GUTTENBERG – Roberto Visani, currently an artist in residence at Guttenberg Arts Gallery, is featured in the solo exhibition “In Medias Res,” on view at the gallery through Oct. 4. The opening reception takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept 12, with an artist talk at 8 p.m. Guttenberg Arts is located at 6903 Jackson St.
Visani uses assemblage to create many of his sculptures. Using specific materials and objects, he creates visual metaphors which connect a gun to the circumstances surrounding its use and its relationship to the body. This is literalized in a sculpture titled “sextape” which conflates a mannequin arm, tripod, VHS camera, panties, and telescope into a futuristic weapon, simultaneously threatening, seductive, and humorous in its display.
Visani sees the gun as carrying both a physical and psychological relation to humanity. Ultimately, his works ask the viewer to move beyond the form of the gun to consider larger questions contained within their narratives. “They exist as a record of a time, place, a group, an individual,” he said. “It is less about the weapon itself and more about the circumstances surrounding its existence, but it’s also this iconic form which allows us to consider questions of power as well.”
The title “In Medias Res” refers to the Latin term meaning “in the midst of things.” Often applied in theater and poetry, the phrase describes a narrative in which the audience/reader enters not at the beginning but somewhere after things have begun. This is where Visani places the viewer within his exhibition. Influenced by both theatrical and literary storytelling, his selection of gun sculptures and related images creates an interwoven narrative in which each object and image possesses its own history and identity. Collectively the installation within the exhibition space begins to suggest additional layers of meaning.
Roberto Visani is a multi-media artist residing in Brooklyn, New York. He has exhibited his work internationally in such venues as the New Museum of Contemporary Art, NY; The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; The Bronx Museum of Art, NY; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF, CA; The Contemporary Arts Center, Cleveland, OH; Barbican Galleries, London, UK; and the Ghana National Museum, Accra, Ghana. Visani has been awarded artist residencies from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; Henry Street Settlement, NY; and Art Omi, to name a few. He is a former NYFA artist fellow in sculpture and Fulbright fellow to Ghana. As part of his Fulbright activities he began creating his iconic gun sculptures. These works have been reviewed in such publications as the New York Times, Art Forum, Art News, and Frieze. Since 2004, Visani has taught at John Jay College, CUNY where he is an associate professor of art.
Solo exhibition ‘In Medias Res’ features gun manipulations
