Happy birthday P420!

15 Years

For its 15th anniversary, P420 presents 15 Years, a group show that celebrates for the first time all the artists who have contributed to set the course of the gallery founded in 2010 by Fabrizio Padovani and Alessandro Pasotti.
Like the neutral grey of Pantone 420, which lends its name to the gallery, a perfect backdrop to enhance any color, P420 sets out to be an ideal background to bring out the unique quality of every artist. The works on view intertwine like the threads of a narrative that crosses geographical and temporal boundaries, generating a multiplicity of different visions.

 

Merlin James, Untitled, 2016-23
Courtesy of the artist and P420 Bologna; photo by Carlo Favero

Franco Vaccari, Photomatic dItalia (Bologna), 1973
Courtesy of the artist and P420 Bologna; photo by Carlo Favero

Behind each work there is an artist, and behind each artist an encounter with the founders, a very personal tale to tell. From the first artists included in the program, initially most of whom already had a place in history, to the artists of closer generations, thanks to collaboration with curators like Simone Menegoi, Chris Sharp, Cecilia Canziani, Antonio Grulli, Davide Ferri, Joao Laia, all the way to the youngest talents inserted more recently, also due to the organization of events that have made it possible to investigate students from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna, the exhibition thus becomes a great map in which the legacy of the great masters establishes a dialogue with the emerging voices of younger exponents, in a generational confrontation that sheds light on the past and the present.

Shafei Xia, She has no secrets, 2024
Courtesy of
the artist and P420 Bologna; photo by Carlo Favero

This celebration is not just a tribute to the path taken thus far, but also a look into the future, enlivened by the same passion, innovation and dedication that have guided the gather through its first 15 years. An important phase for reflection on a collective journey made of boldness, initiative, trust and friendship.

 

Piero Manai, Senza titolo-Untitled
Courtesy of Piero Manai Estate Bologna & P420 Bologna; photo by Carlo Favero

Helene Appel, Branch, 2025
Courtesy of
the artist & P420 Bologna; photo by Carlo Favero

15 Years
with
: Helene Appel, Riccardo Baruzzi, Irma Blank, Adelaide Cioni, Marie Cool Fabio Balducci, John Coplans, June Crespo, Filippo de Pisis, Victor Fotso Nyie, Laura Grisi, Milan Grygar, Rodrigo Hernández, Paolo Icaro, Merlin James, Ana Lupas, Piero Manai, Richard Nonas, Mairead O’hEocha, Francis Offman, Alessandro Pessoli, Stephen Rosenthal, Joachim Schmid, Alessandra Spranzi, Monika Stricker, Goran Trbuljak, Franco Vaccari, Pieter Vermeersch, Shafei Xia

P420, Bolgona
6 February – 5 April 2025