Marais, Paris
Enzo Cucchi
I Maschi
Balice HertlingI Maschi marks Enzo Cucchi's third solo exhibition at Balice Hertling. The show features works from his project "Per Cecco!", originally exhibited at Forte Malatesta in Ascoli Piceno (Italy) in January 2024. In this project, Cucchi explores the figure of Cecco d'Ascoli— a philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, and medieval alchemist persecuted for his beliefs. The series includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, and textiles, conceived to interact with the Madonna del Lago room, a space that has served as a fortress, religious site, prison, and now a museum. Through his project, Cucchi reinterprets the history and memory of these spaces, embedding the stories of the past in a new visual language. For "I maschi", the works are reconfigured in a new installation spread across the gallery’s two floors. A poet and self-taught painter, Cucchi has been a key figure in Italian art since the 1970s. Known for his highly expressive and lyrical paintings, he continues to explore materiality by experimenting with various media and contexts to expand the boundaries of his work. Enzo Cucchi (b. 1949, Ancona, Italy) currently lives and works in Rome. Since the 1970s, Cucchi has presented numerous solo exhibitions in institutions worldwide. Among these stand out the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1983), The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1986), Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1986), Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München (1987), Wiener Secession, Vienna (1988), Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (1992), Castello di Rivoli, Turin (1993), Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo (1996), Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg (1999), Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (1999 and 2001), Villa Medici, Rome (2006) and MAXXI, Rome (2023).