The Italian Embassy in Dublin inaugurates – with the Italian Cultural Institute – the exhibition “Grazing in Lucan”, which presents to the Irish public the latest works by artist Davide Rivalta in an exhibition project created in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. The sculptures by Davide Rivalta, an artist of international renown, are works of great visual impact and powerful language. For some time now, he has been dealing with subjects from the animal world recreated in bronze, aluminium or fibreglass in large dimensions, which amplify their majesty and enigmatic feral nature, restoring an aura of freedom.
The exhibition “Grazing in Lucan” displays a dozen of the artist’s works, unfolding in two different spaces in the Irish capital. Specimens of the Buffalo sculpture series, made of bronze, will populate – or rather, graze, as the title of the exhibition recalls – the green park of Lucan House, Residence of the Italian Ambassador in Dublin. Rivalta pointed out:”The buffalo is an animal with which I have been very involved that I have recreated several times over the years, feeding a sculptural cycle that has now reached 14 works, of which the latest ones produced are now on display at Lucan House. “It is an anti-graceful animal, but endowed with a calmness and firmness that make it unique. The Asian origins of the buffalo, which arrived in Italy in the Longobard era and became an indigenous species as we know it today, characterize this animal which has in some way become Mediterranean and, in particular, a symbol of Italian culinary culture – therefore well placed in the context of the Italian Embassy in Dublin”.
The Dublin Castle square, venue of the most important public events and a place much frequented by the citizens of Dublin, will host a bronze sculpture of Lioness. The passion to work on lions came to the artist from Cristiana Collu, Director of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, in 2017, when a rich production of sculptures was initiated that are still on display and, in part, have entered the museum’s permanent collection. We find a new Lioness in this setting so symbolic for the city, where the architecture of the castle incorporates an animal with a long heraldic tradition.
The bronze works have been created by the Fonderia de Carli, an example of high-level craftsmanship at the service of sculptural art, of which Italy has always been the guardian, often attracting artists from abroad.
At the entrance of Lucan House, a Horse, made of white fibreglass, will be displayed as a tribute to Irish culture. This project marks the commitment of the Italian Embassy in Dublin, represented by Ambassador Ruggero Corrias, together with the work of the Italian Cultural Institute, to the promotion of Italian art abroad, on this occasion in collaboration with the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, under the direction of Cristiana Collu.
Ambassador Ruggero Corrias said: “With this exhibition, Dublin turns into deeds Minister Tajani’s commitment to leveraging Italian culture as a foreign policy tool. I would like to thank Cristiana Collu, Davide Rivalta and the Italian Cultural Institute for having believed in a project that is shaping up to be the cultural event of the year in Ireland. After the “stopover” of the Giro d’Italia in Dublin on 14 May, Davide Rivalta’s exhibition confirms once again that Italy knows how to create a system when it wants to do so.”
The exhibition will be previewed on Tuesday 30 May at 7.00 pm (local time), a first moment in the presence of the artist dedicated to the press, institutions and the art entourage, in the presence of Catherine Martin, Minister of Culture in Ireland, and Vittorio Sgarbi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture. The official opening will take place on Wednesday 31 May at 19.00, which will also coincide with the anticipated celebration of Italy’s Republic Day, as well as numerous Italian representatives of the economic and political scene, culture and media, operating in this country.
Davide Rivalta lives in Bologna, where he was born in 1974. His favourite working techniques are sculpture, drawing and painting. His works are on permanent display in Ravenna (Palazzo di Giustizia, Autorità Portuale, Sant’Apollinare in Classe), Neuchâtel (Bibliothèque publique et universitaire, Collégiale, Place Pury), Rome (Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Palazzo del Quirinale and Palazzo Borromeo), Florence (Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino) and Mougins (Chapelle Notre-Dame de Vie). He exhibited his works in art centres and museum institutions including: Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz 2006; Galleria Nazionale d’arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023; Forte di Belvedere, Florence, 2019. He participated in the first Aichi Triennale, Arts and Cities, Nagoya, 2010, and the 22nd Milan Triennale, 2019.