Descripción de la Exposición
Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino is pleased to present the first international exhibition bringing together the work of Alfredo Volpi (1896-1988, Italy/Brazil) and Eleonore Koch (1926-2018, Germany/Brazil), in partnership with Cecilia Brunson Projects, London. A text written by curator Cecilia Brunson will accompany the exhibition.
As Cecilia Brunson explains, "Although belonging to different generations - in fact they were born and died exactly 30 years apart -, in 1953 the artists Eleonore Koch and Alfredo Volpi were mutually introduced by psychoanalyst and collector Theon Spanudis after Koch expressed her interest in continuing her studies at Volpi’s studio. Working during the rise of Concrete Art in Brazil, both artists resisted any kind of official affiliation to the movement. While, to a certain degree, Koch and Volpi undoubtedly absorbed some of the guiding principles of geometric abstraction, they never truly adhered to the orthodox approach advocated by the São Paulo group. Instead, each of them has inexhaustibly pursued their own pictorial language to produce some of the most original and unique contributions to modern painting in Brazil in the 20th century.
Koch is often referred to as ‘Volpi’s only disciple’ -, the present exhibition is above all an opportunity to observe how each artist has consistently explored different pictorial problems in their work...While it is true that Volpi’s work cannot be considered strictly Concrete or Neoconcrete - let alone naive -, his motifs and formal solutions seem to relate both to the aesthetic principles valued by his artistic milieu and to daily life in São Paulo in the second half of the 20th century. Koch, on the other hand, had always felt a sense of inadequacy within this same milieu, choosing to move away from the São Paulo art circuit in order to focus on the development of her own practice. Eleonore Koch and Alfredo Volpi are undoubtedly among the most original modern painters in Brazil; therefore, the exhibition at Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino provides an invaluable opportunity to see their work side by side in the U.S. for the first time."
Exposición. 08 may de 2025 - 14 sep de 2025 / MNAC - Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya / Barcelona, España
Formación. 30 oct de 2025 - 11 jun de 2026 / Museo Nacional del Prado / Madrid, España