We are proud to be exhibiting Francesco Pergolesi’s second solo show at CEG, “Tableaux.” The work on view pulls from the artist’s original series Heroes, which captures independent shopkeepers and artisans framed in their storefronts, standing guard at their small businesses in the face of globalization. Pergolesi’s newest series, Tableaux, focuses on the details one can find throughout these shops–tabletops and work counters covered in years of wear-and-tear. Abstract images are created from paint, flour, tools and other objects that Pergolesi finds in his Heroes’ work surfaces.

What at first might look like a monochromatic landscape, “Minturnae, 2016” shows the flour-covered, marble counter behind the shopfront featured in “Dino, Roma, 2014.” Another of Francesco Pergolesi’s Heroes, “Charlie, Roma, 2016,” makes the bread.

 

Pergolesi also designed memory boxes to be paired with each image in his Tableaux series. The memory box for “21-21, 2018” is on view in the show. You can watch a short video of this memory box’s construction below:

The artist states: “Tableaux is a project dedicated to the worktables of artists and artisans… Every table is a canvas generated unconsciously, thanks to the traces of daily work. The material is the tangible representation of memory…every detail becomes magnified, emphasizing the worth and uniqueness of the artisan’s work. The worktable is a reliable place, an esoteric shelter where day after day, year after year, generations repeat skillful gestures, generating ideas and solutions. It is a place where one puts together and transforms materials.”

“Francesco Pergolesi: Tableaux” is on view through July 7, 2018. See the exhibition in full on our website here.