Exhibition Details

Nilufar Gallery presents Andrea Branzi - Grandi Legni and Etchings, an exhibition dedicated to the Italian maestro, across his past, present and future. In preparation for yet another important year for Branzi, Nilufar celebrates the creator of these atemporal works. The unique, large scale, totem-like wooden pieces conceived as protectors, soulful objects and connectors to a mythical dimension, will be accompanied by a selection of etchings and artist proofs. Together they will occupy the Nilufar Depot from March 17th to May 7th.
The Grandi Legni (Italian for “large woods”) are unique pieces designed by Branzi and co-produced by Nilufar and Design Gallery Milano. The exhibition includes five of these critical artworks, together with nine artist proofs and one panel from the series Architettura Povera and nine artist proofs and one panel from the series Assolo di Croci, as well as four never-before-seen, acquaints. Nina Yashar stages the show to announce Branzi’s 2022, a year that will see him taking part in Triennale's XXIII International Exhibition and presenting an editorial project curated by Stefano Giovannoni and Francesca Arista Balena, where he discusses new works of contemporary design. “Branzi’s work belongs to the past, present, and future; his grandiosity stands in the acknowledgement, comprehension and rediscovery of simplicity, brought back to light in its purest, most elementary and powerful form,” states Yashar. Nilufar Gallery has a particular bond to the Grandi Legni, unique instigators of emotions and, as Branzi himself defines, “Safeguards, altruistic presences, such as the Lares and Penates, that protect our already extinguished household fire. They take part in life’s theatre and have a role in the comedy; they are in part tools and in part stage props, in part instruments and in part tales.” Halfway between architecture installations and everyday appliances, they are unlike pieces of contemporary design whose form is rigorously dictated by a desired formal perfection. The Grandi Legni, instead, define a new form inclined towards deeper anthropological territories, magic and myths; they are mysterious beings that speak a primordial language of their own. Branzi speaks of them as “animist roots”, objects with a spirit.
It is their primal material, wood, that informs the function of the Grandi Legni: they are meant to support and carry the owner’s struggles upon themselves. “Wood is the foundation of Europe”, the base on which humanity built its landscape during historical progress, Branzi declares. The Grandi Legni reinterpret such material through a combination of techniques, including the research of antique beams from Gadertal in Val Badia, the adoption of an innovative 3M printing methodology, the creation of Florentine semi-precious stones inlaid and of micro-mosaics by Spilimbergo School, the exploitation of poorer components like a net for a hen-house. The accompanying etchings and artist proofs include a selection from Branzi’s series Architettura Povera, depicting fences and similar simple, yet enigmatic, spaces characterised by a certain aura and “secular sacredness”, and from Assolo di Croci, portraying the cross in its environmental symbology and ability to define the meaning of any space, regardless of their religious implication.
The installation at the Depot honours these large-scale artworks, by dedicating the whole central area of the gallery to their presence; for the course of the exhibition, and beyond, they will act as protectors of Nilufar and its universe.
Andrea Branzi - Grandi Legni and Etchings will be on show at Nilufar Depot from March 17th till May 7th 2022.