Sprezzatura

Russel Barsanti, Phil Davis, Jake Fagundo, Maggie Friedman, Parker Ito, AJ Kahn, Johann Mun, Ivan Ríos-Fetchko

As It Stands is pleased to present Sprezzatura, a group exhibition curated by Grant Edward Tyler.

Sprezzatura is a term referring to one’s capacity to conduct themselves with an air of cool remove, coined by Baldassare Castigleone, the Renaissance author of The Book of the Courtier and contemporary of Machiavelli. It describes behavior which is so masterfully effortless as to appear irreverent or even careless.

The pursuit of sprezzatura is not reducible to artistic content, formal procedure, or utilization of material. It consists in the conduct of the artist towards their task and their capacity to objectify that comportment in the completed object. This exhibition gathers eight artists whose work demonstrates this ineffable aesthetic quality.