Chiara Camoni. Call and Gather.
Sculptural groups and new productions in an architecture inspired by Italian gardens
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Chiara Camoni’s (b. Piacenza, 1974; lives and works in Seravezza, Lucca) artistic practice encompasses diverse forms of expression, from drawing to vegetal prints, from video to sculpture, with a special focus on ceramics.
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Chiara Camoni’s exhibition “Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” features the most comprehensive body of works ever presented by the artist in Italy.
The Three Snakes (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
The title anticipates some of the themes of the exhibition, including the interest in the mystical dimension of reality, explored through everyday gestures and rituals in the sphere of craftsmanship, and the relationship between animals and the generative and cyclical natural context.
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Camoni draws from everyday materials and re-elaborates techniques, such as the use of looms or vegetal prints on silk deriving from the traditional tools of female activities.
Barricata #1 (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Sculptures are made of natural materials that Camoni gathers along the rivers and in the woods and incorporates together with clay and ashes using organic processes.
The Three Snakes (detail) (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
These elements are then modeled and reassembled to create various bodies of works, some with zoomorphic traits—such as snakes or moths—and others evocative of architectural language, such as floors.
Sister (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
In the exhibition ten Sisters are presented. The enigmatic faces give these presences, that seem to emerge from a fantastical past, an aura that is both benign and terrifying.
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Displaying multiple facets of femininity, the Sisters series conveys the concepts of sisterhood and solidarity, central themes in Camoni’s art.
Chiara Camoni Sister (Hut), 2022 Installation view at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2024 Nicoletta Fiorucci Collection Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan Photo Agostino Osio and Sister, 2020 (detail) Installation view at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2024 Courtesy the artist; SpazioA, Pistoia, and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan Photo Agostino Osio
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Camoni engages with the unpredictability of materials and an interest in the transformation of traditionally simple ones which are nonetheless closely connected to ancestral worlds.
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
This openness to the unexpected and wonder also embraces the collective dimension, another central aspect of Camoni’s art who often draws on the cooperation of people close to her.
Dogs (Bruno and Tre) (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Several international institutions have hosted solo exhibitions by Chiara Camoni, including A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam (2023); GAM, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin (2022);
Lionesses (detail) (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Capc, Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, CEAAC, Centre européen d’action artistiques contemporaines, Strasbourg (2021); Mostyn Centre for Contemporary Art, Llandudno, Wales, Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art, United Kingdom (2019); Nomas Foundation, Rome (2015).
Sister #4 (detail) (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
The artist has taken part in numerous group shows, such as Biennale, Borger-Odoorn, The Netherlands, Fondazione Luigi Rovati, Milan (2023); Biennale Gherdëina, Val Gardena, MAMAC, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Nice (2022);
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
CENTRALE, Brussels, Nottingham Contemporary, GNAM, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome (2021, 2019); Rome Quadriennale, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Centrale Fies, Trento, Maison des Arts Georges & Claude Pompidou, France (2020); Magazin des Horizons, Grenoble (2019);
"Call and Gather. Sisters. Moths and Flame Twisters. Lioness Bones, Snakes and Stones.” (2024) by Chiara CamoniPirelli HangarBicocca
Gallerie d’Italia, Milan, Museo Novecento, Florence (2018); Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza, ar/ge Kunst, Bozen (2017); CAC-Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Milan Triennale, MACRO, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome (2016); Museo Villa Croce, Genoa (2015).
