Blitz art gallery of Valletta is among 36 galleries from 21 countries that are taking part in the seventh edition of Paris Internationale 2021 between tomorrow, October 20 and Sunday, October 24.
Blitz is taking over one of the empty kitchens of the building in Avenue Victor Hugo to present an exhibition by Alexandra Pace and Pierre Portelli.
Curated by Sara Dolfi Agostini, the exhibition tackles the comforting separation between indoor and outdoor and unravels human interactions with nature and furniture in this highly-coded space.
The exhibition features the psychedelic visions of Pace in Dreams (2014 – ongoing), a series of ambiguous hand-printed black and white photographs featuring landscapes, objects and bodies. These artworks relate to the ephemeral state of dreams to create visual narratives aiming at confronting traditional iconographies, inhibitions and loss.
Pace’s presentation also includes Corridorworld (2019), a claustrophobic editing of Kubrick’s The Shining. By using fragments of corridor scenes, the artist deconstructs the original film script and builds a scenario in which the characters appear trapped, looped in a state of mutual pursuit without resolution.
Portelli’s strategic camouflage, instead, targets the curtain of a window with the site-specific installation The Blue Garden (2021), turning an invisible, almost neutral threshold between the building and the exterior into an opportunity to discuss psychological boundaries with nature.
‘Homecoming’ (2011) by Pierre PortelliPortelli also presents Homecoming (2011), a tattoo design replicated with cutlery on painted wood. Common throughout the centuries among sailors in the Mediterranean, the swallow and heart tattoos represent a safe return home to loved ones.
By replacing the ink with the cutlery and the skin with the wood of tables, Portelli translates human feelings into a tangible mix of everyday and artistic materials.
The exhibition is taking place in Room 1.11 at 186, Avenue Victor Hugo, Paris. Entrance is free but one can register and avoid the queue by clicking on https:// www.eventbrite. fr/e/billets-paris-internationale-2021-168281661981.