Giovanni Kronenberg and Claudio Gobbi Dual Exhibition in Palermo

A dual exhibition at RizzutoGallery in Palermo presents works by Giovanni Kronenberg and Claudio Gobbi. Kronenberg (born Milan, 1974) shows recent small-format abstract drawings on paper, a medium that has become central to his practice. His works, accompanied by a critical text by Antonio Grulli, intentionally lack titles and feature unstable, ambiguous forms reminiscent of 1960s Lava lamps by Edward Craven Walker. Kronenberg uses precious materials like copper, silver, and 24-karat gold leaf, employing techniques from saturated pastels to diaphanous watercolors to create visual traps that destabilize the viewer. Claudio Gobbi (born Ancona, 1971) presents his long-term project "Neither Europe nor Asia," a selection of photographs from two series created since 2011 during repeated trips to the border between Europe and Asia. Gobbi explores cultural aspects of the Russian landscape, examining borders, identity, transnationality, and the encounter between East and West. His multiperspectival approach juxtaposes fairy-tale representations of the Ural region's natural landscape with a temporal sequence of portraits of fairy-tale author Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, showing his anthropological features shifting from European to Asian. The photographs of the enchanted Ural landscape are revealed to be dioramic scenes, likely made for museum and scientific purposes, belonging to Russian tradition.