Gabriele Grones’s Hyperrealist Details Enter Ca’ Pesaro’s Permanent Collection

Ca’ Pesaro in Venice has integrated works by Gabriele Grones into its permanent collection as part of the Level 0 program by ArtVerona. Grones, born in Arabba in 1983 and living between Rovigo, Milan, and New York, is represented by Boccanera Gallery. His project “Conversazioni” extracts minute details from masterpieces by artists such as Joaquín Sorolla, Felice Casorati, Umberto Moggioli, Giorgio Morandi, and Giovanni Anselmo, reinterpreting them in a meticulous, hyperrealist style. The small-scale paintings, often verging on monochrome, include a detail of Sorolla’s “Cucendo la vela” focusing on flowering geraniums and hands sewing, and from Casorati’s “Le signorine” he isolates hands and patches of wild grass. For Anselmo’s sculpture “Senza titolo” (a lettuce leaf consumed by the installation), Grones substitutes nettle—a weed both irritating and valued for its healing properties. The exhibition opened during the Giornata del Contemporaneo, and Grones set up a temporary studio where he worked on two canvases, allowing visitors to observe his creative process. Ca’ Pesaro has a tradition since 1902 of juxtaposing historical works with contemporary art. Grones studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia and is a frequent visitor to the city’s museums.