Chiara Camoni

Chiara Camoni (Piacenza, 1974; lives and works in Seravezza, Italy) is one of the fore­most Italian artists of her generation. Her practice ranges from drawing to vegetable prints, from video to sculpture, with a partic­ular focus on ceramics. Her work is charac­terized by the use of objects belonging to the domestic world or organic materials that the artist integrates into her production. Herbs, berries and flowers, as well as various types of clay and ashes determine the distinctive natural tones of her works, and recall the earth and vegetation that the artist collects and incorporates into her sculptures. The works are then manipulated and reassem­bled by Chiara Camoni through ritual ges­tures with strong connections to ancestral and archaic worlds, aiming to explore the relationship between craftsmanship and the spiritual sphere. The collective and shared dimension is also relevant to her practice, as the artist often collaborates with friends and relatives or organizes workshops and semi­nars to realize her projects.

The exhibition at Pirelli HangarBicocca brings together the largest body of works ever presented by Chiara Camoni and, together with a series of new pro­ductions, gives life to an architecture of collectivity and memory, whose forms are inspired by the Italian gardens of the late Renaissance and the ancient am­phitheaters. The symmetrical and radial design of the floor plan creates corri­dors and rooms, paths and environments that divide the space into areas where visitors can linger or converse. This large installation houses numerous other works by the artist, including a great selection of polychrome and glazed terra­cotta sculptures, such as the anthropomorphic figures from the Sisters series (2017-23) and the “Butterfly Vases” (2020-22), a reinterpretation of Egyptian canopic jars. Alongside sculptural islands, such as the ceramic floor tiles Pavi­mento (For Clarice) (2021) and the curtains made of vegetal prints of Untitled (a Tent) (2019), visitors will find new figurative works in onyx, leccese stone, and aluminum that draw on the vocabulary of medieval bestiaries.

The exhibition is complemented by a monographic catalog, which in­cludes an in-depth documentation of the exhibition and critical texts commis­sioned from art historians, sociologists and archaeologists. Some of the con­cepts and themes of the exhibition are explored through specific essays and contributions by authors such as Anna Anguissola, Domitilla Dardi, Gian Anto­nio Gilli, Chus Martínez, Alice Motard, and Andrea Viliani.