Magazzino Italian Art Presents Yoichi Ohira In Murano, Piero Manzoni’s Total Space, Arte Povera, And Sardinian Donkeys

Installation view of Yoichi Ohira : Japan in Murano at Magazzino Photograph by MARCO ANELLI/TOMMASO SACCONI © @marco_anelli_studio @tommasosacconi

Marco Anelli/Tommaso Sacconi ©

From brightly colored bud vases with narrow stems that look like glazed porcelain with hand scrawled designs to an orb that mimics the appearance of shiru-wan (Japanese soup bowls) traditionally made from lacquered wood, the array of styles and finishes defy and transcend preconceived notions of glass art. Some embody architectural qualities, suggesting small windows, while others offer a peek inside through small openings that invite careful inspection of the nuances of each unique artwork. Some seem to be meticulously hand-painted, with the vase serving as a canvas, others magnify the human form. Myriad colors and textures draw the viewer into a complex dialogue on how each piece is achieved through an array of techniques, building a collective narrative on the art of glass making that spans centuries and geographies.

Among the provocative, groundbreaking exhibitions currently on view at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, New York, Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano, a retrospective of the Japanese-born, Venice-based glass artist’s work in the United States, challenges the viewer’s perception of a decorative medium that’s evolved into fine art.

Curated by Nicola Lucchi, Magazzino’s Director of Research and Education, the exhibition chronicles Ohira’s (1946–2022) career in Murano – a Venetian island renowned for its long history and exquisite art of glassmaking – which spanned nearly four decades. Viewers witness the development of Ohira’s expansive oeuvre, from his formative experiences at the Fucina degli Angeli glassworks, to his appointment as Artistic Director of the De Majo glassworks, and his work as an independent artist and central figure in contemporary glass art.

Ohira, in a rare tribute to the craftspeople who helped create his work, co-signed pieces with the Murano glass artists who executed them because he believed that their expertise was integral to the final product and they should share credit.

“It’s an opportunity to learn what happens when great new ideas come to dialogue with great traditions. Ohira came to Venice from an experience that in Japan had led him to do some working (with) glass. He came from fashion designers, and he might have gone into the field of fashion design, but he decided to focus on glass,” Lucchi told an intimate group tour earlier this month. “The type of glass he engaged with in Japan was glass of the Bohemian tradition, and therefore glass that is mostly crystal, not colored, and it was also for glass for use, for cups, things of that sort. Coming to Murano was an opportunity to explore a brand new work.”

A world-class museum punctuates the sprawling landscape in this historic and scenic village in Putnam County, New York, nestled in the Hudson Highlands, some 50 miles north of New York City, on the east bank of the Hudson River. Co-founded in 2017 by Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu, the museum and research center dedicated to advancing scholarship and the public appreciation of postwar and contemporary Italian art and culture, offers deep insight into postwar and contemporary Italian art, examining what inspired the Arte Povera movement and what the movement continues to inspire.

Magazzino (warehouse in Italian) marries a commitment to cultural understanding and appreciation of its anti-establishment Arte Povera (poor art) collection, along with the Hudson Valley’s unspoiled vistas. Visitors from the city are transported into another realm adorned with fresh lavender and crab apple trees, and Sardinian donkeys. The herd of endangered Sardinian donkeys, hailing from Spanu’s homeland, are a living symbol of the museum’s connection to the Italian island. Serving as a mascot for the museum, the donkeys have a distinct gray coat with a black cross on their backs and a calm and friendly temperament. They enjoy socializing with other animals and their human companions.

A refuge for those who seek a profound connection with carefully curated art and exhibitions that require the nimble approach of a tireless, small team, Magazzino offers an unparalleled experience for those seeking cultural immersion through imaginative scholarship.

On view concurrently with Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano, which is open to the public through March 23, is Piero Manzoni: Total Space, an exhibition thoughtfully built around two immersive environments conceived by Manzoni in 1961 and gifted to Magazzino by Fondazione Piero Manzoni and prominent modern art and contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth.

Culture writer Michael Maiello eloquently expresses how the “Papa of Italian Dada” reveals how “you, each and every one of you, are the artist because living is an art and that’s where the absurdity of trying to sell art lies.”

Prolific over a painfully brief career, Manzoni was one of the most radical artists of the postwar avant-garde in Italy, active between the late 1950s until his death in 1963. This worthy and worthwhile homage explores how Manzoni redefined the far-reaching possibilities of art with absurdism, irony, humor, precision, curiosity, and clever innovation. The exhibition, a singular immersive experience, showcases Manzoni’s quest for a total space that shatters (sometimes literally, as with his 1960 performance Consumazione dell’arte / Dinamica del pubblico / Divorare arte, where he invited spectators to peel and eat hard-boiled eggs stamped with his thumbprint) the tangible-intangible and often ignored intellectual terrain between art and life, and object and viewer.

The exhibition is a rebirth that brings to fruition Manzoni’s lofty and pioneering ambitions.

“These are works that Manzoni conceived but could not realize in the course of his life,” explained Lucchi. “He passed away in the beginning of 1963, but in 1961 as he was engaging in conversations with artists related to the Nul Group (a collective of Dutch artists active between 1961 and 1966) in the Netherlands, and specifically Henk Peeters. He expressed a wish to take his arts to an environmental dimension.”

Whether you are visiting from the city, nearby, or making a longer journey into this otherworldly exploration of art that deserves profound recognition, consider allocating a full day to explore the featured exhibitions along with the ongoing Arte Povera exhibition. Since March 1, 2018, Mazzino has presented a comprehensive inquiry into the artistic practice of 12 artists associated with the Arte Povera movement: Giovanni Anselmo, Alighiero Boetti, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Luciano Fabro, Jannis Kounellis, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Pino Pascali, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Gilberto Zorio.

The Olnick Spanu Collection’s unrivaled focus on postwar Italian art underscores the enduring influence of the movement which continues to influence and inspire contemporary artists who embrace its critique of commercialism and consumer culture through an exploration of raw, natural, and quotidian materials to subvert conventions and engage with urgent social and cultural ideas.