The Quiet After the Storm | Eleonora Monguzzi for Art Residency Galliani
The testimonies of the artists of Arte laguna Prize who in the 21.22 edition took part in artistic residencies or won one of the special prizes continue to grow!
Today the focus is the Art Residency Galliani, recently completed by Eleonora Monguzzi at the studios of Omar and Michelangelo Galliani. Here’s what she told us:
From some posts on your social networks, we had a small taste of what is the work you made in residence. Can you tell us about it?
During the Galliani Art Residency, on the first and second day we defined the project – making changes – together with the work phases. In the first phase I worked on the graphic part in the studio and with the support of Omar Galliani; the second phase, instead, involved the processing of marble in the studio of Michelangelo Galliani. A series of white vertical sheets in handmade paper will be exhibited in the tower room of the Castle in Montecchio Emilia. The paper surface has been treated with a mixture of white marble powder and glue, to obtain greater thickness and shine. Hints of black, shadows, slight powder shades of graphite and plant elements make their way between the reliefs and the white weight of the sheet. By gradations we go from the black of graphite to the white of the paper. The quiet after the storm.
Small interventions, even minimal, such as plant elements (branches, bark, small wood carvings) will be scattered around the rooms of the castle, hinting at a path. On the first floor of the Castle, in the room on the right, a sheet of raw paper treated with marble dust, covered entirely with graphite, will dialogue with a black marble sculpture with plant shapes, placed in the center of the room. Inside, a white sheet of rolled raw paper will follow the cavities of the sculpture, like a fruit or a white flower that comes out of its black shell.
A plant hybrid, an ancient species, relic of uncontaminated nature, witness of a geological era covered with white snow (“Whiteout”) – primordial broth from which everything is created and disappears.
Nature is the key to reading, for a path that puts organic matter and inorganic matter in dialogue. Wood and rock, paper, and marble, black and white. The use of natural material as the subject of the work.
Before starting your residency at the studios of Omar and Michelangelo Galliani, did you have a specific project in mind? How did it evolve during the residency period?
Yes, exactly, the initial project underwent changes during the residency. Before, it involved a series of large blank pages of hand-prepared raw paper that would occupy entire walls. The paper abandons the canvas and becomes a support. The next step involved a spatial evolution from two-dimensionality to sculpture. Large, curved surfaces stand out before us like marble columns. “Whiteout”, the title, has remained unchanged as it plays on sensory stimulation, altering the viewer’s chromatic perception that passes from the solid presence of black to the intangible and predominant one of white. I tried to learn every suggestion as best I could, steal every necessary information on the use of one material over another. I listened fascinated to the lessons of the two masters, having the good fortune to work alongside them. This has created a magical situation.
Why among the various special prizes offered by Arte Laguna Prize did you send your application for the Residency at the Galliani studios?
It was an opportunity not to be missed, like all the other residences proposed by the prize. Wandering in search of connections to establish. I was especially intrigued by the idea of working in the two ateliers, communicating, used respectively for drawing / painting and sculpture, so having the opportunity to use high quality materials and equipment for different forms of art. All this in a context of peace and tranquility like Montecchio Emilia.
To date, what have the experience of residence at Galliani and the relationship with Arte Laguna Prize left you?
The experience of residence at Galliani and the relationship with Arte Laguna has left me with a great desire to work, to carry on my artistic activity with patience and sacrifice, that desire to continue creating. In addition to an extra degree of awareness and maturity. If you could extend your residency, what another project would you like to carry out? No doubt I would have liked to extend my residence, I speak of it with a melancholic vein even today. For ten days I was catapulted into a parallel universe where my real job was artistic activity. I wanted to realize the project for which I was selected, always looking for an interaction between two opposite materials such as raw paper and marble. Tall columns of paper that dialogue with marble sculptures, looking for a solidity in the fragile material and a fragility in the solid material.
A particular site, halfway between two different studies and techniques, but from which this young Italian artist has been able to make the most of it. But the residence was also experienced by those who hosted Eleonora, here is Michelangelo Galliani’s comment on Eleonora and her work, and the collaboration with Arte Laguna Prize:
“Arte Laguna Prize is an excellent international competition. Its promotion and search for young talents of the artistic system is to be considered an important springboard for young artists who wish to make their way in our world. The numerous applications made the selection complex. It was not easy to select a final winner, also due to the fact that the proposals we received were very heterogeneous and all of an excellent level. From a shortlist of five finalists, however, we arrived at the name of the artist with whom we would collaborate: Eleonora Monguzzi. We considered it the most deserving also in function of the proposed project, where the double residence in different studios (one for drawing and painting, the other for marble sculpture) would have allowed the artist to realize the work to its fullest. She is very demanding towards herself, an indispensable quality for an artist because it allows you to live this work with an all-encompassing passion. Eleonora is a determined artist who is very clear about the result she wants to achieve, and her research denotes a strong maturity and an excellent mastery of the means and materials she uses in her work”
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The project created by Eleonora Monguzzi during the residency will be presented during a dedicated event!
Date: Saturday, 29 October 2022
Location: Montecchio Emilia
More info:
Eleonora Monguzzi >
Galliani Art Residence >