Levitas

Rosa dei Venti Room and the gardens of Castello Miramare, Trieste
Through September 10

Levitas is the title of this presentation of Nikolas Hipp and Gabriela Von Habsburg’s work. Making use of a variety of exhibition spaces – during June certain pieces could also be viewed at the Tommaseo gallery – the show, curated by Riccardo Caldura, brings to light the work of two artists who are as yet little known in Italy. For Hipp and Von Habsburg art is not provocation, but rather the search for an intrinsic link with material and color.

This return to essentiality is suggested by the title chosen to correlate the work of the two artists, Levitas, or rather the elimination of weight and the recovery of a direct relationship with the materials and tools of art. In the work of Nikolaus Hipp this translates into canvasses divided up by discerning backgrounds in which color, the central protagonist, structures space and balances light. Measured brushstrokes, thoughtful chromatic combinations, the search for tone on tone, careful use of shading and contrast, all contribute to conveying the idea of an intimate relationship with painting.

The work of Gabriela Von Habsburg, measured structures in steel and iron forged with a craftsman’s skill, is different yet related. For the most part her pieces are made up of tubes and bars polished until they gleam like precious metals – or, alternatively, left as they are, in their natural state of decay – which are then put together based on color contrasts or similarity of form. Finally, the joints are conscientiously worked on to eliminate every imperfection which could preclude a possible sublimation of the material. A search for perfection and a return to the essential: the sculptures of Von Habsburg allow us to perceive the “weight” of weightlessness, giving birth to a perfect oxymoron.




Francesca Turchetto
Translation by Rosalind Furness