In 2021, on the occasion of the celebration of its 40th anniversary, Masciarelli Tenute Agricole launched the Masciarelli Art Project, a project that was born with the intention of establishing a fruitful dialogue with internationally renowned artists in order to tell in a new interpretative key the multifaceted Masciarelli world that becomes a destination of art available to the public.
The Harvest - The first edition
The first edition featured Belgian artist and designer Job Smeets internationally acclaimed for his works that, conceived for the world of collectors and museums, cross the boundaries between design and art, combining an avant-garde expressive force with unique craftsmanship. The artist, after a residency at the Castello di Semivicoli, created a site-specific installation "The Harvest" and the limited edition label for Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Riserva Villa Gemma 2015.
The site-specific work The Harvest is an intervention which is grafted into the Castle's blind windows without disrupting its architecture. Two light boxes, set into the façade, enrich the estate main entrance evoking a festive moment celebrating the grape harvest, one of the world's oldest occasions when the fruits of the earth are harvested.
The two subjects portrayed represent the Masciarelli winery on different narrative levels, historical and natural: on the one hand, the red cross inspired by the conversion of the castle into a hospital during World War II, and on the other, the wild boar, a wild animal which often represents a threat to the vineyards. Echoing contemporary art nouveau decorations, to frame both subjects, Job Smeets included natural elements such as bees, roses, earthworms and a ladybug, which belong to the delicate ecosystem of the vineyards.
Maintaining an iconographic continuity with the installation, the artist created the label for the limited edition of Villa Gemma Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC Riserva 2015 in which elements such as the wild boar, rose and cross were re-proposed and rigorously hand-drawn in every detail. From the classic execution, the result is current and unprecedented.
The Harvest - The first edition
The first edition featured Belgian artist and designer Job Smeets internationally acclaimed for his works that, conceived for the world of collectors and museums, cross the boundaries between design and art, combining an avant-garde expressive force with unique craftsmanship. The artist, after a residency at the Castello di Semivicoli, created a site-specific installation "The Harvest" and the limited edition label for Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Riserva Villa Gemma 2015.
The site-specific work The Harvest is an intervention which is grafted into the Castle's blind windows without disrupting its architecture. Two light boxes, set into the façade, enrich the estate main entrance evoking a festive moment celebrating the grape harvest, one of the world's oldest occasions when the fruits of the earth are harvested.
The two subjects portrayed represent the Masciarelli winery on different narrative levels, historical and natural: on the one hand, the red cross inspired by the conversion of the castle into a hospital during World War II, and on the other, the wild boar, a wild animal which often represents a threat to the vineyards. Echoing contemporary art nouveau decorations, to frame both subjects, Job Smeets included natural elements such as bees, roses, earthworms and a ladybug, which belong to the delicate ecosystem of the vineyards.
Maintaining an iconographic continuity with the installation, the artist created the label for the limited edition of Villa Gemma Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC Riserva 2015 in which elements such as the wild boar, rose and cross were re-proposed and rigorously hand-drawn in every detail. From the classic execution, the result is current and unprecedented.
Ad Naturam - The second edition
The second edition of the Masciarelli Art Project 2022 featured artist-designer Marcantonio, among the leading figures in the international contemporary art scene, famous for his research investigating the connection between man and nature.
After a period of residency at the Semivicoli Castle, Marcantonio created the site-specific installation "Ad Naturam," consisting of four hundred small gilded installations in the shape of small living beings (plant shoots and small animals found in the vineyard) that fit perfectly into the magical atmosphere of the palace with the specific intention of not affecting its strong identity and history.
In accordance with the installation, Marcantonio created the label for the limited edition of Villa Gemma Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC Riserva 2017 in which the branches of "Gianni's Oak," a centuries-old tree symbolic of the winery positioned among the 20-year-old Montepulciano vineyards in the Schiavone contrada in S. Martino sulla Marrucina, are outlined. Marcantonio, inspired by the evocative place where Gianni Masciarelli loved to meditate and observe his vines, in fact wanted to portray for the label the majesty given off by the plant, which envelops as if in an embrace with a unique atmosphere. A small golden ladybug - in continuity with the elements of the Ad Naturam installation - towers over the label as if it had just delicately settled on the bottle.
Ad Naturam - The second edition
The second edition of the Masciarelli Art Project 2022 featured artist-designer Marcantonio, among the leading figures in the international contemporary art scene, famous for his research investigating the connection between man and nature.
After a period of residency at the Semivicoli Castle, Marcantonio created the site-specific installation "Ad Naturam," consisting of four hundred small gilded installations in the shape of small living beings (plant shoots and small animals found in the vineyard) that fit perfectly into the magical atmosphere of the palace with the specific intention of not affecting its strong identity and history.
In accordance with the installation, Marcantonio created the label for the limited edition of Villa Gemma Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC Riserva 2017 in which the branches of "Gianni's Oak," a centuries-old tree symbolic of the winery positioned among the 20-year-old Montepulciano vineyards in the Schiavone contrada in S. Martino sulla Marrucina, are outlined. Marcantonio, inspired by the evocative place where Gianni Masciarelli loved to meditate and observe his vines, in fact wanted to portray for the label the majesty given off by the plant, which envelops as if in an embrace with a unique atmosphere. A small golden ladybug - in continuity with the elements of the Ad Naturam installation - towers over the label as if it had just delicately settled on the bottle.
Vite - 3rd Edition
On the occasion of the third edition of the Art Project, Masciarelli family invited artist Agostino Iacurci who, after his residency at Castello di Semivicoli, created Vite, a site-specific installation that, in the form of a totemic stele, stands in defense of the winery's vineyards.
Made of black painted iron and mirrored steel, the work takes the form of a totemic stele with a hybrid profile between a vine plant and an anthropomorphic figure that, soaring from the ground, rises to a height of more than two and a half meters. Through a principle of deconstruction and decomposition of the human figure, the theme of metamorphosis thus emerges, understood in a positive light and oriented to depict the alliance between human beings and nature.
The artist also designed a special limited edition label for Villa Gemma Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Doc Riserva 2018, characterized by a graphic elegance in which the sharp stroke divides poetic color combinations and translates on paper the site-specific sculpture Vite.
Vite - 3rd Edition
On the occasion of the third edition of the Art Project, Masciarelli family invited artist Agostino Iacurci who, after his residency at Castello di Semivicoli, created Vite, a site-specific installation that, in the form of a totemic stele, stands in defense of the winery's vineyards.
Made of black painted iron and mirrored steel, the work takes the form of a totemic stele with a hybrid profile between a vine plant and an anthropomorphic figure that, soaring from the ground, rises to a height of more than two and a half meters. Through a principle of deconstruction and decomposition of the human figure, the theme of metamorphosis thus emerges, understood in a positive light and oriented to depict the alliance between human beings and nature.
The artist also designed a special limited edition label for Villa Gemma Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Doc Riserva 2018, characterized by a graphic elegance in which the sharp stroke divides poetic color combinations and translates on paper the site-specific sculpture Vite.
