Antonio Della Guardia's Solo Show at Pastificio Cerere Explores Vision

At Fondazione Pastificio Cerere in Rome, artist Antonio Della Guardia presents 'Per un Prossimo Reale', a solo exhibition inspired by the controversial vision therapy of William Horatio Bates. Curated by Vasco Forconi, the show is designed as an experience for one visitor at a time, functioning as a 'gym of the imagination' where participants retrain their eyes to achieve a new awareness of seeing. The exhibition opens with a pink marble hand suspended at chin height, suggesting a pose for long-distance vision. On the walls, Della Guardia reproduces large-scale Bates charts, creating a clinic-like atmosphere. Works include metal glasses that block central vision, forcing exploration of lateral and peripheral sight, and a mattress where visitors lie down with paper glasses 'to copy imagination processes onto the world'. The most striking piece is '#5 Per un Prossimo Reale (2021)', a blue velvet drape embroidered with gold thread depicting flight trajectories of insects and birds. Della Guardia, born in Salerno in 1990, presents a rigorous and conceptual exhibition that demonstrates his compositional talent. Bates, an American doctor who published 'Perfect Sight Without Glasses' in 1919, gained followers among intellectuals and artists, including Aldous Huxley, who wrote 'The Art of Seeing' (1942) in his honor. The exhibition runs until December 18.