Gino De Dominicis at Galleria Lucrezia De Domizio
"Quando non si parla più di immortalità del corpo" (ingresso riservato agli animali) ["When we no longer talk about the immortality of the body" (entrance reserved for animals)
"Quando non si parla più di immortalità del corpo" (ingresso riservato agli animali) ["When we no longer talk about the immortality of the body" (entrance reserved for animals)
Pescara, Italy: Galleria Lucrezia De Domizio. 10,3x15 cm.
Appropriated touristic postcard as exhibition invitation. Details of exhibition printed verso. Playful invite for an equally playful show excluding human visitors with entrance guaranteed only for animals. Uncommon. Interesting example mailed to Galleria Toselli in Milano who was also working with De Dominicis at the time. Near Fine.
Pescara, Italy, 1975. It was the opening of Gino De Dominicis’ latest show at Lucrezia De Domizio’s gallery, yet visitors were barred from entering. As art enthusiasts clustered around the entrance, their curiosity was heightened by sounds and glimpses of movement. Peering inside, they saw unexpected forms — first a goose, then a donkey, an ox, some hens. This unusual gathering of animals was central to a work that excluded human spectators entirely. Titled Exhibition for Animals Only, the show was dedicated to a non-human audience, animals observing each other, humans kept outside. The concept fit neatly within De Dominicis’ ongoing meditation on death, a recurring motif in his work, and here reflected the artist’s perspective on animals as beings blissfully unaware of mortality. Through the exclusion of human visitors, De Dominicis also made a statement about the nature of art itself, posing the question: does art need human spectatorship to be art? The work was meant to subvert expectations and reframe the gallery as a space not simply dedicated to an aesthetic experience, but rather apt to rethinking the boundaries of perception and purpose of art itself. The irony and sense of absurd in De Dominicis’ work taps into a longstanding artistic fascination with animals, particularly in contemporary art. Animals have served artists as allegorical or symbolic figures for centuries, often representing various aspects of human nature as both noble and flawed. However, in most representations, animals are seen through an anthropomorphic lens, reduced to metaphors for human characteristics. They are rarely seen simply as themselves, and in gallery settings, they are often reduced to props, mere objects in the spectacle of human spectatorship. In other words, the gallery as a zoo. [Naima Morelli, The Markaz Review, 2024].
Appropriated touristic postcard as exhibition invitation. Details of exhibition printed verso. Playful invite for an equally playful show excluding human visitors with entrance guaranteed only for animals. Uncommon. Interesting example mailed to Galleria Toselli in Milano who was also working with De Dominicis at the time. Near Fine.
Pescara, Italy, 1975. It was the opening of Gino De Dominicis’ latest show at Lucrezia De Domizio’s gallery, yet visitors were barred from entering. As art enthusiasts clustered around the entrance, their curiosity was heightened by sounds and glimpses of movement. Peering inside, they saw unexpected forms — first a goose, then a donkey, an ox, some hens. This unusual gathering of animals was central to a work that excluded human spectators entirely. Titled Exhibition for Animals Only, the show was dedicated to a non-human audience, animals observing each other, humans kept outside. The concept fit neatly within De Dominicis’ ongoing meditation on death, a recurring motif in his work, and here reflected the artist’s perspective on animals as beings blissfully unaware of mortality. Through the exclusion of human visitors, De Dominicis also made a statement about the nature of art itself, posing the question: does art need human spectatorship to be art? The work was meant to subvert expectations and reframe the gallery as a space not simply dedicated to an aesthetic experience, but rather apt to rethinking the boundaries of perception and purpose of art itself. The irony and sense of absurd in De Dominicis’ work taps into a longstanding artistic fascination with animals, particularly in contemporary art. Animals have served artists as allegorical or symbolic figures for centuries, often representing various aspects of human nature as both noble and flawed. However, in most representations, animals are seen through an anthropomorphic lens, reduced to metaphors for human characteristics. They are rarely seen simply as themselves, and in gallery settings, they are often reduced to props, mere objects in the spectacle of human spectatorship. In other words, the gallery as a zoo. [Naima Morelli, The Markaz Review, 2024].
ID: 15571
Price:
€150
See all items in
Art,
Art Ephemera (Invitations, Announcements etc.),
Special Collections,
Irregular - Shaped - Whimsical (Ephemera)
See all items by Gino DE DOMINICIS