Works by 18th century Italian printmaker Piranesi will be juxtaposed with works by contemporary artists, Roman and Etruscan antiquities, at an exhibition to be held at the Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourne.

The Piranesi Effect, curated by guest curator, Jenny Long, highlights the sense of disquiet and ambiguity reflected in the works.

Works by contemporary artists Rick Amor, Michael Graf, Mira Gojak, Andrew Hazewinkel, Peter Robinson, Jan Senbergs and Simon Terrill are included in the exhibition.

Jenny Long says The Piranesi Effect is intended to surprise viewers.

“The exhibition presents a series of collisions and unintended correspondences rather than attempting to trace Piranesi’s direct influence on any of the contemporary artists.

“The contemporary works were chosen because they pick up on and amplify elements which are fundamental to how Piranesi’s works achieve their effect.

“This includes Piranesi’s dramatic use of scale, viewpoint, lighting and perspective. Importantly, this exhibition will emphasise his very contemporary attitude to how artworks are made in conversation with the past, his enthusiasm for breaking the rules and his strategy of layering and assemblage and piling up of fragments.

“The configuration of works in the space will help draw attention to the rich materiality of Piranesi’s prints. By emphasising these different qualities through contemporary works it is hoped viewers will feel they are in some way inside a Piranesi print as they move through the exhibition space.

“The 21st century artists jolt us into seeing Piranesi in a new way, and the Piranesi works enrich our reaction to the contemporary works.

“The juxtaposition of works helps reveal something of how Piranesi’s images work their discordant charm on the viewer. Elements in his darkly energetic prints resonate with the dynamic baroque lines of Mira Gojak, or the dramatic use of viewpoint by Simon Terrill, or aspects of scale in the works by Peter Robinson.

“The exhibition emphasises how Piranesi’s works are made in conversation with the past. His images often began with a fragment of marble, a ruined building or a funerary object. Many of the selected contemporary artists also include pieces of the world which have been broken off or separated from their original context. The historical fragment is central to the work of Michael Graf and Andrew Hazewinkel who, in very different ways, creatively re-imagine the past,” Ms Long said.

The exhibition includes objects from the Classics and Archaeology Collection and prints and folios from the Baillieu Library together with works from the University Art Collection and private lenders.

-The Ian Potter Museum of Art

Image: © Peter Robinson,
Vinculum 2008 (detail)
Polystyrene, dimensions variable,
© Courtesy the artist and Sutton Gallery, Melbourne