On Tuesday 14 December 2021, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea opens The Poetry of simplicity. Fashion and design according to Monica Bolzoni/Bianca e Bluexhibition dedicated to Monica Bolzoni and her landmark brand and performative space Bianca e Blu to detail her thirty-year experience as a fashion designer, with the aim of conceptually exploring the process that has inspired her vast creative experience.
The poetry of simplicity is the key ingredient that has nourished and energised Monica Bolzoni’s work, an atypical figure in the history of Italian and international fashion, giving life to a personal style achieved through making highly discerning choices consistent with her free and independent personality. The aims of her research are the archetypes of femininity, in accordance with her precise study of modular forms to arrive at the development of a contemporary, sophisticated and concise canon of elegance that celebrates the real female body.
The exhibition, curated by Anna Di Cesare, takes up the theme documented in the book Bianca e Blu Monica Bolzoni cprinted by Rizzoli and curated by Davide Fornari e Régis Tosetti, with a critical text by Vittoria Caratozzolo, and exhibits from the most significant dresses of Monica Bolzoni’s production (Sherazade, Brigitte, Grace to name a few) to accessories and bijoux, to the wide research of fabrics specifically produced on the basis of studies that, together with original drawings and photographs, some selected from the paper archive Bianca e Blu donated to the Gallery, complete the narration. Also on the second floor, there will be items from the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery of Siena.
The second floor of the exhibition is reserved for collaborations with the world of avant-garde art and theater, with the display of archival documents, including drawings, photos and videos, along with garments and accessories designed and produced not for sale but for the performances of artists such as Vanessa Beecroft (VB17-21, 1995/1996), Letizia Cariello (My Sister is Always With Me, 2003), Fanny&Alexander (Amore, 2007; There’s no place like home, 2009; K313, 2007) Cesare Viel (To the Lighthouse, Cesare Viel as Virginia Woolf, 2005) e Claudia Losi (About Proximity, 2016). Some original works kindly loaned will be present too for this exhibition.
The clothes for My Sister is Always With Me were made by Monica Bolzoni following the concept conceived by Letizia Cariello on the occasion of the exhibition “Moltitudini e Solitudini” curated by Sergio Risaliti (Fondazione MUSEION. Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea Bolzano, 2003). Seven jersey garments and accessories from BIANCA E BLU are transformed into art. The clothes made for the artist’s wardrobe – shirt, skirt, pants, trench coat combined with gloves, bag and cloche – bear the Bolzoni-Cariello label.
The collaboration between Monica Bolzoni and Letizia Cariello also sees other experiences. On the occasion of the exhibition Le opere e i giorni curated by Achille Bonito Oliva (Certosa di San Lorenzo, Padula 2002), the dress “Le cresime” is transformed into art: Letizia Cariello wears the dress with inscriptions and calendars. For Hallenbad Project (Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato 2004) Monica Bolzoni makes swimwear in lacquered technical jersey.
The Poetry of simplicity. Fashion and design according to Monica Bolzoni/Bianca e Blu
curated by Anna Di Cesare
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome
Opening Tuesday, December 14, 2021 – Via Gramsci Hall
Open to the public
15.12.2021 – 27.02.2002