Vistamare gallery presents a project based on the dialogue between the works of two female Italian artists: Francesca Banchelli and Sara Enrico. Central is the study of the human body, which is expressed with two very different languages, both activating a strong tension and eliciting fascinating and disturbing feelings at the same time.
Banchelli’s paintings formulate narratives in which constellations of events are arranged on a single plane, in a vision suspended between the dreamlike and the real world, where the protagonists of the scene are the bodies, living or inanimate, whole or with missing parts, coexisting with flora and fauna.
Enrico’s sculptures from the series “The Jumpsuite Theme”, presented at the 59th International Art Exhibition of Venice Biennale, titled “The Milk of Dreams”, in 2022, evoke vital and almost anthropomorphic presences through sinuous shapes. Made of concrete and pigment from a formwork of jumpsuits sewn together, they show on the surface the texture of the fabric, the zippers and the seams, tricking the eye by appearing soft and light.

Francesca Banchelli (1981, Montevarchi, Italy) works with painting, performance, sculpture, video and installations, creating imaginaries where different beings coexist. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence (2007) and from Central Saint Martins in London (2010). Her works were displayed in many institutions, among which Centro Pecci, Prato (2024 and 2019), Triennale Milano (2023-24), Museo Novecento, Florence (2020), MACBA, Barcelona (2015), TATE Modern, London (2014). She lives and works in Reggello.

Sara Enrico’s (1979, Biella, Italy) interest revolves around the notions of surface, materiality, and corporeality. Combining tailoring and architectural aspects, her sculptures explore transitory states, synthetic skin-like qualities, and liminal interpretations of a body in relation to gesture and space. She has exhibited in Italy and abroad, including: OGR – Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin; 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia; Ausstellungsraum der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Wien; American Academy, Rome; Národní galerie Praha, Prague; Mart, Museo d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto; Centrale Fies Art Work Space, Dro; OFF Biennale Cairo, Cairo; Marsèlleria, New York; PAV Parco Arte Vivente, Turin; Biennale Internazionale Arte in Memoria, Sinagoga, Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica, Rome; MACTE, Termoli; Les Instants Chavirès, Montreuil, Paris; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como; and Galleria d’arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin, amongst others. She was the recipient of 2021 Fondazione Sviluppo e Crescita CRT Italian Fellow in Visual Arts at the American Academy in Rome and of New York Prize in 2018; she received production grants, such as Cantica21 and Italian Council. Sara Enrico lives and works in Turin.se-cv.pdf

Vistamare is a contemporary art gallery based in Milan and Pescara.
Founded in Pescara in 2001 by Benedetta Spalletti in her hometown, the gallery aims to create a welcoming space for artists and to stimulate a dialogue based on meetings and sharing. The gallery space in Pescara is located inside an eighteenth-century historic palace, with nine rooms featuring frescoed vaults, where temporary exhibitions interact with remaining site-specific artworks made over the years, testifying the strong relationships built with the artists, from Ettore Spalletti to Joseph Kosuth, from Mimmo Jodice to Haim Steinbach.
In 2018, Benedetta Spalletti opened a space in Milan together with Lodovica Busiri Vici. The current gallery space is located inside a courtyard of an Art Nouveau building in Porta Venezia, featuring three exhibition halls designed to offer artists a space to express their projects and ideas. The central hall is dominated by a large skylight that floods the space with natural light and is complemented by two symmetrical and specular rooms.
Over more than 20 years of activity, the gallery has built relationships with curators, collectors, and institutions to promote the work of its artists.
The gallery aims to develop a program of research and experimentation, exploring the variety and the complexity of contemporary art languages: from video to sculpture and painting, from photography to performance. Vistamare has presented exhibitions of established artists alongside often dialogic exhibitions of artists from different generations, such as Rosa Barba, Mario Airò, Sara Enrico, Armin Linke, and Anna Franceschini. The gallery has brought Tom Friedman and Claudia Comte to Milan for the first time, artists who have since become part of its roster, and whose work has become an integral part of Vistamare’s bold and often forward-thinking approach.
Since 2022, the Milan space has started a series of in-depth studies named “Focus On,” centered on the research of emerging artists from the Italian and international scene, invited to exhibit for the first time with projects specifically conceived for the gallery’s space.info@vistamare.comvistamare.com