Homage to Rothko Ponte di Rialto 2
14th – 22nd September
by Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga
curated by Cristina Beltrami
On the occasion of the eighth Venice Glass Week, Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga has created a sculpture that, in its three color variations, pays homage to Mark Rothko (1903-1970).
As the quintessential father of field painting, Rothko was the protagonist of the United States Pavilion at the 1958 Biennale with works that have marked the history of art by giving concrete form to the tension between different color blocks.
It is this same visual system that inspires the three works created using a complex overlay technique: the three “screens” come from the juxtaposition of two sheets of fused glass, on which the color is applied in large areas and subsequently fixed by a layer of varnish. The painting technique combined with the transparency and fluid nature of the glass creates nuances that closely resemble the luminous transitions and the rarefied boundaries of Rothko’s abstractness.
Always fascinated by abstract painting, Giberto – after the vases he dedicated to Manzoni, Fontana, and Burri – celebrates the artist who made pure color his expressive tool, he does it through the molding of glass, a material whose colors are ever changing depending on the light.
The reasons for choosing Rothko are multiple: firstly, the opportunity he had to revisit numerous works by the artist in the recent monumental retrospective in Paris, his biography – born in Latvia and emigrated with his family to the United States – being very much in line with the theme of this LX Biennale – Foreigners Everywhere – and above all, his great ability to make color a matter of space.
After six editions characterized by exhibitions connected to the museum realities of Venice as well as the search for new forms and techniques, and the experiment of bringing Murano vases back to their primary function in last September’s edition, this year Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga returns to engage in a dialogue with the great art of the twentieth century, in an iconic location, such as the Rialto Bridge, where, since last spring, he has inaugurated a space that bears his name.
“With Homage to Rothko, I was interested in investigating the effect of painting on glass, which, unlike canvas, does not fix the color in defined contours but allows light to pass through it, creating a sort of color perspectives in constant motion: the color vibrates with the vibration of light.”
Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga
Homage to Rothko (yellow-orange)
2024, superposition of two fused and hand-painted glass plates, size 50x34.
Homage to Rothko (green-blue)
2024, superposition of two fused and hand-painted glass plates, size 50x35.
“Giberto Arrivabene’s project delves into a perhaps lesser-known aspect of glass, namely its potential to serve as a screen and its natural ability to play with light refractions, thus achieving results that are remarkably close to the diaphanous and vibrant fields of field painting.”
Cristina Beltrami
Homage to Rothko (White-Blue)
2024, superposition of two fused and hand-painted glass plates, size 54x43.
Giberto Arrivabene
Valenti Gonzaga
Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga has a deep-rooted connection to the city of Venice, where he grew up. Amidst the rooms of Palazzo Papadopoli, a magnificent frescoed residence overlooking the Grand Canal that has been in his family for generations, and the lagoon, both have been inexhaustible sources of inspiration. His passion for glass began as a personal interest, designing objects for himself and his dearest friends, and later evolved into a comprehensive project reaching international clients and collectors. Each piece is designed with childhood memories in mind, with the desire to perpetuate a timeless world of elegance that is gradually fading away. He brings these images of his past to life through his ongoing collaboration with the master glassmakers of Murano, a small island renowned worldwide for its millennia-old glassmaking tradition.
Cristina Beltrami
Cristina Beltrami is an art historian, curator, and lecturer. She collaborates with Ca’ Foscari University (SIE - History of Venetian Glass) and is an External Tutor at Warwick University (History of Contemporary Art and Architecture). Her research has long focused on the history of the Venice Biennale and the tradition of Murano glass, subjects on which she has published extensively. Her most recent publications include Tony Cragg. The Shape of Glass (FAI-Negozio Olivetti, 2024); Cento anni di NasonMoretti (MUVE-Marsilio, 2023); La scultura alla Biennale di Venezia 1895-1914 (2023); Massimo Micheluzzi al Negozio Olivetti (FAI-Negozio Olivetti, 2023); L’Arca di vetro. La collezione di animali in vetro di Pierre Rosenberg (Le Stanze del Vetro-Skira, 2021); and Maurice Marinot (Le Stanze del Vetro-Skira, 2019). In 2022, she was awarded the prize for Best Curator at The Venice Glass Week.
Homage to Rothko
Ponte di Rialto 2 14th – 22nd September
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