Orfeo Tagiuri, The Black Hole Doesn’t Want You, pennarello su carta (2025)

Mutty Gallery opens in the historic centre of Brescia as a new space combining an independent bookshop and a contemporary art gallery, conceived as an evolution of the project founded in Castiglione delle Stiviere. The space brings together editorial research and artistic experimentation, with the aim of creating a dynamic platform for exhibitions, presentations and cultural projects dedicated to contemporary disciplines.

The project was conceived by Giulia Giazzoli and Francesco Saviola, co-founders of Mutty, a space founded in 2013 under the direction of Sandra Gobbato, which has become a reference point for independent publishing and visual research through exhibitions, meetings and workshops for children, adults, artists and enthusiasts.

With Mutty Gallery, the project shifts its focus to contemporary art, art books, photography, illustration, design and architecture, presenting itself as an open and inclusive space dedicated to Italian and international artists who use books as a form of expression. The intention is also to create a more accessible gallery model, aligned with cultural approaches already established in France, England, Japan, Korea and the United States.

The interiors and exhibition layouts are designed by Milan-based architect Paolo Cremonesi, with an essential approach aimed at enhancing materials and natural light and encouraging the enjoyment of both books and the exhibition programme.

The first exhibition hosted in Brescia is Doing Nothing, the first Italian solo exhibition by Orfeo Tagiuri, an internationally renowned London-based artist whose practice spans painting, drawing, woodcut printing, performance and music.

The exhibition presents a selection of drawings on paper belonging to the imagery of Little Passing Thoughts, a pocket book published by the artist in 2023 with Chose Commune, alongside a new series created especially for Mutty. The exhibition is completed by an archive table displaying sketchbooks, books, objects and fetishes that are part of the artist's creative process.... read the rest of the article»

The title of the exhibition refers to the Buddhist concept of just sitting, in which nothing is sought or controlled. It is not inertia, but pure presence: letting thoughts flow without judgement, emptying the ego and finding, in stillness, clarity and artistic intuition.

Orfeo Tagiuri was born in 1991 in Brookline, MA, USA, and lives and works in London. He graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2019 with a Master's degree in Painting and previously attended Stanford University. His artistic practice includes painting, drawing, woodcut printing, performance, film, animation and music.

International exhibition projects include The Stations of the Cross at St Giles Cripplegate Church in London, Thoughts to Fall Asleep To at Sapling Gallery in London, Daybed at MACRO in Rome, Do Disturb at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and Fiorucci Art Trust's Volcano Extravaganza in Stromboli. In 2020 he was nominated for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries award, and in 2023 he published his first book Little Passing Thoughts.

Mutty was founded in Castiglione delle Stiviere in 2013 in the former Mutti blacksmith's workshop, reopening to the community a space that had remained inactive since the 1960s. The project encompasses an independent bookshop, an exhibition space dedicated to illustration, photography and works on paper, and a kitchen offering ethical and artisanal food and wine. In 2026, Mutty launches the new challenge of Mutty Gallery in Brescia.