Opening soon
Wednesday 4 October 2023, from 18.00 to 20.00
From October 5 to November 12, 2023, Mucciaccia Gallery presents in its location in Rome, via Laurina 31, the work of two female artists with African descent, rising stars on the international scene, Tiffanie Delune (Paris, France, 1988) and Sola Olulode (London, UK, 1996), who are exposing together for the first time in the exhibition Touching the Sky, curated by Catherine Loewe.
This exhibition marks the beginning of a new path for Mucciaccia Contemporary, which, under the name Project and the artistic direction of Giulia Abate aims at devoting itself to the search for new proposals, by organizing unprecedented exhibitions of artists in both the location of via Laurina in Rome and in the other locations of Mucciaccia Gallery in London and Singapore.
The exhibition title takes its inspiration from the song “Feel so High”, a ballad by the British singer Des’ree, taken from her debut album Mind Adventures (1992), a hymn to happiness and the joy of life, themes underlying the selection of the works presented, which suggest a spiritual yearning to achieve one’s dreams and bliss.
The dialogue between Tiffanie Delune and Sola Olulode is expressed through the juxtaposition of works that resonate with that soaring feeling which characterizes moments of pure joy and freedom: drawing on ideas of memory, love, passion and compassion, the two artists have embarked on a journey of self-discovery and self-affirmation that reflects their personal identities.
Their art pieces refer to their African heritage, mingled with influences from the Western art canon, and are flooded with vivid and layered colours. In their distinctive ways, Delune and Olulode celebrate the universal story of womanhood, sharing deeply instinctive and nurturing qualities.
Tiffanie Delune, a self-taught artist of French, Belgo-Congolese heritage, who lives in Lisbon, in her works embarks on a sort of wondering wandering, weaving apparitions in dreams and travel recollections with symbols of her mixed-race family, hints of femininity and flux of spirituality, as one can see from the six works on display. Navigating between her shadow self and the one full of light, movement and energy, Tiffanie is interested in the magic of storytelling, creating multi-layered pieces on cotton canvas, loose linen and smaller pieces of paper, playing with the scale, she longs for textures and meanings, by using acrylic, pastels, papercuts, spray paint, glitter and threads.
Sola Olulode, a British Nigerian artist living and working in London, uses tender images to celebrate Black identity, womanhood and non-binary people. The artist uses gestural brushwork, indigo dye, wax, oil bar, impasto in monochromatic schemes in blue, green or yellow. In the exhibition, there are nine works which speak strongly of her Nigerian heritage, while centering the representation and visibility of Black Queer lived experiences.
Artists Delune and Olulode represent a new generation articulating what it means to be a black woman and artist in the 21st century, rejecting the tendency for reductive categorisation that revolves around the trauma of racial violence or stereotypes of black femininity, choosing instead an intentional life that leans into the realms of playfulness, dreams and joy.
Their works exude hope, carrying a sense of catharsis around personal struggles and the complexities of identity. This uplifting approach is a case of subtle activism reclaiming beauty, healing and fulfilment where this might previously have been absent or obscured.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, with contributing texts by Alayo Akinkugbe, art historian and founder of Instagram platform @ABlackHistoryOfArt, and the curator Catherine Loewe.
Biographical notes
Tiffanie Delune (1988) is an artist of French, Belgo-Congolese heritage, who lives in Lisbon. Recent exhibitions include: There’s Gold on The Palms of My Hands, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana, 2023; See me Flowing, Band of Vices, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2022; There’s Gasoline In My Heart, Foreign Agent, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2022; Seeds Of Light, curated by Katherine Finerty, Ed Cross Fine Art, London, 2020. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Foundation Gandur pour l’Art in Geneva, Switzerland, the Alexandra Cohen Presbytarian Hospital for Women and Newborns in New York and The Women’s Art Collection of the Murray Edwards College at Cambridge University, UK.
Sola Olulode (1996) is a British Nigerian artist living and working in London. She received a BA in Fine Art Painting from the University of Brighton in 2018. Recent exhibitions include: Burning Like the Star That Showed Us to Our Love, Ed Cross, London, 2023; Reverie, Dada Gallery, Lagos, 2023; To Be Held, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate, 2023; You’re My Sweetie, My Sugar curated by Alayo Akinkugbe x Awita at JW Anderson, London, 2022; Could You Be Love, Sapar Contemporary, New York, 2022; Summer Show #1, Ed Cross, London, 2022; Bold Black British, Christie’s, curated by Aindrea Emelife, London, 2021; Stäying Alive, Berntson Bhattacharjee, Sweden, 2021; Victoria Miro x Out Collective, Vortic, 2021; An Infinity of Traces, Lisson Gallery, London, 2021 and Blacklisted: An Indefinite Revolution, Alice Black, London, 2020.
Rome, September 2023
INFORMATION:
Exhibition: Touching the Sky | Tiffanie Delune & Sola Olulode
Curator: Catherine Loewe
Venue: Mucciaccia Project, Rome, Via Laurina 31
Opening: Wednesday October 04, 2023 | 6 p.m.
Open to the public: October 05 – November 12, 2023
Opening hours: Monday – Friday, 10.30 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Saturday, 11.00 a.m. – 7 p.m.; Sunday closed
+ 39 06 79 78 36 47 | info@mucciaccia.com | mucciaccia.com
Exhibition Press Office:
Maria Bonmassar | +39 335 490311 | ufficiostampa@mariabonmassar.com
