curated by Giulia Zompa
The exhibition pays homage to the activity of the Galleria Emi Fontana, founded in Milan in November 1992 in Viale Bligny 42.
The title is based on the one used by Emi Fontana herself on the occasion of the exhibition for the tenth anniversary of the gallery, expressing the intimate and complex bond between artist and gallery owner: an almost familiar relationship, at times difficult, but essential for the creative process. An imperfect marriage that here also becomes a metaphor for her relationship with Milan, the city chosen as a place of life and work, which has represented for her a fertile ground for artistic experimentation, but not without challenges and obstacles.
The exhibition is structured through a rich selection of archive materials - invitations, posters, catalogues, videos and photographs – restoring the lively atmosphere and cultural fervor of a space that has become an essential point of reference in the Italian artistic panorama.
The exhibition itinerary recounts the plurality of languages and visions that have found space in the gallery's programming, with particular attention to contemporary artists, both Italian and international, and to exhibitions with a strong environmental character, evidence of the constant openness to new and experimental projects.
Emi Fontana has interpreted the role of gallery owner with rare refinement and original vision, offering artists full freedom of expression and participating in the sharing of ideas, solutions and projects. Her commitment has been characterized by a deep interest in the most urgent issues of contemporaneity, with particular attention to feminism and the valorization of the work of female artists such as Monica Bonvicini, Liliana Moro, Alessandra Spranzi and Cosima Von Bonin. Equally important was the interest in ecological issues, with collaborations with Mark Dion, Willie Doherty and Olafur Eliasson, and in the promotion of an increasingly socially oriented art, through support for the research of figures such as Lovett-Codagnone, Renee Green, Mike Kelley and Rirkrit Tiravanija.
In the course of a few years, Emi Fontana has thus established important relationships with artists and colleagues who have profoundly influenced the cultural panorama of the 1990s and 2000s, playing a crucial role in the affirmation of Italian contemporary art on the global scene and consolidating Milan as a privileged place for the presentation of artists of international importance. In 2009, after the closure of the gallery, she embarked on a new path as artistic director of the West of Rome project in California, with which she created site-specific exhibitions in ever-changing spaces, definitively overcoming the physical boundaries of the gallery.
Photo: Contact sheet frame, archival material from Emi Fontana Gallery. Courtesy Emi Fontana Archive
