MB News | Swiss artist Felice Varini’s first work in China is now on view at the newly opened Galeries Lafayette in Shanghai
Danse d’Ellipses, the first installation in China by internationally acclaimed Swiss artist Felice Varini (b. 1952, Locarno), was unveiled to the public last March 23 in front of thousands of visitors who gathered and admired the work. Commissioned by the Galeries Lafayette for their new location in the financial district of Lujiazui in Shanghai, it adds to the long list of Varini’s projects across the globe in places such as New York, Paris, Rome, Zurich, Berlin, Athens, Sydney, Singapore or Nagoya.
MB Projects is proud to have been instrumental in the production of Danse d’Ellipses.
Following a month of intense work onsite by the artist and his team, Danse d’Ellipses is an oeuvre in constant dialogue with space. As one enters, he feels overwhelmed by unconnected intense blue color fragments that appear set on all surfaces, from walls to columns, from the ceiling to the escalator, on crystal and metal. But the chaos is only apparent. If able to find it, a single precise location allows the eye to realize the wholeness of the composition and make sense of it. And yet the angle of vision is never the goal, rather the starting point of any piece.
Varini’s art cannot exist outside of the location for which it is conceived and installed, a concept developed throughout a life of research in different artistic disciplines. During his early youth he felt naturally inclined to drawing, which he abandoned later for theater. But ultimately it was painting the medium with which he chose to explore the relativity of time and space. Feeling restricted by the size of a canvas, he orientated his search towards architectural space and urban landscapes. Playing with a multitude of angles and changing forms the works feel mobile and ever evolving through the day with the changes of light and the surroundings. Light, a sense of proportion, a pencil, a knife, adhesive tape, pigment and walls are all the elements needed to give life to these compositions. “The objective behind a piece, assuming there is one, would more likely be the wish to experience all the unforeseen and unplanned elements, everything that goes beyond the wish I bore within me”.
MB Projects is proud to have contributed to the production of Danse d’Ellipses, in collaboration with the Paris based agency Eva Albarran&co and Shanghai based Lezi Entertainment.
But as they say, an image is worth a thousand words and in this case the real effect of this stunning work of art can only be grasped by experiencing it. If in Shanghai do not miss the chance to immerse yourself in the “ellipses danse” and come visit it at the Galeries Lafayette, Pudong South Road 899, Pudong New District, Shanghai.
