automatic drawing, a method explored in surrealism in which the artist suppresses conscious control over the making process. Parts of the shapes Gentili draws on sketchbooks are reproduced on the painting support, while other ones are created directly on the canvas without any previous study. Here they coexist together with controlled and graphic application of colour, with techniques used in graffiti like „dripping“ or the sfumato technique. Since his paintings are produced on multiple times, the resulting forms interact through different layers by accumulating on the painting‘s surface and merging together. The process of conneting shapes or make them clash on top of another leadsto generate what the artist refers as „biomorphic shapes“. All constituted by paint itself, therefore not restricted into outlines. This organically developed potential forms take distance from the retinal and conceptual meaning attributions that contempoary painting can take. Rather they are one part of multiple approaches in exploring painting‘s possibilities that permeate Gentili‘s art. In the series Ministero dei Beni Culturali, we are instead confronted with the act of cancelling official unfilled forms used to catalogue works of cultural relevance. Abstract prints on paper and collages interact with the support, in an act that subverts their original function of collecting data. Similarly, geographical maps of the United States of America present black abstract shapes painted on top of them to disrupt the geometrical definition of each state. At the center of the exhibition space, we find a large canvas titled UNTITLED, a site-specific work realised directly in the gallery space.Following the steps of Cy Twombly and Arshile Gorky, Philipp Gentili keeps on investigating the very nature of abstract painting, showing how non-figurative shapes can at one side result in a personal elaboration on a yet to define and potential subject matter and at the other, constitutea conceptual operation, where the act of painting becomes an act of cancelling. In nehme nicht teil am marathon Gentili questions the order and patterns of the contemporary world by firmly distancing himself from what is already-known, embracing the yet-to-become and unfinished as a necessary condition to remain open towards what lies beyond. Text M.P.

Philipp Gentili, nehme nicht teil am marathon. Installation view. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo

Philipp Gentili, Untitled #1,#2,#3. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo

Philipp Gentili, USA Atlante Stradale #1,#2,#3,#4, 2022. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo

Philipp Gentili, UNTITLED, 2022. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo

Philipp Gentili, Fertig Machen, 2022. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo

Philipp Gentili, nehme nicht teil am marathon. Installation view. Photo: Tiberio Sorvillo