WORKS - Barbara Frua de Angeli - Reuber Henning - Angela Florio - Andrea Costa

One of the distinguishing features of the work of Milanese Interior Designer Barbara Frua De Angeli is undoubtedly her creative use of colour juxtapositions, which is at times atypical yet always harmonious. This is proven again in the latest collection of Dhurries that she will be presenting for the event. These flat-woven carpets, hand crafted in India, are made in vegetable-dyed cotton. The use of natural dyes enabled Barbara Frua to develop her palette on carpets decorated by her signature patterns, all of which can be ordered in bespoke sizes. Moreover she will be presenting a collection of sari silk carpets with patterns inspired by central Asian ikat textiles, characterised by rich, saturated colours glowing through the lush texture typical of sari silk. 

The Berliners Thorsten Reuber and Franziska Henning inaugurated in 2007 their studio dedicated to the creation of contemporary Tibetan carpets, their production being located in the Kathmandu valley in Nepal. These carpets are woven with exacting standards employing materials of the highest grade such as Chinese silk and hand-spun Himalayan wool. In Milan they will be presenting their Stripes collection, entirely designed by Birgit Krah and composed of patterns based on the juxtapostion of horizontal bands employing up to seventy different colours without any repetition. The result is that of an apparently random arrangement of colour, composed either of simple polychrome stripes next to one another (Stripes-Classic), of stripes placed over a chequerboard substrate (Stripes-Checker) or by one of a kind compositions woven with surplus material (Stripes-Left Over Yarn). These three collections will will be offered both in hand knotted as well as in flat woven versions (Stripes-Flatweave).

Angela Florio will show her latest work related to her Arràs project, true masterpieces of textile art obtained through a secret interlace of optical fibers hidden within a hand painted textile surface, following a contemporary interpretation of the Medieval tapestry tradition. Her show will consist of three works: Foglie, where the fabric is first painted with a golden dust similar to the fine Japanese Urushi lacquers, Meduse da Mare, the first interactive tapestry designed with a unique system which makes it responsive to external sources such as light and sound, and the Trittico della Chiesa de la Salute di Venezia, an homage of the artist to her native city, installed within three niches located in the historical courtyard of the gallery. In this site-specific installation the visitor will witness a show embodying that unique twinkling of light characteristic of Venetian landscape painting, obtained through the careful overlaying of textiles of different tonalities, together with optical fibers and painted surfaces inspired by Japanese lacquers.

Andrea Costa, born in Genoa in 1957, conceptual artist. Behind the apparent simplicity of his maps one can sense a long path: beginning with his passion for photography, followed by his travels, his study of portrait painting, his interest in historical research leading to Art Branding (Vodafone, Fastweb, TyNant, Pirelli, Vespa). In all his work one can witness an obsession with the U.S.A., culminating in June 2015 when he donated one of his maps to First Lady Michelle Obama during her visit in Milan for Expo. His maps, which first saw the light less than two years ago, are rapidly gaining some important recognitions in the art world. These are first treated with a special varnish that imparts a thicker texture, followed by the overlaying of text derived from our collective memory, connected to different moments of human history. His sources can vary between literature, history, cinema, advertising, music, science, industry, sports and art.

His maps invite us to reflect upon ourselves, on our experience with memory, with territories and to question the presence of mankind on earth.

For the Fuorisalone exhibition he will present, among others, his latest work: a map of Berlin dedicated to John F. Kennedy’s speech of June 26 1963, Ich Bin Ein Berliner.