A kind of magic

LISTEN CRITICAL TEXT (Only in Italian)

Three artists from three different countries (Italy, the United States, and Argentina) come together for the third exhibition of the season at PUNTO SULL’ARTE, a trio show of magical atmospheres and disenchanted glances at reality. The OPENING RECEPTION of the trio show entitled A KIND OF MAGIC will take place on Saturday, October 10, only by appointment.

With his gestural painting expressed in soft brushstrokes, the American Brian Keith Stephens tells of the universal harmony between woman and nature, through dialogues between girls and animals that symbolise our emotions, placing his narratives in an uncertain space and in a suspended time. Claudia Giraudo also places figure and animal in dialogue, but she does so with a  dense painting, full-bodied, created with layer upon layer, and primarily captures her subjects, usually girls, in the perfect moment between childhood and adolescence, while the animal that accompanies them and which they often embrace, almost identifying with it, appears like a guiding spirit to advise them in the choices of their upcoming adult life. The Argentinian Silvia Levenson also offers us hybrids of figures and animals, expressed in her chosen material: glass. But it is a disquieting narrative that unfolds through her works, where the magic reveals its own ambiguity and traps. With grace and delicacy, in the transparency of the glass, often expressed in soft colours, the artist shows us the hidden side of fairytales and the danger that often nests, for the woman, within the reassuring, everyday routine of family life.

A BILINGUAL CATALOGUE, in which the exhibited works are reproduced, and with the critical text by curator Alessandra Redaelli, will be produced by PUNTO SULL’ARTE. The artists Claudia Giraudo and Silvia Levenson will be present at the opening reception on October 10.

CLAUDIA GIRAUDO: was born in Turin in 1974. In 2001 she graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, then starting her own research within figurative art, focusing upon the works of Renaissance and North European masters; a background which emerges both in her technique and in the choice of the subjects, yet maintaining her own style. She often exhibits her works at Art fairs, private galleries and institutional public locations. Her paintings belong to permanent collections and national and international museums, such as the Harmony Art Foundation in Mumbai (India), the Museo MACIST in Biella, the Museo Eusebio in Alba (CN), the Sala del Consiglio in Bossolasco (CN) and the Museo Civico in Bevagna (PG). She took part in the Biennale di Venezia, Italy Pavillon, in 2011. She lives and works in Turin.

SILVIA LEVENSON: Silvia Levenson was born in 1957 in Argentina, but she has been living and working in Italy since 1981. She took part in different projects aimed at integrating refugees and migrants, such as Multaka in partnership with Berlin Glass and Memories of Home with the British Glass Biennial in the UK. Her works are permanently exhibited in important public and private collections such as at the Corning Museum of Glass, at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fè, at Houston Fine Art Museum,at  Toledo Museum of Art, at Mint Museum di Charlotte (USA), at MUDAC in Lausanne, at Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung in Monaco, at Museo del Castello Sforzesco in Milan, at Museo del Vetro in Murano (Venice), at Fondazione Remotti in Camogli and at Fondazione Banca San Gottardo. She lives and works in Lesa (IT).