ARTISTS
Alfredo Aceto & Raphael Danke: Secret Garden
UNA is delighted to present Secret Garden, a two-person show by Alfredo Aceto (*1991, Turin) and Raphael Danke (*1972, Germany).
The exhibition features newly produced works spanning sculpture, installation, photography, and painting. These pieces delve into the artists鈥� inner landscapes, while also evoking a confined external space 鈥� like the one suggested by the exhibition鈥檚 title. The dialogue between personal experience and a cultivated idea of nature emerges throughout the show, where nature becomes both companion and counterpoint to the body and self.
For this occasion, Alfredo Aceto presents Trap, a new bronze sculpture inspired by a childhood memory: a moment spent with his father observing a trap for processionary caterpillars in their garden. As in much of Aceto鈥檚 practice, the work unearths emotional sediment and hidden traumas, weaving personal and collective narratives. The sculpture probes themes of self-perception, unresolved emotional tensions, and the body鈥檚 spatial dimension, addressing sexuality as a transformative force poised between life and death. Also on view is a work from Aceto鈥檚 emblematic Campanula series, which introduces a sonic and performative element through the use of bells. Campanula reflects the artist鈥檚 unique relationship with sound: his amusia 鈥� a condition that impairs the ability to recognize musical tones 鈥� becomes a tool for expanding sensory inquiry, questioning the limits and possibilities of perception. Alfredo Aceto鈥檚 presentation is enriched, as often in his exhibitions, by a photographic contribution that brings together different types of photographs into a unified 鈥渆nsemble鈥�. These works explore the garden as a site of intimacy, memory, and sensory reflection.
Raphael Danke presents works from his Molusce series, begun in 2021, where shells are transformed into anthropomorphic masks by drilling holes that reveal their internal structures. Mounted on concrete blocks and salvaged wood and iron from the construction of his home, these sculptures evoke a tension between the natural and the artificial, fragility and permanence. Also on view is a new series of canvases dyed with natural pigments collected in Provence鈥攚alnuts, bark, ivy鈥攁nd made in standard TV screen sizes. These earthy monochromes become perceptive surfaces that transform architectural voids into meditative, sensitive spaces. Completing the exhibition is a selection of 10 pieces from Die Geister des Gartens open edition: small snail shells collected from the artist鈥檚 garden, titled Ghost, scattered across the gallery walls in an attempt to make the architecture come alive, echoing the materiality of the snail shells.
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UNA is delighted to present Secret Garden, a two-person show by Alfredo Aceto (*1991, Turin) and Raphael Danke (*1972, Germany).
The exhibition features newly produced works spanning sculpture, installation, photography, and painting. These pieces delve into the artists鈥� inner landscapes, while also evoking a confined external space 鈥� like the one suggested by the exhibition鈥檚 title. The dialogue between personal experience and a cultivated idea of nature emerges throughout the show, where nature becomes both companion and counterpoint to the body and self.
For this occasion, Alfredo Aceto presents Trap, a new bronze sculpture inspired by a childhood memory: a moment spent with his father observing a trap for processionary caterpillars in their garden. As in much of Aceto鈥檚 practice, the work unearths emotional sediment and hidden traumas, weaving personal and collective narratives. The sculpture probes themes of self-perception, unresolved emotional tensions, and the body鈥檚 spatial dimension, addressing sexuality as a transformative force poised between life and death. Also on view is a work from Aceto鈥檚 emblematic Campanula series, which introduces a sonic and performative element through the use of bells. Campanula reflects the artist鈥檚 unique relationship with sound: his amusia 鈥� a condition that impairs the ability to recognize musical tones 鈥� becomes a tool for expanding sensory inquiry, questioning the limits and possibilities of perception. Alfredo Aceto鈥檚 presentation is enriched, as often in his exhibitions, by a photographic contribution that brings together different types of photographs into a unified 鈥渆nsemble鈥�. These works explore the garden as a site of intimacy, memory, and sensory reflection.
Raphael Danke presents works from his Molusce series, begun in 2021, where shells are transformed into anthropomorphic masks by drilling holes that reveal their internal structures. Mounted on concrete blocks and salvaged wood and iron from the construction of his home, these sculptures evoke a tension between the natural and the artificial, fragility and permanence. Also on view is a new series of canvases dyed with natural pigments collected in Provence鈥攚alnuts, bark, ivy鈥攁nd made in standard TV screen sizes. These earthy monochromes become perceptive surfaces that transform architectural voids into meditative, sensitive spaces. Completing the exhibition is a selection of 10 pieces from Die Geister des Gartens open edition: small snail shells collected from the artist鈥檚 garden, titled Ghost, scattered across the gallery walls in an attempt to make the architecture come alive, echoing the materiality of the snail shells.
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