Trimini Rising exposes the intergenerational conversation between three sculptural practices, underlining similarities and opposition in process and context over a fifty-year period. The three artists, exhibited together for the first time, share a common interest in exploring the relationship between form and materiality.
Contemporaries Stano Filko (1937 – 2015) and Luisa Gardini (b.1935) practiced from the early 1960s, enlarging the spectrum of the Assemblage movement in their respective cities: Bratislava and Rome. Both sidestepping any clear allocation, they have somehow remained independent and trans-disciplinary throughout their extensive careers.
Works by Filko and Gardini will be shown together with equally prolific, London-based, Polish-born artist Magdalena Drwiega (b. 1971). Working consistently with bold colours and surprising elements, her works juxtapose gathered elements and ur-forms in a playful yet melancholic manner. b Magdalena Drwiega was born in 1971 in Sanok, Poland. She graduated from Wimbledon College of Art with a BA and MA in Fine Art. Recent Solo show: The Last S**p, Belmacz, London (2013). Recent Group shows include: If I Was Your Girlfriend: A Jam, Belmacz, London; Another Kind of Tension, ASC Gallery, London (2018); The Ashtray Show, 4Cose, London; Alpenglühen — 100 years of Ettore Sottsass Jr., Belmacz, London; Window Sill, Griffin Gallery, London; God & Sausages (curated by Maria Georgoula), Lekka 23-25, Athens (2017), Stoa Zerbini, Athens; RA Summer Exhibition 2016, RA, London, InterKontinental, Belmacz, London (2016); Citrus Lush Bongo, Take Me Home Project, London (2015); Fourth Drawer Down, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham (2014); Subject to Change, Kursaal Gallery Space, Southend on Sea; Teeth Like Rowanberries, Belmacz, London (2012) and Creekside Open, selected by Phyllida Barlow, A.P.T Gallery, Deptford, London (2011). Magdalena lives and works in London.
Stano Filko was born in 1937 in Veľká Hradná and died in 2015, Bratislava. He was a key figure in the Slovak avant-garde, associated primarily with environment, installation, happening, and action. He began his studies at the School of Applied Arts in Bratislava (1956 – 59) and later studied Monumental Painting at the Academy of Arts, Bratislava (Prof. Milly and Prof. Matejka, 1960-65). He emigrated from Czechoslovakia in 1981 to West Germany and the following year further to the United States. In 1990 he returned to Bratislava. Selected exhibitions include documents 7, Kassel (1982); Aspect — Positions, Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2000); Contemporary Slovak Art, Kunstverein Passau, Passau (2001); Arteast 2000+, Center for Art and Media Technology, Karlsruhe (2002); 51st Venice Biennale, Venice (2005); tranzit — Auditorium, Stage, Backstage — An exhibition in 32 scenes, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main (2006); Living Art on the Edge of Europe Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo (2006); Transzendenteaqq 5.4.3.D = Metodika = Intelligenteaqq, Gallery Emanuel Layr, Vienna (2012); With immediate effect — artistic interventions in everyday life, Kunsthalle Wien # Kunsthalle Wien Karlsplatz, Vienna (2012); Report on the Construction of a Spaceship Module, New Museum of Contemporary Art , New York City, NY (2014).
Luisa Gardini (b. 1935, Ravenna) lives and works in Rome. She started studying painting in her home town and then enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Even though she has been prolifically producing works through different media since the end of the 50s - including drawing, painting, collage, sculpture and found object - she only started exhibiting at the end of the 70s. Selected exhibitions include:Trialogo/Rossini & Beiderbecke, Libreria/Galleria La Diagonale, Rome (2017); Luisa Gardini & Felix, Guimarães, Vienna (2016); Luisa Gardini, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, New York University (2016);Luisa Gardini | 1965-2015, Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome (2016); Gli amici di Toti Scialoja e Gabriella Drudi, MACRO, Rome (2015); To continue. Notes towards a Sculpture Cycle. Parte prima: Materia, Nomas Foundation, Rome (2014); L’anima della Terra – 50 anni di ceramica nell’arte italiana 1960-2010, Castellamonte, Turin (2010); Omaggio a Toti Scialoja. Amici e allievi, Galleria Il Segno, Rome (2008); Babele III. Italia-Germania: un terzo incontro, Accademia Tedesca Villa Massimo, Rome (1997); Luisa Gardini (29 aprile), in Martiri e Santi, Associazione Culturale L’Attico, Rome (1996); Luisa Gardini. Reliefs, Leinwände, Papiere, Battenberg Castle, Battenberg, Germany (1994); Luisa Gardini, The Voxxx. Kultur und Kommunikation Zentrum, Chemnitz, Germany (1994); Sentieri selvaggi. Un’ipotesi contemporanea. 34° Festival dei Due Mondi, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Spoleto (1991); Se una sera d’autunno un artista volesse inventare un oggetto da regalare..., Galleria Dell’Oca, Rome (1989);Luisa Gardini. Opere su carta e su tela 1977-1980, Galleria d’Arte Grafica dei Greci, Rome (1981); From page to space. Women in the Italian Avant-Garde Between Language and Image, Center for Italian Studies-Columbia University, New York (1979).