Riservato, 2026

Arranged on the golden cushion in a staggered position are a letter-sized envelope, a white card, and the xerox reproduction of a detail from Jean-Antoine Watteau’s L’Indifférent (1716), clasped in a golden paper clip. The assemblage of these elements is topped by a handwritten card that reads “Riservato” (Reserved).
The written word implies the double entendre of the adjective “reserved”, which denotes both the exclusive or confidential nature of something, and a secluded and discreet personality. In an allegorical key, the “reserved” place of the work evokes the chosen dimension of art, which is detached and separate from the world. The eighteenth-century actor is a stand-in for the artist, who moves between fiction and illusion, on a “reserved” chessboard. At the same time, the “reservedness” indicates the paper elements that subtract themselves from the evidence, without totally revealing their secret, that is, the inherent mystery of the intimate nature of the work of art.