Stefano Arienti | John Armleder | Assume Vivid Astro Focus | Per Barclay | Letizia Battaglia | Marc
Bauer | Monica Bonvicini | Matt Collishaw | Irene Coppola | Plamen Dejanoff | Stefania Galegati | Nathalie Hambro | Adriano La Licata | Loredana Longo | Andrew Mania | Esko Männikkö | Concetta Modica | Ignazio Mortellaro | Diego Perrone | Maïa Régis | Pietro Roccasalva
Curated by Agata Polizzi
In the end, we always want to go back home, where we can find that dimension or space that
represents ourselves and reminds us of who we are. Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea
makes a comeback on the scene with this mood in mind, choosing to focus on the starting
point—which could be even the arrival point! And from there, the present is planned in a neutral
and open way, based on a renewed comparison between artists and persons, the very essential
core of this “gallery” project.
In the long preparatory conversations around Come Casa, Francesco showed his most intimate
part, presenting a truthful and detailed report of these last years: the exhilarating and engulfing
experience of living in Milan, exhibitions, new challenges, hopes, doubts, with Palermo always in
the background. These are all elements of a life that flows and requires presence, energy, where
strength and fragility are two sides of the same coin, where putting yourself in the game implies
having the courage to launch yourself with confidence but also to take the risk of failing, falling and
then getting up again.
Twenty years after his debut in Piazza Garaffello, Palermo, in the unrepeatable setting offered by
the Vucciria market, and ten years after exhibiting at the Quattro Canti, a period of maturity and
solidity, we are entering a time frame which, once again, brings a new possibility for change.
So, Like Home re-runs the gallery’s spaces in dilated time, re-thinking them and re-living them with
an ease that wants to generate confidence and open up to an intimate atmosphere, where works
mix with objects and feelings.
With the help of Claudia Fiore, the architect who designed the art gallery and who has always
followed its transformation, the exhibition spaces took on the aspects of a household setting. She
included the works from the collection in a way that they could be in harmony with the context in
which they are placed—which is a concrete manifestation of inclusiveness.
Thus, you can perceive art as part of our life, and not just as a frivolous and transitory commitment,
but on the contrary as a stable element, which nourishes and inhabits everyday life.
Come Casa chooses to start from a complicit dimension, offering a place where everyone can feel
like they are part of a beauty that is necessary, never superfluous, and never empty. It is an
attempt to break down the prejudice of contemporary art as something elitist and distant, with the aim to reach people’hearts, with the awareness that art still leaves a mark and always takes you
elsewhere.
What is more intimate than opening your home to someone, and welcoming, sharing, participating?
This is our spirit, this is our will, this is also our hope. That is creating a sense of purpose that
considers the act of sharing as the key to expanding our horizons.
It is a space made available to all those who are looking for a moment of beauty, a space that lets
the art works describe the tastes, the experiences, the choices of those who have often intertwined
their lives with artists and who now bring together the thoughts “in the form of an exhibition”.
Come Casa addresses the urgent need to surround ourselves with something precious and share
it, as you do with a friend. This will is entrusted to the artists who are a sort of protective deities,
among them: Stefano Arienti, Jhon Armleder, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Per Barclay, Letizia
Battaglia, Marc Bauer, Monica Bonvicini, Matt Collishaw, Irene Coppola, Plamen Dejanoff, Stefania
Galegati, Nathalie Hambro, Adriano La Licata, Loredana Longo, Andrew Mania, Esko Männikkö,
Concetta Modica, Ignazio Mortellaro, Diego Perrone, Maïa Régis e Pietro Roccasalva.
Thanks to their vision, their research and the manifestation of an idea, the gallery becomes a
common home, a privileged observatory and a space where we can try to stop ourselves in order
to think, observe, be present.
For those who know the human and professional experiences of Francesco Pantaleone, the
change of direction is clear—the direction is an awareness that does not hesitate to openly express
the desire to feel centered and finally at home again.
Set up by: Arch. Claudia Fiore