Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Contemporary Art
A heritage of rich artistic traditions spanning three millennia means job security for legions
of Tuscan art conservation specialists and art historians, but can have a stultifying effect on
artists attempting to create something wholly new. Fortunately, there's more going on than
the daubs being created by sidewalk artists outside major museums and tourist attractions
would seem to indicate.
One of the most notable visual artists working here is Massimo Bartolini (b 1962), who
radically alters the local landscape with just a few deceptively simple (and quintessentially
Tuscan) adjustments of light and perspective that fundamentally change our experience: a
bedroom where all the furniture appears to be sinking into the floor, Venice style, or a gal-
lery where the viewer wears special shoes that subtly change the lighting in the gallery with
each step. Bartolini has also changed the local flora of the tiny Tuscan town of Cecina, near
Livorno, where he lives and works, attracting colourful flocks of contemporary art collect-
ors and curators.
The bijou town of Pietrasanta in the hinterland of the Versilian coast in northwestern
Tuscany has a vibrant arts community and is home to the much-lauded Colombian-born
sculptor Fernando Botero (b 1932).
Also notable is San Gimignano's Galleria Continua, a world-class commercial gallery
whose stable of artists includes Tuscans Giovanni Ozzola (b 1982) and Luca Pancrazzi (b
1961).
