From 20 February to 22 April 2018, the Villa Reale in Monza hosts a solo exhibition by Sam Havadtoy (London, 1952), one of the most interesting and original artists, born on the New York scene between the seventies and eighties.
The exhibition which unfolds in the rooms of the Royal Apartments, with the patronage of the Municipality of Monza and the Lombardy Region, presents a series of unpublished works, including sculptures, paintings, objects and tapestries, some created for the occasion, which reflect on the concept of originality and authenticity.
The recent controversy over Modigliani's fake paintings and the Serial classic exhibition, held at the Prada Foundation, on the idea of a copy over the original, were the starting point for Sam Havadtoy to give substance to a project he had been pondering for some time.
In fact, through his work, Havadtoy has rethought ancient sculpture, and how it has come down to the present day, that is, deprived of the colors and clothes that used to dress them.
“Historians – says Sam Havadtory – have long declared the white marbles and oxidized bronzes of the ancient world to be masterpieces. As such, they have inspired movements in architecture and art. Centuries passed before it was understood that they were originally not only paintings, but sometimes clothes as well.
Yet this has done little to alter our understanding of classical aesthetics.
These reflections inspired him to create an exhibition project where painted objects, tapestries, paintings and bronze sculptures decorated with colored lace meet.
“This – continues Sam Havadtoy – is my modest way of paying homage to those artists of the past whose works have been destroyed not only by time but also by a fundamental misunderstanding of their original appearance. Villa Reale is a time capsule of the past, yet I can't help but think of what it would be like today if it were still a home for a family."
"Sam Havadtoy's exhibition "NOBODY SEES ME LIKE I DO" - says Piero Addis, director of the Villa Reale Consortium and Monza Park - is part of a visual art program at the Royal Apartments entitled "Interference", where the artists propose a short circuit between their works and the baroque and neoclassical sumptuousness of the rooms and furnishings.
A phenomenon, that of interference, which is due to the superimposition, in a point of space, of two or more waves. Interferences like algorithms that control human beings, through sensations, emotions, thoughts”.
“At first sight, this cheerful interference by Havadtoy – continues Piero Addis – is so fresh, it almost seems to reawaken or carry forward the spirit of the sixties. The colours, the apparent lightness that emerges from the selection of subjects, the frivolous, amusing, even slightly cheeky treatment that the artist reserves for everyday objects or design objects; the apparent complete absence of any dramatic or pathetic accent, the fluency with which he appropriates every possible object to insert it in his works evoke an atmosphere, or rather an attitude which, seen in the context of art history, seems to be linked to Pop Art. And in fact Sam Havadtoy brings with him the great lesson assimilated by one of his masters and friends, such as Andy Warhol, whom he frequented in New York in over twenty years. Thanks also to Yoko Ono, with whom he shared an important part of life, frequenting the vibrant artistic context of those years".
The exhibition itinerary, introduced by a large sculpture placed near the fountain, opens with two d'après of as many portraits by Amedeo Modigliani, to represent the two loves in the life of the king who lived in the Reggia, taken from the copies that the great Hungarian forger Elmer de Hory.
In this dialectic game between copy and original, Havadtoy gives shape to bronze sculptures that reproduce animated heroes such as Bugs Bunny or Betty Boop made following his most characteristic stylistic signature, i.e. the use of lace, an unusual material for contemporary art, but whose use finds confirmation in the memory of the peoples of Eastern Europe where lace intertwined complex associations with class, religion, history and fashion and which has one of the most renowned production centers in Italy in the lagoon. Indeed, in her artistic practice, Havadtoy pastes fragments of lace onto his works; then, layer after layer, he covers them with color, so that the play of empty and full that is created becomes the structural element of the resulting image.
The exhibition also continues by presenting two large tapestries, an installation composed of paintings placed on the floor which will create a huge carpet (6 x 6 metres), or even a chessboard.
Biographical notes
Sam Havadtoy was born in 1952 in London to a Hungarian family. She returned to Hungary in 1956, she was no longer allowed to return to England. In 1971, Sam emigrated illegally to England via Yugoslavia. A year later, in 1972, he settled in the United States.
In 1978 he founded the Sam Havadtoy Gallery and Interior Design Studio, and became close friends with Yoko Ono, John Lennon, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, George Condo, Donald Baechler and many other artists.
Winged Altarpiece, Keith Haring's most monumental bronze sculpture ever, was created in a limited edition with the help of Havadtoy. A few years later, the Ludwig Museum in Budapest received this rare work as a gift from Havadtoy himself to enrich its permanent collections.
In 1992 he opened the Galéria 56 in Budapest. Here he exhibited works by artists such as Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ross Bleckner, Donald Sultan, Donald Baechler, as well as works by the great Hungarian artist László Moholy-Nagy. (www.galeria56.hu)
Since 2000 he has returned to live in Europe; in Budapest and Szentendre, in Hungary, and in Milan. In recent times, he has exhibited at the Mudima Gallery in Milan (2016) and at Palazzo Bembo in Venice (2017), on the occasion of the Art Biennale.
Image: Sam Havadtoy, Goofy on the trapeze, lace, acrylic, gold on found object, 41x26x33 cm, 2017
