Vedova and Rainer: A Dialogue of Urgency in Venice

The exhibition 'Rainer – Vedova: Ora' at the Fondazione Emilio e Annabianca Vedova in Venice brings together works by Arnulf Rainer (b. 1929, Baden bei Wien) and Emilio Vedova (1919–2006, Venice), two artists united by a friendship that transcended their age difference. Their shared historical context, marked by the specter of global war, resonates in a common physical and peremptory approach to material. The show is staged in two venues: the Spazio Vedova, Vedova's former studio, and the Magazzino del Sale, managed by the foundation. In the studio, works from 1949 to 1983 are arranged in a conceptual, non-chronological itinerary, highlighting Vedova's urgent interrogation of his time through painting that abandons the wall, breaks the frame, and becomes three-dimensional. At the Magazzino del Sale, Rainer presents his crosses from the 1980s, associated with the human face, and the 'Kosmos' series from the early 1990s, exploring suffering and apparent order. The exhibition is the second chapter of a narrative begun in 2020 at the Arnulf Rainer Museum in Baden bei Wien, strengthening the link between Venice and Vienna.