The other weekend I was invited by my ever productive and active Italian artist friend Gaetano Fiore to attend the Il Segno Art Prize awards ceremony at the Zamenhof Art Gallery in Milan.
I’d heard on the grapevine that Gaetano might well win a prize. Indeed, he did.
For his evocative and poetic, tree-inspired work “Dimora di alberi“, pictured below, Gaetano Fiore was awarded the Il Segno 2011 Emilio Vedova Prize for the best abstract work. Well done Gaetano!
The prize was well deserved as I know Fiore puts an enormous amount of energy and enthusiasm into his works of art. I was very pleased for him – as was his wife, Elisabetta who was present at the awards ceremony too.
Entries from Over 200 Italian Artists
Now into its third year, the Il Segno contemporary art prize attracted entries from just under 250 artists.
Many of the works under consideration for the prize were on show at the Zamenhof and there was plenty to see. Also good to see was the number of people the awards ceremony attracted and the director of the Zamenhof gallery Virgil Patarini was on hand too, as were his heady cocktails, some experience of which I had had on a previous art occasion: Talented Italian Artists at the Zamenhof in Milan
The other prize winners drawn from a short list of 20 artists were:
- The Best figurative work – Marc Chagall Prize went to Consuelo Rodriguez
- The Best young artist J. M. Basquiat Prize went to Alessia Zolfo
- Best photographic work – the Man Ray Prize went to Carlo D’orta and Danilo Susi
- The Lucio Fontana Prize went to Mara Gessi
- The Pablo Picasso Prize went to Marco Belloni
Impressive Standard!
If what you can see above is an example of standard of art which the Il Segno generates, long may it continue – and believe me, the work of all the artists who participated in this year’s Il Segno was to a very high standard. I have a copy of the Il Segno prize catalogue which shows all the artists’ entries.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
Making decisions as to who to award prizes to must not have been too easy for the jury. I know I saw one or two disappointed faces at the awards ceremony, which is inevitable I suppose. However, I suspect that the work of all those who participated would appeal to someone or other.
I imagine you just might be keen to see some more examples of the art which must have provoked more than a few heated discussions with the jury. First the bad news – you can’t! Now the good news – you soon will be able to!
I spoke to Virgil Patarini of the Zamenhof and asked where someone could see the 2011 Il Segno catalogue and he told me that a .pdf version will appear on the Il Segno website shortly. I’ll add a link when this happens.
In the meantime and if you find yourself in Milan in the next few days, there are a few copies of the Il Segno catalogue languishing in the Zamenhof gallery, in Via Zamenhof so if you pay them a visit, you may well end up with one. And if you do visit, do take a look round the gallery as you are bound to find something, or a few things, of interest.
Here’s to Il Segno 2012!
The Il Segno 2011 Jury
The jury for the 2011 Il Segno art prize was headed by Sergio Dangelo – an artist of international renown who founded, along with Enrico Baj the explosive sounding Nuclear Art Movement.
Other members of the jury were:
- Enzo Briscese, Artist, Director of the Ariel gallery in Turin
- Valentina Carrera, Artist and Curator, Director of the Atelier Chagall gallery in Milan
- Rosamaria Desiderio, Curator and coordinator of the Zamenhof gallery in Milan
- Michele Govoni, journalist for the Nuova Ferrara and critic for the Il Rivellino gallery in Ferrara
- Carlo Motta, Head of art and Mondern art Catalogues for the Mondadori publishing house
Plus, last and by no means least, the inimitable Mr.
- Virgil Patarini, Artist, Critic and Curator, Zamenhof Gallery Director, author of Giorgio Mondadori catalogues
Visit The Zamenhof website in Italian.
