The exhibition “My Arcadia”, a solo show featuring 12 works by Ubaldo Bartolini, is currently on display at the Italian Cultural Institute of London. The 12 paintings, created specifically for this London exhibition, celebrate the work of the renowned Marche-born artist, who has participated in over 70 solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Three of his works are also part of the Farnesina Collection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ collection of modern and contemporary art.
Bartolini returns to London, where he previously exhibited in 1984 in “Anachronism, Hyper-mannerism, Cultured Painting” at the Edward Totah Gallery. Over a career spanning around 60 years, the artist has moved from his early conceptual experiments to a redefinition of the concept of landscape, which, while rooted in classical experiences, gradually shed its realistic traits to become a manifestation of purely inner experiences. Bartolini is considered a leading figure of the Anachronism movement, as defined by Maurizio Calvesi.
“The work,” Bartolini said at the vernissage, attended by curator Luca Tommasi, “does not follow a temporal path, but its narrative revolves around the same thematic point, almost as if it were a development without growth, a signifier without meaning”. The exhibition features both real and fantastical landscapes, evoking the Marche region as well as the English countryside.
