FAD is delighted to bring you an in-depth look at ContiniArtUK, a newcomer to the Mayfair scene that is already causing quite a stir!
About ContiniArtUK
ContiniArtUK exhibits a range of contemporary and modern artists in its five thousand square foot Mayfair gallery space. Representing an impressive roster of artists including Fernando Botero, Robert Indiana and Fabrizio Plessi, the gallery also has a long running relationship with the sculptor Helidon Xhixha, who is exhibiting four installations at this year’s Venice Biennale. The gallery was established in in May 2014 and opened with an exhibition by master sculptor Igor Mitoraj and continued to make headlines with an exhibition of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s photography in November 2014.
ContiniArtUK was founded by Cristian Contini. Born and raised in Venice, he worked for Contini Galleria d’Arte; a family owned business that was listed by ArtTribune Magazine this year as one of the most important modern and contemporary galleries before forging a successful career in publishing, eventually launching his own publishing company, ArtStyle, in 1998.
Q&A with gallery owner Cristian Contini
Paloma Faith with gallery owner Cristian Contini.
Tell us the story of how you became involved in the art world and how you ended up running a 5,000 sq ft gallery in Mayfair.
My father founded the Contini galleries in Italy, so I have been surrounded by the art world since birth. After working with my father in the family business in Italy, and establishing my own personal interest in the sector, I developed a keen aspiration to bring the theory and practice of my artists into the international art scene. I founded ContiniArtUK because of the stimulating cultural diversity in London, and specifically the respected tradition of Mayfair as being a hub for forward-thinking modern and contemporary galleries. It made the perfect landing strip for both the established artists such as Igor Mitoraj, Robert Indiana and Fernando Botero, as well as emerging artists such as Omar Hassan.
Baryshnikov Untitled #3 2011 print on canson cm 141,30 x 102,57
What do you enjoy most about running your gallery?
Our clientele hail from all over the world, which means that the relationships are stimulating and diverse. Matching the artist’s practice and concepts to the vision of a client is a passionate endeavor and the range of possibilities here in London are endless. It’s rewarding creating that connection between collectors and artists and knowing that you are making a difference to both parties.
Our gallery space is also constantly changing with the opening of new exhibitions. It makes for a lot of hard work but there is always a new artwork I can discuss, a new relationship with a collector to develop and the resulting reception from the public and critics after every new private view makes it all worthwhile.
Traces of Time exhibition by artist Igor Mitoraj at ContiniArtUK, London.
What have been the highlights of your first year in London? And what are your plans for the future?
We opened our gallery with the Igor Mitoraj ‘Traces of Time’ exhibition. Of course that exhibition was a fantastic opening success for the gallery, but being able to represent him personally in that manner was very important to me. He had been a friend of the family for years so I am extremely glad to have been able to make that connection with him before he sadly passed away. Every new exhibition that we open brings its own selection of highlights and we are very lucky to have received the media response that we do at every turn.
Artist Mikhail Baryshnikov (R) and actress Kim Cattrall (C) attend Dancing Away, photographic exhibition by Mikhail Baryshnikov at ContiniArtUK.
The Mikhail Baryshnikov ‘Dancing Away’ exhibition, for example, gained international praise across media and art lovers and we are proud to have been broadcasted by the BBC and published in many influential magazines and newspapers. The more coverage we receive, the wider our outreach to clients become, so every new highlight comes hand in hand with new opportunities.
Helidon Xhixha en route to Venice Biennale
Several of our artists have been represented at the Venice Biennale and this year we are incredibly proud of Helidon Xhixha who has been selected to take part.
Robert Indiana’s HOPE sculpture in Manhattan, New York City
In terms of future plans, it’s an exciting time for the gallery after this first year. We are looking forward to a Robert Indiana exhibition that will open in October 2015 in conjunction with the start of London Frieze week. We have exclusivity in the UK for Robert Indiana’s iconic HOPE series and we are working on creating a truly exciting and dynamic exhibition to display the wonderful array of oeuvres that this influential artist has to offer.
