Enriching the exhibition space.

BREATHING LIFE INTO SALA BLU 

- NEW ROOM OF ARTS AT KALPA

Suspended between history and the present, the 15th-century Palazzo Bonomini, home of KALPA Galleries in the historical heart of Volterra, offers its visitors moments of art and surprise.

In September 2023, KALPA expanded its exhibition space opening the first floor, or piano nobile, of the Palazzo, formerly the centre of the daily life of the premises and comprising a succession of private rooms used as living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms. Aiming to carefully preserve the original atmosphere of this venue, we unveiled the old beam ceilings, cementine tiled floors, hidden niches and delicate floral wall decorations. 

Recalling the intimate atmosphere of the overall floor, KALPA creates a sophisticated context for art living, integrating a selection of paintings, vases and sculptures within these beautiful interiors. In our creative journey of reviving and arranging the art in one of these rooms, the Sala Blu, we are amazed by the movement of the Sun, the soft change of shades and light enhancing the interior's intricacies, fissures of the walls and shreds of the past.

According to KALPA's vision and philosophy, the diversity of Nature is represented across the selected art pieces displayed in the room, ranging through contemporary organic forms, precious techniques and outstanding skills. Michele Bruna's new bas-relief in artisanal paper Frammenti narrates the physical presence of a natural experience, the cast of bark detached from a chestnut tree. In the opposite corner, Yoshimi Futamura's sculptures in stoneware and porcelain, part of the iconic and geologically-inspired series Black Hole and Rebirth, exquisitely present a perfect balance between Oriental and Occidental approaches to art.

Precious objects such as Michela Cattai's Linfa series in glass and bronze seem to spring spontaneously to life in an enchanting side of the room, establishing a dialogue through their textural surface and the arrangement of the wildflowers they contain, with Olga Niescier's large central polyptych, Rebirth. On the one side, Cattai’s vases reinterpret the ancient tradition of Murano glass blowing and breathe new life into the noble material of bronze; on the other, Niescier’s painting is a meditative exploration of the structures and rhythms of plants, an insight into botanical micro-universes, and a personal encounter with Zen philosophy and abstract expressionism.

"The ancient Japanese people recognised every phenomenon in nature as a manifestation of the kami (god or gods), sacred powers within nature. Nothing is too small to study. By observing a petal, a leaf, or a shell, a pattern becomes visible. It reveals a metaphysical law of nature [...] Each part can be understood as reflecting the whole."  - Elisabet Yanagisawa Avén

Facing Niescier’s vibrant and Asian-inspired monumental painting, delicately stands one of French master Alain Bonnefoit's introspective feminine sculptures in bronze. In Apollinia the portrayal of the human is brought to its essence, a harmonious and soft encounter of lines, concave and converse surfaces, a synthesis of emotion and the corporeal. Emanating a similar emotional charge, each of Futamura’s textural sculptures embodies a unique character and energy, comprising an idea of art that honours the inner spirit of clay, as a per se entity. Through them, the artist reveals the power inherent within her medium, aesthetically emphasised by the deep cavities of her artworks that seem to be on the brink of expanding to burst or sinking to collapse.

With the addition of the charming new room Sala Blu, KALPA amplifies its venue, with the intent of presenting itself as a place of discovery and a meeting point for different languages of contemporary artistic expression. From wall art pieces to sculptures, objects from various artists play in unison a harmonic symphony of different and surprisingly complimentary voices.

KALPA Galleries are located in the central Via Porta all’Arco in Volterra, a charismatic alley connecting the city's main square to the famous Etruscan gate dating back to the 4th century B.C., a must-see for all art and history lovers. The historic centre is a romantic labyrinth of delightful narrow streets for quiet strolls, majestic squares for warming up in the sun and spending time among cafés, restaurants and craft shops on these slow days of the beginning of autumn.

During the last three-year restoration process, at KALPA we have been working to make the Tuscan galleries’ interiors and architecture just as unique as the art hanging on their walls or exhibited on the pedestals, in respect to their original Renaissance atmosphere. We envision giving the viewer that feeling of intimacy of a home and, at the same time, the wonder of finding oneself in a place where the past still speaks with the present.

Gallery interior photography: Daniel Civetta for KALPA

Photography of Volterra: Victoria Pauletto

Displayed artworks: painting by Olga Niescier, bas-relief by Michele Bruna, ceramic sculptures by Yoshimi Futamura, glass and bronze vases by Michela Cattai, bronze sculpture by Alain Bonnefoit

KALPA INSTAGRAM