Artissima 2024

In Melissa McGill’s works on paper and maps, cosmic and terrestrial planes converge as part of a broader water storytelling project that traces the ancestral connection between the Eridanus constellation and the Po River. These works are also featured in the fall exhibition Eridanus: The River Constellation at Mazzoleni Torino, running from October 30, 2024, to February 8, 2025.

The core series takes its name from Eridanus, one of the largest constellations in the southern celestial hemisphere, depicted as a river and later adopted as the Latin name for the real Po River. McGill’s paintings, made with water and natural pigments foraged from the river’s source and delta (such as Source, V (2024)) draw inspiration from the Po’s braided channels, like lifelines, taking the sculptural forms of mountains and landscapes encountered during the artist’s journey.

Further emphasising the dialogue between reality and illusion, Mazzoleni is pleased to present the work of Brazilian artist Iran do Espírito Santo, whose practice embodies an inseparable correlation between these elements. The close correlation between reality and illusion is at the heart of Espírito Santo’s practice. His sculptures present an accurate representation of a real object’s shapes and proportions, while simultaneously playing with scale and materiality.
With the restriction of the materials, Espírito Santo converges the tangibility of matter and the conceptual nature of artificial objects, using geometrical definitions that are implicit in them. Drops 2024 (2024) stands as the focal point of the presentation, citing a return to the iconic series which has been exhibited across the globe as both site-specific and gallery installations, in 1997 and 2005.

Transformation and relationships between individuals and communities are at the core of Marinella Senatore’s work. From light sculptures to collages, the artist’s logical-rational thinking is projected into the desire for public involvement, toward which the artist plays the role of “activator” by being a spokesperson for social instances and stimulating participation, as well as spontaneous individual and collective expression.

Relationships are also at the core of Rebecca Moccia‘s research, who, with her project Ministries of Loneliness, reflects on the political and social structures that shape the emotional state of loneliness and its perception in contemporary society.

In September 2024, she inaugurated the Italian Pavilion at the Gwangju Biennale, produced by the Italian Cultural Institute. The project, curated by Soik Jung, presents the artist’s site-specific research on the theme of loneliness as experienced by Koreans. During her months in Korea, Moccia conducted a series of workshops involving students from the Seoul Institute of the Arts, who also contributed as co-researchers to identify and document places, stories, situations, and media that reveal the roots and development of loneliness in the country, exemplified here by the work Cold As You Are (Cherry Blossom) (2024).