The house/studio where Turi Simeti lived and worked for over thirty years has recently become home to the Foundation bearing his name. Created in March 2022, one year after his death at the age of 91, the Foundation aims to tell the story of the artist and his artistic journey in what was his studio, his home and a place of reflection and artistic activity.
The building keeps intact the way of life of my father and Essila Burello, his partner, who also passed away during the pandemic. The authentic domestic atmosphere merges here with the conservational function of the Foundation, partly assuming the identity of a house/museum. Thus, for example, the billiard table becomes a place of memory, where photos and catalogues chronicling the artist’s life and career are displayed. Vittorio Cecchini, an equally passionate billiard player, linked the game and painting as follows: “The billiard player must see a detail and the whole space at the same time, he must work out the right moment for the shot and feel the whole tempo of the game. And then there is silence. Like creating a painting.” (F. Sardella, conversation with Vincenzo Cecchini, in “Vincenzo Cecchini“, exhibition catalogue, Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, 2007, pp. 6-7).
The museum extends along a large open space, with two mezzanine sections looking onto it. The artist’s works run along the entire surface of the walls, tracing the different phases of his artistic practice, from his first collages in 1961 to his final works.
The visitor is given a unique perspective for understanding Turi Simeti’s sign/symbol-based art; an opportunity to observe an unmoving, closed form that becomes generative and dynamic over time and space.
Alongside Simeti’s artworks we find those of friends and fellow travelers such as Enrico Castellani, Giorgio Colombo, Franco Angeli, Grazia Varisco, Ernesto Tatafiore, Giuseppe Chiari and Alberto Garutti; but also various pieces by younger artists, particularly his nephew, my cousin, Francesco Simeti, and friends like Andrea Sala.
Turi Simeti and Essila Burello showed enormous interest in the new generation of artists. They were extremely curious about my fledgling gallery. The Foundation intends to nurture this curiosity further and trigger a fruitful dialogue between artists of different generations through specific projects.
The first project involved the photographer Giovanna Silva, who I invited to visit Turi’s studio shortly after his death. The photos were taken on different occasions, one shortly after the other. Around one hundred photos provide a focus on specific details. Each shot was repeated, with a tiny imperceptible difference from the previous one, as if each immersion in this space afforded a different level of insight, a new discovery each time. There are no unified visions, but dense narrative details. “It was more than immersing oneself in a studio. It is a home, a work of art and a life”. The result is a collage of often similar fragments, images that reproduce the space through the objects of those who inhabited and experienced it. Giovanna Silva’s photos were exhibited in the gallery space as a special project one year after my father’s death.
Other projects will follow in the house/museum in Via Seneca. Visits by appointment.
