Threads and Traces

The photography, painting, and sculpture exhibition titled Threads and Traces [Trame e tracce], dedicated to the artistic work of Erminio Tansini, takes place from 25th July to 11th October 2026.

The exhibition is the inaugural event of the series “Art Histories” [“Storie d’arte”] series, scheduled in Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, and Ticino.

Hosted at Hotel Bellavista in Anacapri, on the Island of Capri, the show is accompanied by captions and short critical texts, drawn from previously published writings by Marina Arensi, Tiziana Cordani, Dragana Kostić, Luigi Galli, Gabriele Mattiussi, Kevin McManus, and Giorgio Segato.

It offers a curated selection of oil paintings on canvas or panel, photographs, and wooden sculptures, reflecting the breadth of Erminio Tansini’s creative vision.

Under the patronage of the Municipality of Anacapri, Threads and Traces is curated by Davide Tansini and coordinated by Francesca Gaido.

Threads and Traces presents a selection of works painted since 1999 (some previously unseen), which can be interpreted through the themes of informal abstraction, light, matter, and colour.

Since the mid-1990s, after a long period focused on figurative art, Erminio Tansini turned to informal abstraction; works no longer bound to recognisable forms, but driven by the expressive relationship between matter and colour.

In these works, light and shadow rise from the impastoed textures: dense bodies adrift in expanses of colour, or in restless swathes and molten currents, evoking the raw essence of primeval landscapes.

At first glance, familiar shapes seem to appear; on closer inspection, however, rhythms, sequences and unexpected overlaps reveal themselves, becoming more meaningful the more the viewer feels drawn in.

The use of light is central to Erminio Tansini’s creations (mainly oils on panel or canvas): a light that is both life force and harmony, sought and shaped from its source, and finally embedded in the surface of a painting.

Since 1991, Tansinian works have been exhibited in Belgium, Germany, and Italy, and since 2018 they have been at the heart of the travelling photographic series “Re-framings” [“Ri-quadri”], staged in Austria, France, Italy, the Principality of Monaco, the Republic of San Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

Threads and Traces presents a type of wooden sculpture that Erminio Tansini has been creating since the early 1990s.

Much of the wood comes from the Ligurian and Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, particularly Cinque Terre, the Lunigiana area and the Nure, Taro, Tidone, and Trebbia valleys.

Although he began creating these works over thirty years ago, they did not make their exhibition début until 2017, when Erminio Tansini took part in the 57th Venice Biennale.

These Tansinian creations are characterised by jagged, sinuous or tangled lines, and by forms that may be light and delicate or heavy and imposing. They are also based on clearly perceptible dynamisms and tensions.

The works become models for bronze castings and encourage the viewer to perceive familiar forms in seemingly random shapes (pareidolia).

Erminio Tansini’s sculptural work is deeply rooted in the themes of recovery and regeneration.

The wood does not come from felling living trees, but from trunks and branches swept down by landslides, carried along by currents and smoothed by water and stone.

The artist gathers and selects this material on riverbeds and beaches. He then regenerates and assembles it, preserving as much as possible its unique natural character.

Following the Venice Biennale, Erminio Tansini’s wooden sculptures have been displayed in solo exhibitions: Visions [Visioni] (May-June 2018), Concrete Illusions [Concrete illusioni] (May-June 2019), Real Imaginary [Immaginario reale] (June-September 2020), Memories [Memorie] (October 2020-January 2021), Unusual Places [Luoghi insoliti] (August-September 2021), Itineraries [Itinerari] (September-December 2021), Weaves [Intrecci] (June 2022), and Regenerations [Rigenerazioni] (August-October 2025), as well as Threads and Traces.

Since 2018, they have also been the focus of the travelling series of photographic sets “Elusive Shapes” [“Forme sfuggenti”], staged in Austria, France, Italy, the Principality of Monaco, the Republica of San Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

The photographs selected for the Regenerations event were taken on the sets of the travelling projects “Elusive Shapes” and “Re-framings”, devoted respectively to Erminio Tansini’s sculptures and paintings.

Staged in Austria, France, Italy, the Principality of Monaco, the Republic of San Marino, Slovenia, and Switzerland, the series have so far completed 284 stages (110 for the wooden and bronze works, 184 for the paintings), spanning Auvergne–Rhône–Alpes, Basilicata, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Gorizia, Grisons, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Provence–Alpes–Côte d’Azur, Ticino, Tyrol, Tuscany, Trentino–Alto Adige, Valle d’Aosta, Valais, Venetia, and the canton of Zurich.

In each shooting, Erminio Tansini’s works are temporarily staged and photographed in striking locations such as castles, rivers and lakes, cliffs, fortresses, historic gardens, grand old buildings, woodland glades, mountain huts, strongholds, archaeological sites, mountain passes, and stately homes.

Like Tansinian sculptures, both photographic cycles revolve around the theme of regeneration. Most of the chosen locations for the photographic shoots are not normally associated with or suitable for cultural events, but “Elusive Shapes” and “Re-framings” reclaim them as artistic spaces.

In these settings, natural and architectural backdrops merge visually with the works at centre stage, yielding images that reveal unexpected perceptions of both the locations and the sculptures and paintings, capturing them through the lens and crystallising them in the camera’s memory.

The photographs can be experienced on multiple levels; following the instant recognition of familiar shapes in chance forms (pareidolic approach), the viewer can move into a broader, more intricate, and ever-shifting emotional landscape.

Images from “Elusive Shapes” and “Re-framings” have been presented in Erminio Tansini’s solo exhibitions Paths of Impressions [Percorsi d’impressioni] (Juny-August 2018), Unexpected Perceptions [Percezioni inattese] (September 2018), Concrete Illusions (May-June 2019), Shifting Appearances [Mutevoli apparenze] (July 2019), Mirages [Miraggi] (August 2019), Visual Sensations [Sensazioni visive] (September 2019), Real Imaginary (June-September 2019), Memories (October 2020-January 2021), Unusual Places (August-September 2021), Weaves (June 2022), Unexpected Insights [Intuizioni impreviste] (October 2022), Regenerations (August-October 2025), as well as Threads and traces.

Place;
Anacapri (Naples, Campania – Campanian Archipelago), Hotel Bellavista (10, Via Giuseppe Orlandi – Monumento area)

Dates;
from 25th July to 11th October 2026, opening hours 10 A.M.-7 P.M.

Patronage;:
Municipality of Anacapri

Telephone;
(+39) 3 4 9  2 2 0 3 6 9 3 (Davide Tansini)

Website (Hotel Bellavista);
www.bellavistacapri.com

Admission;
free. The exhibition is accessible to visitors with reduced mobility

Alpes cottiennes · Alpi Cozie · Appennino Ligure · Arcipelago Campano · Arcipelago Napoletano · Arona · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes · Blue Island · Canton Ticino · Cantone Ticino · Castelvetro Piacentino · Comune di Anacapri · Eastern Liguria · Eastern Riviera · Golfo di Napoli · Hotel Bellavista Capri · Isola Azzurra · Italian Riviera · Levante Ligure · Ligurian Apennines · Lombardia · Lugano · Mantova · Maurienne · Modane · Monterosso al Mare · Nure Valley · Piemonte · Ponte dell’Olio · Riviera di Levante · Riviera Ligure di Levante · Riviera Spezzina · Savoie · Savoy · Southern Italy · Tansinian art · Tansinian painting · Tansinian photography · Tansinian sculpture · Taro Valley · Tidone Valley · Trebbia Valley · Val di Taro · Val Nure · Val Taro · Val Trebbia · Val Tidone · Valnure · Valtaro · Valtrebbia · Valtidone