L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS VALERIO VIALE H ow often have you met couples that are far from being harmonious? That is, with the partner telling the other: "You do your thing, I'll do mine!" and then each intent on their own passions. Nancy Olnick, an hardcore New Yorker, and Giorgio Spanu, a Sardinia native transplanted to the U.S., represent a pleasant exception. The tight-knit spouses have been collecting Murano glass, ceramics by prime artists like Fausto Melotti, Lucio Fontana, Guido and Bruno Gambone, and artworks from Italian contempo- rary movement of "Arte Povera." They have also been champi- oning young Italian artists, with their Olnick Spanu Art Program, year-long residency programs in their estate, with the purpose of giving free rein to their creativity in the realization of site-specific installations. It's mainly thanks to these two enlightened patrons that art- works belonging to the Arte Povera movement are recently enjoying a renovated attention, with exhibitions spread across the United States. Let's talk about the educa- tion each of you received and your biggest passions. Nancy Olnick: I was born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, where I majored in American Studies at the Barnard College. Afterwards, I earned my Master in Business Administration at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, AZ. I began collecting pop art in the 1980s, but soon, also thanks to my husband Giorgio Spanu, I got fascinated by Italian artworks, especially Murano glass. At any rate, I had been enamored of Italy all my life and travelled there as often as I could. Giorgio Spanu: I was born and raised in Sardinia, where I studied at the Capuchins friars, in Cagliari and Oristano. Afterwards, I attended the University of Pisa, and then spe- cialized in Marketing in France, where I started having my first professional experiences. Since the late 1980s, I've moved permanently to the U.S., where my wife and I have been displaying our art collec- tions and championing emerging artists. One of the contemporary artists, whose work captivated both of you was Jean Dubuffet's Art Brut, that shares with the Arte Povera movement the idea of a sort of democratization of art. Is this aspect something that fascinat- ed you both? Giorgio: I've always admired Jean Dubuffet. Nancy and I start- ed collecting his artworks a long time ago, not only for their beauty and his innovative use of materials, but also for he took a fundamental step towards the democratization of art. The use of unorthodox mate- rials is an aspect that Dubuffet shared with the Arte Povera Movement. Nancy: Jean Dubuffet's tech- nique and way of working was so radically different from what was going on at his time, that we were highly impressed by his rad- ical breaking away from the norm. We tend to like sort of "rebel- lious" artists, whoever take the chance and diverge from the nor- mal course of the events of their time. Over the years, you have put together an extensive collec- tion of Murano glass, which ended up being showcased at several museums across Europe and the U.S. What were the steps leading to that? Nancy: When we started col- lecting the Murano glass, it was not with the intention of forming a collection, but something we did just for fun, for our own enjoyment. As destiny would have it, a friend of mine from high school, whom I hadn't seen in decades, called me up one day. She had seen a segment of our exhibition in Montreal and she asked me to display our collection, in the fall of 2000, in the Museum of Arts and Design, which she directed. That really got the ball rolling. Giorgio: That was the very first collection that Nancy and I put together. We researched deeply into the subject, created a catalog, and assembled a visually wonderful exhibition, which travelled in several museums across the States. In 2000, New York's Museum of Arts and Design, formerly The Craft Museum, featured our col- lection. As far as Italy, the exhi- bition, "Carlo Scarpa: i vetri di un architetto," curated by Barovier, was held in 1999, in Palazzo Martinengo, Brescia (Lombardy). In 2001, it was the turn of "Murano: Vetri dalla Collezione Olnick Spanu" at the Spazio Oberdan, in Milan. Your fantastic patronage of the arts mainly takes place through the Olnick Spanu Art Program. How does it work? Giorgio: In 2003, we started to host an annual residency art program, in which we invite in our country residence, about fifty miles north of NYC, young Italian artists to develop site spe- cific artworks. You've just inaugurated the Magazzino Italian Art, an inno- vative warehouse art space in the Hudson Valley. Your first exhibition is dedicated to the Italian gallerist Margherita Stein. Who was she? What is the exhibition's main focus? Giorgio: Margherita Stein was the founder of Galleria Christian Stein, in Turin, Italy, in 1966. She assumed for herself and the gallery the name of her husband, a widely respected judge in the city, in order to receive higher credibility herself. She was a pioneer, the first capable of putting together such a fantastic collective of artists belonging to the Arte Povera movement. She operated in the late sixties and early seven- ties, a period of intense turmoil, especially among the workers at Fiat S.p.A. What attracted us about Margherita Stein is that we real- ized, during our historical research, that over 80 % of our collection of Arte Povera artists' works had previously belonged to this fascinating woman. Nancy: In our investigation, we have learned also that it was Margherita's dream to bring the artists' works to the United States. We wished to follow through on her mission and that's one of the reasons why we devoted our first exhibition to her. Could you expand briefly on your collaboration with Urban Arts Partnership (UAP)? Nancy: Urban Arts Partnership is an organization that helps underserved public schools, both in the East and West Coast, to put together the necessary funding to support arts programs. Giorgio: Given that there is no entrance fee for our Magazzino, every donation is sent directly to UAP. For every dollar that you donate, we will match the amount. In conclusion, are you plan- ning to showcase your collec- tion anywhere in the West Coast in the near future? Giorgio: We are following with great attention the work of Philippe Vergne, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), as well as Susan Sayre, executive director of the San Jose Museum of Art. We also hope to collaborate with the Walker Art Center, in Minneapolis, where Vincenzo de Bellis, from Milan, has been recently nominated curator. The Walker is among the few institu- tions in the U.S., which can boast a rich collection of Italian art and "Arte Povera." Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu. Courtesy of Magazzino Italian Art. Photo by Marco Anelli -® 2017 Artworks Mario Merz, From Continent to Continent, 1993, [Center]; Jannis Kounellis, Senza titolo, 2001, [left]; Jannis kou- nellis, Senza titolo, 1986, [Right]. Courtesy Magazzino Italian Art. Photo by Marco Anelli Nancy and Giorgio: Italy's artistic patronage at its best in the U.S.

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