Emilio Cavallini
May 4-27, 2018
Objectual Abstractions
Presented in partnership with the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC and the Italian Cultural Institute, Objectual Abstractions is a retrospective of Emilio Cavallini’s works including twenty pieces from his best-known projects: Attuale-Infinito, Biforcazioni, Frattali, and Diagrammi. Cavallini’s colorful and abstract artworks include eye-catching, dynamic wall sculptures that are being displayed for the first time ever in Washington, DC.
“Emilio Cavallini has transformed the very concept of transformation.” With these words, the art critic Peter Frank describes the famed Italian fashion designer, who uses the materials from his noted women’s hosiery designs and transforms them into the artwork we see today. Cavallini’s work in the field of research and fashion has earned him numerous awards: Cavaliere della Repubblica in 1986, Officer of the Republic and Leone d’Oro in Venice for Fashion in 1989, Commendatore della Repubblica in 1993. Becoming the symbol of a revolution not only towards women’s tights, but above all, for the aesthetic and social function that derive from the innovative concept of them.
In addition to his exhibition at Hillyer, the Italian Embassy will present three major works in the artist’s series Fractals (Frattali), inspired by the Italian painter of the sixteenth century, Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci). Cavallini uses nylon socks pulled onto acrylic painted wood that creates geometric figures with repetitive shapes on different scales. The colors are extracted from the works of Renaissance painters such as Piero di Cosimo, Rosso Fiorentino, and Jacopo da Pontormo. This part of the exhibition is by reservation only, inquire with gallery staff.
