The title ‘Enclave’ announces and summarizes the unique encounter of Bizhan Bassiri and Jan Dibbets, two contemporary artists of international fame, who each mounted a solo exhibition with site-specific works in the La Spezia gallery, offering the public a rare moment of reflection. With a sort of “concept game’, they have created a genuine artistic geography, where, visually speaking, the works of one artist end where the works of the other begin; in this way, the overlap of thought transcends metaphor to manifest itself concretely.
Here historic works by Bassiri – the Evaporazioni cycle (1998-2006), Erme (1996-2002), Paesaggi del pensiero magmatico (1978-2000) culminating in the space entitled Riserva aurea (2007) – encounter photographs and geometric constructions typical of Dibbets’ work. With their conceptual, povero matrix, these pieces represent diverse “points of view’ in Dibbets’ en plein air or interior landscapes, conceived in an orbital, anti-mimetic manner. From the material to the ephemeral, from the spiritual to the speculative, the interconnection of the two artists becomes not only a starting point for a deeper understanding of their work but also a viaticum for a profound reflection that can touch both the mind and the soul.