Piatto con signora (Plate with a woman)

Limited edition (1 + 1 AP).

It’s hardly surprising that Marie-Louise Ekman, given her documented artistic versatility and curiosity, at some point, sooner or later, would turn her attention to the, time-honored, tradition of producing artisanal glass. This category has diversified and enriched her artistic output during the last two decades, or so. Ekman’s, extensive and comprehensive, retrospective at Kulturhuset, Stockholm (also shown at Malmö Konstmuseum [Malmö Museum of Art], Malmö, Sweden) in 2002 included glass pieces depicting children or birds. The birds, especially, proved popular with the audience and pieces like Uccello malato con becco giallo (smooth) (2002, glass, length 35 cm, edition of 8), Uccello malato con becco verde (2002, glass, length 35 cm, edition of 8) and Uccello ferito (2002, glass and gauze, length 14 cm, edition of 75) have since become sought after collector’s items. This theme was followed up in 2004 with the exhibition The Venetian Pharmacy (in a former pharmacy, where else?...) in Venice, showing works including sick birds and children, injured fingers, flowers and dog bones made of glass and wrapped in bandages.

The pieces in question were produced by the Venetian firm Berengo Fine Arts in Murano, Venice, Italy. Berengo Studio was founded in 1989 by Adriano Berengo, who set out to forge a new path for art made with glass by testing the boundaries of contemporary glassmaking with his innovative and inventive approach. Inspired by the collaborative work of Peggy Guggenheim (1898 – 1979) and Egidio Costantini (1912 – 2007) in the 1960s, who invited masters such as Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) and Marc Chagall (1887 – 1985) to produce art in glass, Berengo decided to further this creative vision and bring new life to the world of contemporary art using glass. He invited important international artists to Murano to collaborate with skilled craftsmen to create great works of art. It’s an enterprise which has seen the studio work with the likes of Ai Weiwei (born 1957) and Dame Tracey Emin (born 1963), to name but a few. The dynamic partnerships created in the studio have even resulted in the development of original techniques as craftsmen push themselves to their limits to fully realize an artist’s creative vision.

With time Fondazione Berengo was born, and along with Berengo Studio the institution has contributed at an international level to the development and promotion of art glass. Works from Berengo are on display in collections (public as well as private) around the world, including the prestigious Corning Museum of Glass Art. Berengo’s passion has been a driving force in the art world for bolstering the reputation of art made with glass over the last thirty years.

In order to exhibit the works, the collateral Biennale exhibition Glasstress was founded in 2009, an art calendar event that continues to go from strength to strength. The launch in 2009 included Ekman who exhibited Termometri (2005 – 2007, glass, 100 x 90 x 11 cm). Rooted in Murano the exhibition has travelled across the world, with iterations appearing everywhere from The Wallace Collection in London to the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York and the Millesgården Museum in Stockholm, where Ekman exhibited The Transparent Family (2007 – 2011, glass and wooden table, 100 x 260 x 260 cm). The ever-evolving exhibition acts as a vivid demonstration of Berengo’s continued legacy, exhibiting the outstanding range of artworks and vibrant creativity that Berengo has fostered in the last three decades to critical acclaim.

Adriano Berengo has transformed the world’s perception of glass as an artistic medium and nurtured those curious and creative enough to work with it and his determination has seen a true Renaissance for art made with glass. Berengo’s three essential components (Berengo Studio, Fondazione Berengo and Glasstress) offer artists and designers an opportunity to create innovative works in glass. Berengo has also been a key contributor to the Biennale of Art in Venice, collaborating with artists, like Ekman, to produce works for several pavilions at the 2024 edition Glasstress 8 ½.

Piatto con signora, produced by Berengo, was part of Ekman’s celebrated solo exhibition in CFHILL’s booth at Market Art Fair, Stockholm, 17 – 19 May 2024. Ekman exhibited quirky sculptures and extravagant chandeliers, exploring the absurdity of the mundane by using, recurring, iconic motifs such as dogs, lamps and pencils. In Piatto con signora we, literally, see a woman on a plate. The centrally placed woman creates a division where one side of the plate is empty whilst the other is occupied by food in the form of potatoes, some lettuce and a piece of tomato. The potatoes, lettuce and tomato recall the mundane meal (part of Carl Johan De Geer’s, almost overwhelming, scenography) on the kitchen table in the movie poster for Ekman’s humorous kitchen sink drama, Mamma pappa barn (Mother Father Child) from 1977. Comparisons could also be made, however, to Ekman’s early, and iconic, piece Fiskbullar i hummersås / Fishcakes in Lobster Sauce (1968, appliqué on satin, 121 x 174 cm, NMB 1943) in the collection of Moderna Museet, Stockholm.

Provenance

CFHILL, Stockholm, Market Art Fair, Liljevalchs konsthall (Liljevalch’s Public Art Gallery), 17 – 19 May 2024.

Firestorm Foundation (acquired at the above).

Copyright Firestorm Foundation