Fondazione Sozzani SELECTED EXHIBITION from the archives

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SELECTED EXHIBITION
from the archives

2019

UMBERTO RIVA, ARCHITETTO DESIGNER

curated by Gabriele Neri

Trailer Umberto Riva, a project by Francesca Molteni, directed by Claudia Adragna, produced by Muse Factory of Projects

Now that we are temporarily closed we will continue to share online content, exhibitions, interviews, videos from Fondazione Sozzani archives over the coming weeks.

Last year, in conjunction with Miart and Salone del Mobile 2019, the Fondazione Sozzani presented in Milan the exhibition "Forme: Umberto Riva, architetto designer " curated by Gabriele Neri. One of the Italian masters of architecture and design, Umberto Riva, born in 1928, was recently awarded with the Gold Medal at the Triennale di Milano for sixty years of projects ranging from architecture to industrial design, from editorial graphics to interiors, from urban planning to painting, from restoration to museum set-up.

The exhibition focused on the activity of Umberto Riva in the field of design, developed as a complementary research to the architectural and pictorial one starting from the Sixties. The selected pieces were part of a continuous process of materic and formal experimentation, driven by an anxiety that leads to geometric, chromatic and spatial anomalies. Says Riva: "Mine is not the work of an intellectual, but that one of the craftsman who approximates the form".

With rare out-of-production prototypes, unique pieces, paintings, drawings and unpublished sketches from the architect's private archive, the exhibition shown three distinct but intertwined design areas. The exhibition was completed by the set up designed by Umberto Riva with Emilio Scarano, and by the new film "Umberto Riva" curated by Francesca Molteni and Claudia Adragna produced by Muse Factory of Projects.

1. Umberto Riva, Aquilone 2, 1989. Crayons on cardboard, 42 x 56 cm

2. Casa Ferrario, Osmate, 1975. Plans

3. Casa Riva in via Paravia, Milan, 1967 (ph. Giorgio Casali)

4. Installation view of the exhibition “Paesaggio: la natura fra sito e artificio” at the XVII Triennale of Milan, 1988. Plan.

Paintings, pictures and architectural drawings show the recurrence of certain geometries, and attest to the circularity of Riva's work, which often repeats:

«I always feel like facing the same project».

5. Umberto Riva, exhibition view at Fondazione Sozzani 201, photo Chiara Gussoni

6. Veronese lamp, Barovier & Toso, 1984 (Murano glass, brass, steel sheet, wood, crystal)

7. Lem lamp, Ve Art, 1973

(metal base and stem with plastic resin lampshade)

8. Umberto Riva, exhibition view at Fondazione Sozzani 2019, photo Santi Caleca

"In the work of Umberto Riva, the form has a priority meaning, which goes to beyond use; for this reason, he considers his creations in the field of design not as simple furnishing objects, but as figures in continuous dialogue with each other.

The pursuit of the shape starts from the sheet of paper or from the canvas, to then tackle the three-dimensionality of the real world and the potential of ancient and modern materials: from plastic to Murano glass, from metal to marble, from wood to cement.The form is a point of arrival, not of departure; it is the temporary stage of a painful and incessant exploration". Gabriele Neri, curator

9. Umberto Riva, exhibition view at Fondazione Sozzani 2019 ph. Chiara Gussoni

10/11. Umberto Riva, exhibition view at Fondazione Sozzani 2019 ph. Santi Caleca

GABRIELE NERI, UMBERTO RIVA. INTERNI E ALLESTIMENTI, LETTERA 22, 2018

UMBERTO RIVA, SISTEMAZIONI URBANE, OFFICINA 1993

ROOMS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED: UMBERTO RIVA, BIJOY JAIN,

LARS MULLER PUBLISHERS, 2015

The Fondazione Sozzani was established in 2016 by Carla Sozzani and is dedicated to the promotion of culture through photography, fashion, fine and applied arts. The Foundation has assumed the patronage of Galleria Carla Sozzani and continues all relevant public functions that the Galleria has supported for the past 30 years.

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