From June 20 to September 28, 2025, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna Ca’ Pesaro will present “Antonello Viola – L’oro della laguna”, a poetic and immersive exhibition curated by Elisabetta Barisoni.
Through works on glass and Japanese paper, Antonello Viola explores the shifting landscapes of islands like Palmarola, Marettimo, Ponza, Vulcano, Murano, and Giudecca. Inspired by the interplay of light and water, his compositions are delicate meditations on transparency, layering, and the slow sedimentation of color. Veils of gold, turquoise, and blue settle over glass surfaces, recalling the ever-changing reflections of the Venetian lagoon.
Viola’s approach resonates deeply with Venice’s own pictorial tradition, echoing its elemental dialogue between sky, water, and stone. On Japanese paper, color and metal are applied and removed, creating open and closed spaces that mirror the shimmering fragility of glass. In this duality, Viola imagines a porous world—fluid, reflective, and alive.
This exhibition establishes a rich dialogue with Poema della vita umana by Giulio Aristide Sartorio, displayed in adjacent galleries. Viola’s works evoke Sartorio’s monumental cycle through their textured surfaces and chromatic restraint, distilling the symbolic into poetic silence.
Lines reminiscent of Venetian foundations emerge and dissolve within washes of color, evoking ancient geometries, spiritual rhythms, and the physical contours of the city. These structures, like the lagoon itself, are never static—redrawn by tide, light, and time. L’oro della laguna is both a portrait and a reverie: Venice seen through the fluid soul of contemporary painting.
Website: www.visitmuve.it
Location: Ca’ Pesaro Gallery, Venice
Schedule: from June 20 to Sep. 28, 2025
