Il Rinascimento Sospeso Cremisinamente

For her Artwork, “Il Rinascimento Sospeso Cremisinamente” shown at Latte Project Space in Faenza curated by Francesca Cerfeda, artist Victoria DeBlassie reflects on the theme of conservation by examining what is deemed useful enough to be preserved. Using the history of citrus in Tuscany as a point of departure, DeBlassie unveils citrus’ embodiment of how cultural value is constructed and deconstructed over time and how this value is what determines what gets conserved and what doesn’t. During the Italian Renaissance, citrus was only available to the wealthy, and it was housed in lemon greenhouses or limonaia made specially to preserve and keep this type of fruit alive in the winter months. For some of the strips of the oranges, DeBlassie dyed them red to also nod to the color crimson and its heightened value due to its scarcity during that time as well. Revealing change and development over succeeding centuries, oranges decreased in value cross-culturally as they became ubiquitous. DeBlassie applied Tuscan tanning techniques to citrus peels to preserve them while recalling this history and questioning how systems of cultural value are constructed and preserved. From the peels, DeBlassie has created a type of cascade that at once recalls the dramatic Renaissance fountains meant to reflect the history of the material itself.