The exhibition of Ca’ Pesarothe first solo show that an Italian institution dedicates to Terry Atkinson (Thurnscoe, 1939) traces further fifty years of activity of the English artist, putting into dialogue word, image, history and politics.
The artist is an engine of meanings is the title of the exhibition, which can be visited until 1 March 2026edited by Elisabetta Barisoni And Elena Forinwhich presents a significant nucleus of works that cross the different phases of the artist’s research, who recently entered the
collections of Tate Gallery of London. The journey through the Dom Pérignon Rooms builds a profound reflection on the central theme of war and the role of art as a tool for knowledge and taking a position. The Venetian exhibition explores precisely this tension between thought and visionBetween concept and imagewhich characterizes Atkinson’s entire work. His works address the dynamics of power and representation, connecting historical conflicts – such as wars and their political languages – to the expressive forms of art. Every sign, word or symbol becomes a lens for the artist through which to investigate the mechanisms of knowledge and communication.
In the first roomdominated by a large painting on paper dedicated to Vietnam conflictthe story opens on Atkinson’s use of painting as a form of political and moral analysis. The Goya Series they Enola Gay reflect on the representation of conflicts and the modernist language of memory: for Atkinson Goya is a critical rather than stylistic point of reference, while the colored skies of Enola Gay they hide the silhouette of the Hiroshima bomber, evoking the fragile balance between silence and tragedy.
The Russel cycle shifts attention to word as no
conceptual cleo of the work: terms such as THE (I) and This (this) become tools for questioning the relationship between subject, experience and history. Numerous objects complete the exhibition drawings from the 1960s to the 2020s, which document the coherent evolution of the intertwining of text and image: from works linked to Art & Language – collective of which he is the founder, in 1968together with David Bainbridge, Michael Baldwin and Harold Hurrell – up to the most recent series dedicated to the Irish and American conflicts. Overall, the exhibition takes the viewer to the center of Atkinson’s thought: an investigation into complexity of the story and on the power of art to restore awareness, beyond the surface of images.
Starting from the group’s work Art & Language, Atkinson helped redefine the role of the artist as a theorist and critical interpreter of systems of art and culture. He left in 1974 due to the emergence of positions that were not consistent with his thoughts, which led him to follow his own path again in an individual way.
Since then his practice has moved towards a more personal and reflective investigation, in which history, language and image they become tools for questioning contemporary society. If the work I have created over the last 40 years – states Atkinson – it has a characteristic that runs through it, it is the concern to make a criticism of art rather than its celebration.
Also known as Terry Actor, Terry Mirrors, Terry Dog and Terry Enola Gay, Atkinson has exhibited in major museums around the world. Among the most significant occasions; Documenta 5 in 1972 with Art&Language, as an individual artist at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1983 and at the 41st Venice Biennale in 1984; in 1985 he was a finalist for the Turner Prize.
Carlo Franza