Rachele Maistrello. Stella Maris at Pelagica
Rachele Maistrello: Stella Maris
December 13, 2018 – March 29, 2019
Pelagica, via Principe Eugenio 42, Milan
By appointment
«Stella Maris was born in 2017. For many years I had noticed this blue house between the sea and the lagoon, hidden at the end of the Alberoni, a nature reserve of the Lido of Venice. Only in 2017 I decided that I would try and pursue a project that would be born from that place – and that’s how I started going to the nursing home and getting to know the guests.
«Stella Maris» is a nursing home for the elderly that immediately bewitched me for a certain peace and a feeling of timelessness that reigned in the rooms and in the park.
The first exhibition in which the work was showcased was ALCHIMIE, an important exhibition for me, because it was the last event of the old programming of Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, a very important institution in my education. This was before the new administration took charge, which totally changed what this important place represented. The day of the opening was a fairly epic moment, as it was a sort of farewell towards a fundamental reference point in my path.
The three large photographs, and the sculpture, were later hosted at Palazzo Carbonesi, at ArtcityPolis for ArteFiera 2018, together with two other artists. It was however only last summer that with curator Laura Lecce we had the idea to bring the whole project to Pelagica, in a personal exhibition.
Both for the concept of Pelagica and for the long-time knowledge with Laura, bringing Stella Maris in its entirety was very important for me: not only has it allowed me to give the right space to the work, but also to compare myself with the distance of time.
The project is deeply linked to the rhythms of life, waiting and memory, thus it seemed important to add a new piece that would start from what I already had. This is how the prints in the darkroom were born, which started from the drawings of the guests. It was a sort of meditative practice, where each drawing multiplied in many matrixes, both loyal and new, through long sessions in my studio, illuminated by the red lamp. For the first time my practice, in its final step, has moved further and further away from a claim of authorship, trying to get closer to a more material, spiritual and circular attitude.»
– Rachele Maistrello, artist
«The collaboration with Rachele Maistrello started already in 2015 in one of the first group exhibitions of Pelagica, titled La Tunisia. The common ground is a reflection on forms of anthropization and on the complex relationship between a place and the people who live there. Even with Stella Maris, the theme of the observation of human phenomena was predominant, and I was very interested in the idea of a “field” study devoted to imagination, on a unique and very specific community like that of Stella Maris. The curatorial idea of Pelagica is always to follow the artist on his or her research journey, and in the case of Rachele this idea has found its full realization. Finally, the collaboration was completed by accompanying the artist in the production of new artwork, then included in the exhibition along with the rest of the body of work, thus adding a further stage to the initial project path.»
– Laura Lecce, curator
by Droste Effect
in News
Feb 6, 2019