[Title] From Cage to Cage
[Artist] Massimo Bartolini
[Date] March 19 – May 19, 2009
Emerging before the eyes are a number of closely packed, lofty buildings. They could be skyscrapers, or perhaps a section of old Naples. Here, within the current Maison Hermès window display, stacked birdcages exude the sensation of architectural creations in the portrayal of a fascinating townscape. The residents of this quarter, meanwhile, are in reality Hermès products – resting on perches inside the birdcages, or breaking down the cage doors to take flight into the skies.
Conventional wisdom holds that the very characteristics of birdcages place them at a pole opposite that of freedom. Revealed, here, however, is that the only real difference between the so-called inside and outside are slender divides, fully transparent to the eye. The cages themselves, likewise, exist as icons capable of symbolizing the domains of “fetters” and “freedom.” Like birds, some products pass their lives on the rests within the cages, while others have opened the doors to take flight to the outside world. There are also products, already in possession of their full freedom, winging around the urban landscape. It is as if the product creations themselves are blessed with the gift of life, in different forms, from the very existence of the birdcages.
As a window designed to radiate the annual theme of “The Beautiful Escape,” the motif chosen by contemporary artist Massimo Bartolini to convey a distinctive sense of “freedom” is, as noted, the “birdcage.” Bartolini transforms objects that normally exist solely as enclosures into structures akin to an energetic townscape. While retaining the original birdcage identity, he devises a unique new window display story. Against that backdrop, as if exulting in the return of spring, the products take to the air. There, they celebrate their freedom in actions suggesting that ecstatic chirping and warbling will erupt at any moment. Upon this dynamic stage, crafted from a devoted birdcage theme, yet another Hermès chronicle comes to life.
Massimo Bartolini
Massimo Bartolini is a contemporary artist born in 1962 in Cecina, Italy. After advancing his activities in Milan, New York and other global centers of art, Bartolini returned to Cecina (which he now uses as his base of operations). His works have been exhibited at Galleria Massimo De Carlo in Milan, the Fifth Street Gallery in London and other prestigious art museums and galleries around the world.