Selected Artists
Fernando Botero www.continiartuk.com/fernando-botero
Robert Indiana www.continiartuk.com/robert-indiana
Llaüt Light
Fabrizio Plessi www.continiartuk.com/fabrizio-plessi
Mikhail Baryshnikov www.continiartuk.com/mikhail-baryshnikov
Igor Mitoraj www.continiartuk.com/igor-mitoraj
Omar Hassan www.continiartuk.com/omar-hassan
Xhixha Helidon www.continiartuk.com/helidon-xhixha
Special Project
Helidon Xhixha with Cristian Contini
The project we are most excited by at the moment is our most recent. We just unveiled a colossal stainless steel iceberg by our artist Helidon Xhixha on the lagoon at the 56th Venice Biennale, highlighting the precarious balance between man and nature. It was an amazing journey getting the Iceberg to the Lagoon but it was worth it in the end to create such a stunning installation.
The sculpture, hosted at the Syrian Arab Republic Pavilion, San Servolo island, measures 4×3 meters is floating in the middle of the lagoon along with seven enormous vertical pillars that represent the glaciers from which the iceberg has detached. Xhixha’s sculpture hopes to provoke an overwhelming reaction and impart a powerful environmental message.
“Iceberg a Venezia” wants to amaze, seduce and dazzle, but also to suggest a point of view on an inescapable problem: Venice is a precious artistic jewel, one of our world’s irreplaceable treasures, significantly at risk of being lost in our lifetime. The danger of the rising sea levels genuinely puts Venice in peril; a city visited by everybody and still violated by tons of steel.
In Venice, therefore, through her canals and islands, with steel, a material of our times, Xhixha imagines and creates towers made of ice, cold and metallic, standing far in the horizon. The ice, unavoidably, liquefies and breaks. Until then the iceberg floats through the canals, a surprising and jarring image in the middle of the city that is a cradle of culture and aesthetic beauty.
Dimensions and 3D rendering and of the artwork “Iceberg”
Helidon Xhixha, the Albanian born artist, but Italian by adoption, is widely known around the world thanks to his public and monumental artworks made of stainless steel and crafted using innovative techniques.
The two artworks that Helidon Xhixha presents at the Venice Biennale represent the latest progressions of his sculptural research. Forms develop through interrupted flat surfaces, elevations and indentations showing irregular configurations apparently not only determined by natural effects, but also through geometrically defined parts.
“Iceberg” addresses the fundamental problem of global warming and melting of Polar glaciers. The outer surface of the huge, irregular block of stainless steel is perfectly welded and placed directly into the lagoon’s water in order to float. The view is arresting and aesthetically fascinating but it also represents an alarming ecological warning. We could object that the material the sculpture is the result of an industrial process that contributes to global warming, presenting a contradiction between the symbolic purpose and the material nature of the artwork. Consequently there is a culturally significant tension, present in Xhixhu’s artwork.
Helidon Xhixha’s second installation is made of seven vertical “pillars”, representing the glaciers the iceberg has detached from. The installation, visible from outside the San Servolo island, captures on its reflecting surfaces the images of the surrounding lagoon and the limitless variety of glares, capturing the terrestrial and aerial counterpoint of the other mega-iceberg installation.
Key Personnel 
Fulvio Granocchia, Dr. Diego Giolitti, Cristian Contini
Cristian Contini – Owner/Managing Director
Fulvio Granocchia – Operations Director
Dr. Diego Giolitti – Sales Director
Gallery Manager Ulia Rabko and Gallery Assistant Andrea-Maffioli
Ulia Rabko – Gallery Manager
ContiniArtUK 105 New Bond Street London W1S 1DN Tel:020 7495 5101
Email: diego@continiartuk.com
www.continiartuk.com
Youtube: www.youtube.com
Instagram: continiartuk
Twitter: continiartuk
ConitinArtUK Art work to buy online:
You are able to buy a selection of art from ContiniArtUK artists online.
Please follow the links bellow to see what is available:
ARTSY:www.artsy.net/contini-art-uk
ARTNET:www.artnet.com/contini-art-uk
All copyright Igor Mitoraj ContiniArtUK
