It can be read in light of the ferment that is affecting the Venetian art market in recent months – with the very recent openings, among others, of Tommaso Calabro’s lagoon outpost at Palazzo Donà Brusa and the Lorcan O’Neill gallery in Ponte Pesaro – the arrival of Wentrup to Venice. The gallery founded in 2004 a Berlin reaches its twenty-year milestone in 2024: born with the idea of giving space to the emerging German scene, proposing itself at the time as the first commercial platform for many budding artists, in 2009 Wentrup found a home in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. Since 2020 you have been present in the city with a second space in Charlottenburg, while the opening of a temporary project space in Hamburg dates back to 2021, inside an Art Nouveau style villa on Lake Feenteich. A growth focused on the need to offer more versatile spaces to artists, beyond the simple showcase, with the aim, instead, of hosting residencies and productions in situ, encouraging dialogue and developing exhibitions and events.
The space of the Wentrup gallery in Venice
The Venetian debut of the gallery, which inherits the intentions of Wentrup am Feenteich, takes place in this vein, in the opening days of the 2024 Art Biennale. Shared with previous openings also by the interest of Tina and Jan Wentrup for unusual architectural spaces, capable of bringing a genius loci of great inspiration to artists. In Laguna, in the Cannaregio district, the couple took over and renovated the designer’s atelier Giuliana Camerino (died in 2010, and she is responsible for the Roberta di Camerino brand) a Palazzo Grifalconi Loredan, introduced by a garden courtyard which now displays sculptures by Marion Verboom and Gerold Miller. Inside, in a series of rooms illuminated by skylights, there is a small studio-apartment designed to host artists in residence and the exhibition space of Wentrup Veniceas the lagoon address was renamed, Tina and Jan Wentrup’s first bet beyond the German borders and the second official (permanent) headquarters of the gallery: “The choice of Venice is due to the fact that the city is changing, and many art lovers arriving from Northern Europe, America and Russia are buying a second home here” explains the director of the gallery (and former Artribune collaborator), Lucia Longhi “If on the one hand we are witnessing the dramatic abandonment of Venice by those who were born and raised in the city, also in response to the inconveniences of oppressive tourism, on the other hand ‘new inhabitants’ are arriving. This explains why so many galleries have been opening in Laguna in recent years”.
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The “Capriccio” exhibition for the debut of Wentrup Venice
In Venice, Wentrup will represent established, midcareer and emerging artists (but the gallery’s portfolio is deliberately reduced – to 22 artists – to favor the human relationship). We start with the exhibition Whiminaugurated last April 19th, open to visitors until August 3rd 2024. The project combines the works of three artists represented by the gallery – Mary Ramsden, Anastasia Samoylova And Marion Verboom – here in dialogue with Enzo Cucchi (the canvas is on display 5×3 of the artist from the Marche region, pioneer of the Italian Transavantgarde) and with Italian art in a broader sense, as a source of inspiration for the new generations. As well as with the city of Venice, through references and suggestions that are not always explicit. “In the first days of opening we had dozens of visitors from all over the world, and we are selling all three artists”, underlines Longhi, testifying to the good reception from the city and the public who arrived for the Biennale. “In Venice the past and present of art meet like in few other cities. We are excited to weave a connection with the Biennale, private museums and public institutions in the city; our gallery will appeal to both locals and international visitors”: Tina and Jan Wentrup seem to have got it right.
Livia Montagnoli
Cannaregio 6359, Calle de la Testa, Venice
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