Paola Pivi
dal 27/5/2014 al 30/8/2014
Segnalato da
27/5/2014
Paola Pivi
National Gallery of Victoria - NGV, Melbourne
You started it...I finish it. An installation encompassing eight life-size sculptures of bears, adorned with neon-coloured feathers. Sculpted from urethane foam and adorned with psychedelic plumage, Pivi's carefully modeled figures are each accorded a distinct personality and body language.
A sleuth of giant, fluorescent and feathered free-spirited polar bears will greet visitors to the National Gallery
of Victoria’s Federation Court this winter in a major suite of new sculptural works by Italian artist Paola Pivi.
Paola Pivi: You started it...I finish it is an installation encompassing eight life-size sculptures of bears, adorned
with neon-coloured feathers. These flamboyant figures adopt various attitudes and guises, playfully occupying
the space of Federation Court, greeting visitors, posing and frolicking: one bear leaps from a balcony; others
approach each other as if to dance, or engage in deep philosophical conversation, whilst others recline in
joyful, carefree abandon.
Sculpted from urethane foam and adorned with psychedelic plumage, Pivi’s carefully modeled figures are each
accorded a distinct personality and body language. Together they create a marvellous, enigmatic scene – of
baroque excess and surreal desire, recalling fables and fairytales, dreams and allegories, where unexpected
forms become strangely familiar and the pleasure principle prevails.
Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV, said: “Federation Court will surprise and delight visitors this winter with the
whimsical sculptures of Paola Pivi. As an adjunct to our Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition, Italian
Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Prado, it provides an opportunity for visitors to view a broad
selection of Italian art from the traditional to the contemporary.”
You started it...I finish it continues Pivi’s characteristic playfulness, her interest in narrative, myth and rumour,
and the creation of indelible images which echo in the imagination. As with
much of her work, You started it...I finish it also invokes an animistic,
other-worldly spiritual wonder, coupled with a deep concern about
the vulnerability of the natural world.
Paola Pivi: You started it...I finish it is the latest instalment
of a series of commissions by leading international artists
for Federation Court and will be on display in Federation
Court at NGV International from 28 May to 31 August
2014. Open 10am–5pm daily, free.
This installation is generously supported by the Loti &
Victor Smorgon Fund. The NGV also acknowledges the
support of Michael Buxton.
PAOLA PIVI BIOGRAPHY
Paola Pivi (b. 1971 in Milan, Italy) is an Italian artist who generally lives and works in Anchorage, Alaska, but
over the past years has also worked in India. Pivi’s work encompasses a bold and breathtaking array of material
forms, including sculpture, photography and performance, with a number of her works involving dramatic
scenographies featuring live animals and people.
Pivi’s work is marked by visionary images and bold yet simple gestures – the arrangement of white animals in a
landscape, the upturning of a truck, the floating of a donkey in a boat, the flight of goldfish across the Tasman
Sea – to create miraculous and anarchic works of great charm, abundance and poetic significance.
Paola Pivi is represented by Galerie Perrotin, Paris, New York and Hong Kong, and Massimo De Carlo, Milan and
London with whom she holds regular individual exhibitions. She has presented major solo projects and survey
exhibitions in leading museums and galleries internationally including, most recently, Witte de With Center for
Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, 2013; Public Art Fund, New York, 2012; Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, 2012;
and Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 2012.
Paola Pivi has been the subject of numerous public commissions, including Frieze Art Fair, London, 2003; Nicola
Trussardi Foundation, Milan, 2006; and Tate Modern, London, 2009. In 1999, Pivi was awarded the Golden Lion
Award for the Best National Pavilion (together with 4 other artists) at the Venice Biennale.
Image: Paola Pivi, Who told you white men can jump? 2013. Ffrom OK, you are better than me, so what?, urethane foam, plastic, feathers, 82.0 x 245.0 x 132.0 cm. Photo: Guillaume Ziccarelli © Paola Pivi, courtesy Galerie Perrotin
Media contact: Jessica Hedger | jessica.hedger@ngv.vic.gov.au | 03 8620 2411 | 0438 582 727
NGV International
180 St Kilda Road - Melbourne
Open 10am–5pm