This exhibition is well worth seeing, but it scarcely indicates a renaissance in Italian sculpture. Five artists are included, all very disparate personalities whether or not they regard themselves as a "group". The exhibition comes with the blessing of the Nuova Icona Gallery in Venice - a topical gesture with the Biennale currently mounted there.
Enzo Apruzzese's big terracotta figures suggest the influence of Mimmo Paladino, but they have a genuine, slightly ritualistic presence in their own right, as well as a welcome touch of humour. The only woman included, Laura Attol ini, shows an outline piece in painted wood, entitled Legs; the result is rather as if a Richard Deacon sculpture had been twisted into a new, whimsical shape and painted over.
Paolo Canevari is one of the strongest personalities and his big wall-piece, entitled Rose, is a spiral arrangement of lifesize roses in rubber - an effect which rather recalls Richard Long, though, unlike Long's work, stressing a deliberate artificiality. By contrast, his Monsters are gigantic black masks, probably playing on the old Venetian Carnival theme, hanging from the ceiling and with a whiff of that self-consciously "camp" quality which rarely seems far away from Italian art.
Giuseppe Pulvirenti, working on a far smaller scale, is virtually an "object" sculptor, making well-crafted pieces in various media and sometimes incorporating colour. He is not strongly original, but the pieces have distinction and are elegantly crafted.
Until August 10th.