SAM FALLS – UNTITLED (ANTINORI)

The permanent collection of the Antinori winery in the Chianti Classico area, curated by Ilaria Bonacossa, is endowed with a new, important, site-specific art project, commissioned from the US artist Sam Falls (b. 1983, San Diego), as part of Antinori Art Project, the platform of the historic Tuscan winery dedicated to visual arts and contemporary artists.

This new commission continues the patronage spirit that for 26 generations has been imbuing the activity of the Antinori family. The art of Sam Fall, thanks to the artist’s refined ability of dosing action and interaction with time and environment, finds an unexpected parallelism in the winemaking tradition guarded by the Antinori family. Both Falls’ art practice and winemaking revolve around the relationship between man and nature: works are born within the fine balance between the intervention of the artist, or the winemaker, and the fundamental role of time, air and climate in the interaction with raw materials.

Sam Falls has created a site-specific environmental pictorial work: the vegetation and the vineyards surrounding the structure, together with the sun, the rain, the night humidity, and the animals that inhabit the territory, are the elements that give life to an environmental palette activated by the artist, but transformed by chance and the passage of time. A large canvas, long and narrow, almost a horizon, sprinkled with dry pigments, has been left in the vines. Through contact with natural and atmospheric elements, such as the sun, the humidity, the spontaneous fall of leaves and shrubs, the canvas was ‘painted’ by nature and, subsequently, installed in one of the two staircases that cross the height of the structure. This way, the natural life of the Chianti Classico landscape enters into the underground architecture of the winery, giving rise to a surprising meld between interior and exterior, nature and contemporary architecture, transforming metaphorically into a natural window.

This new project for Antinori Art Project is part of the research that started in California, where Sam Falls lives, in which nature, the action of rain and sun, integrating with dry pigments randomly spread on the support, autonomously create large canvases, known as Rain Paintings. The artistic production of Sam Falls brings into dialogue his diverse interests: photography, painting, performance, and sculpture. The artist uses the founding principles of these languages: light, color, action and the quality of the material. Vegetation, climatic variations, humidity and sunlight, associated with oxidizable materials or preparations with dry pigments, all are elements that contribute to the creation of chromatically triumphant compositions. The artist acts in a minimalist way, becoming an agent provocateur and, at the same time, a surprised onlooker of the self-generated results of his work, according to the concept that “nature is the new minimalism”, to cite the title of a solo exhibition of the artist held in 2018 at the Trento Civic Gallery.

The Antinori winery in the Chianti Classico area confirms once again as the ideal platform for artistic production, where artists are asked to imagine specific projects and at the same time to confront with the imposing history of the Antinori family’s private collection and, as in this case, with a tradition that is first of all tied to the territory, to the viticulture and to the specificity of its natural landscape.

Sam Falls (1984) lives and works in Los Angeles. Among his personal exhibitions: CAPRI, Düsseldorf (2019), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, Trento (2018), September Spring, The Kitchen, New York, USA (2015); Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, Texas, USA (2015); Giuliani Foundation, Rome, Italy (2015); Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK (2014); Sam Falls: Light over Time, Public Art Fund, Brooklyn, New York, USA (2014); Pomona College Museum of Art, Pomona, California, USA (2014); LA> <ART, Los Angeles, USA (2013). Among the collective exhibitions: Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (2016); Wasteland, Mona Bismarck American Center, Paris, France (2016); Another Minimalism: Art after California Light and Space, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick (2016) and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (2015); Splitting Light, UB Art Gallery, University at Buffalo, New York, USA (2015); Apparition: Frottage and Rubbings from 1985 to Now, Hammer Museum, in collaboration with The Menil Collection, Houston, Los Angeles, USA (2015); Per_formare a collection # 1, Museo MADRE, Naples, Italy (2014); A different kind of Order: The ICP Triennial, International Center of Photography, New York, USA (2013). The artist’s work is also part of some important collections, among them: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Los Angeles; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; The Allbright Knox, Buffalo, New York; Zabludowicz Collection, London.

The Antinori winery in the Chianti Classico is the symbol of the profound bond that has benn linking the Antinori family to the passion for the arts since 1385: painting, sculpture, architecture, and of course the art of transforming the fruits of the earth into great wines. In 2012 Antinori launched Art Project, a natural continuation of the collecting activity, directing it towards contemporary art.

Antinori winery in Chianti Classico
Via Cassia for Siena, 133 Località Bargino 50026 San Casciano Val di Pesa, Firenze
Phone +39 055 2359700
E-mail: visite@antinorichianticlassico.it
www.antinorichianticlassico.it
www.antinori.it/it/esperienze