OPENING RECEPTION ON THURSDAY, APRIL 20TH 6:00-8:00 PM

Weinstein Hammons Gallery is pleased to present an exclusive exhibition of Milano Per Filo e Per Segno, sixteen new works by internationally renowned artist Paolo Ventura. The show will be on view beginning Thursday, April 20th. This will be the artist’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. 

Paolo Ventura’s (b. 1968, Milan, Italy) family background is steeped in the art of storytelling. His father, Piero Ventura, was an internationally prominent children’s book author and illustrator. His grandmother shared vivid recollections of her experiences living in the Italian countryside through World Wars I and II. These formative experiences inspired Ventura to develop his distinctive approach to visual storytelling, one that combines historical events and pure imagination. His storytelling often blurs the line between fact and fiction, inviting the viewer to enter into a dreamlike realm that is both familiar and otherworldly.

In Milano Per Filo e Per Segno, Ventura pays homage to his native Milan, one of the oldest cities in Europe, by focusing his lens on its storied and historic architecture. His artistic process begins with a photograph printed on multiple panels. After the photographs are stitched together, Ventura uses paint to omit and highlight the imagery, creating stark cityscapes that evoke wonder and nostalgia. “Per filo e per segno” is an Italian expression meaning word for word, and its direct translation “by line and by thread,” is a tongue and cheek double entendre on the photographic representation of these Milanese buildings and the perspective lines drawn throughout. 

Paolo Ventura studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan in the early 1990s. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Forma International Center for Photography, Milan; Museum of Contemporary Art of Roma (MACRO), Rome; The Hague Museum of Photography, The Hague; Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome and during the Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles. In 2012, he was selected to create a series of works for the Italian national pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale; he also received a commission from the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. Additionally, Ventura was recently commissioned by the MART, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Italy. Four monographs of Paolo Ventura's work have been published: War Souvenir (Contrasto, 2006), Winter Stories (Aperture and Contrasto, 2009), The Automaton (Peliti Associati, 2011) and Lo Zuavo Scomparso (Punctum Press, 2012). 

A book accompanying the exhibition Milano Per Filo e Per Segno is being published by Danilo Montanari Editore (Ravenna, 2023).