Multi-Disciplinary Visual Artist Joseph La Piana to Debut Site-Specific Exhibition Frequency at Orto Botanico Corsini and Forte Stella Frequency
June 8 – August 8, 2024,
Orto Botanico Corsini and Forte Stella, Porto Ercole, Italy
Porto Ercole, IT, May 8, 2024 — Orto Botanico Corsini is delighted to announce a solo exhibition of new works titled Frequency by New York-based artist Joseph La Piana at the historical Orto Botanico Corsini and Forte Stella in Porto Ercole, Italy this summer. Frequency is co-organized by Sebastian Sarmiento (Senior Director, Marlborough Gallery, New York) and Georgina Pounds (Advisor, Orto Botanico Corsini). Frequency presents a breadth of new in-situ works by the artist that engage with the historical Orto Botanico Corsini’s diverse collection of nearly 1500 species of exotic flora and Forte Stella’s 16th-century architecture. The exhibition draws its title, Frequency, from Forte Stella’s role as a communication tower for Orto Botanico Corsini. Through architectural works operating on a monumental scale, La Piana utilizes simple industrial materials to stage an intervention across two Tuscan sites: the radiant yellows signature to La Piana’s works starkly juxtaposed by the blue Tyrrhenian Sea.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Joseph La Piana to utilize his extraordinary imagination to create ‘Frequency,’ a dynamic exhibition engaging our collection of exotic flora on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Orto Botanico Corsini exists not only as a garden, but as a cultural center welcoming a diverse array of artists to transform our space. ‘Frequency’ is an ambitious and groundbreaking exhibition that will catalyze and launch a series of contemporary exhibition programs at the garden in the coming years.” shares Alessandro Corsini, President of Orto Botanico Corsini.
At the Orto Botanico Corsini, six site-specific sculptures recontextualize the garden’s diverse collection of historic foliage. The sculptures are aware of their own expansions and limitations; they interact with the viewer at a scale in contrast to their own. Grounded in a wrapping technique signature to La Piana’s past Tension sculptures, the pieces engage with the trees throughout the Orto Botanico Corsini, imbuing the natural elements with latent tensile potential. In doing so, the vegetation transforms from its natural state. Fueled by vibrations, new sounds, and movement, the trees flex against the artist’s bandage-like artwork. La Piana’s use of physical materials—notably, industrial latex and rubber that is pulled taught, wrapped, warped, and stretched — make manifest the pressures that the human condition entails. The ecosystem’s reaction to La Piana’s works – both auditory and kinetic – portrays an activation of a newfound, dynamic life.
“The site-specific installation in Porto Ercole at Orto Botanico Corsini is an emotional representation of my heritage. As a dual citizen of the United States and Italy, I am proud to share a level of intimacy within the context of ‘Frequency.’ In harnessing the history of Orto Botanico Corsini, ‘Frequency’ honors memory, encourages dialogue, and creates a playground amidst the rare and ancient trees,” says La Piana.
Nearby, at the historic Forte Stella, La Piana continues his exploration of entropic change with two outdoor large-scale Tension sculptures overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea and a selection of thirteen paintings within the citadel. A parallel to his works at the Orto Botanico Corsini, La Piana’s sculptures at Forte Stella similarly respond to natural forces, a fundamental element to the artist’s practice. Set against the backdrop of the 16th century citadel, the dualistic artworks investigate themes of organic vs synthetic, creation vs deconstruction, and dormancy vs action in a setting that both plays host to – and participates in – the installation. At once stationary, La Piana’s kinetic works are equally dynamic, their potential made manifest by the gravitational forces at play upon them. Frequency explores the parallels between the artist’s sculptures and contemporary culture. Tension, as La Piana sees it, is a powerful force: a source of internal and external agonism that brings to the fore questions, real and metaphorical, about countervailing pressures placed on the identity of the collective. Frequency is open to the public at Orto Botanico Corsini and Forte Stella from June 8 to August 8, 2024.