Tulip - Virginia Overton

Hypermaremma officially inaugurates its fifth edition on Saturday, April 8th, with Tulip, the monumental sculptural work by artist Virginia Overton.

Located at Polveriera Guzman  in Orbetello and facing the lagoon, Tulip is a 6-metre high concrete structure punctuated by constellations of pink glass ‘windows’. Arranged ‘back-to back’, three vertical segments obtained from pre-existing moulds, typically used for the construction of large tunnels, form an upright structure that opens towards the sky, taking on the form of a ‘tulip’. Presented for the first time at the 59th Venice Biennale as part of ‘The Milk of Dreams’, Tulip activates a new form of collaboration that aims to share contemporary artistic practices in dialogue with the landscape of  Maremma.

Virginia Overton’s work will interact with the historical architecture of the Polveriera Guzman: a building constructed in 1692, during Spanish rule, by the Flemish architect Ferdinand De Grunembergh. Throughout history it was utilised as a gunpowder depot, remaining closed to the public for a lengthly period. Today, it is home to the Orbetello Archaeological Museum, where Etruscan, Roman, and Mediaeval artefacts found in the surrounding area are preserved to narrate the gestures of past populations.

Virginia Overton was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1971 and lives and works in New York. Her work, which includes installation, sculpture and photography and is the result of her intuitive response to a specific space. From a process of research and exploration, she creates works that re-activate the viewer’s spatial and sensory experience with an elegant physicality. Infused with an ethos of economy, Overton employs everyday, elemental materials to engage with a site, its geographical location and history. Wooden planks, beams, metal, mud, sheetrock, and bricks–things commonly associated with construction work or farming–are cut, bent, stacked, and hammered into shape, often pushing the material to its physical limit. Evincing the power and sensory quality of their own textural materials, her sculptures and installations, through their new functionality, expose the energy and associations encapsulated within their parts.

Solo exhibitions include Frist Art Museum, Nashville (2022);Goldsmiths CCA, London (2022); White Cube Hong Kong(2020); Socrates Sculpture Park, New York (2018); Museum ofContemporary Art Tucson, Arizona (2017); Whitney Museum ofAmerican Art, New York (2016); The Aldrich Contemporary ArtMuseum, Ridgefield, Connecticut (2016); Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami (2014); Westfälischer Kunstverein,Münster, Germany (2013); Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland (2013);The Power Station, Dallas, Texas (2013); and The Power House,Memphis, Tennessee (2007).Group exhibitions include 59th Venice Biennale (2022); The Ranch, Montauk, New York (2021);Hayward Gallery, London (2020); Front Triennial, Cleveland(2018); Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, Michigan (2017);and Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania(2016).

Her work is represented by White Cube, Bortolami Gallery, galerie Francesca Pia.

In collaboration with White Cube

Thanks to Bortolami Gallery and Galerie Francesca Pia

With the patronage of Comune di Orbetello