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Ester  De-Construkt Residency, Brooklyn

Statement

My artistic research has always been characterized by a distinctive interest in the imagery which connects popular culture, folklore and mass communication, whose languages and icons I have explored over years through various exhibition projects. In particular, the focus of my pictorial practice is to codify and investigate the visual imprint of our current society, crowded with symbols and pregnant with subliminal information, using a stylistic practice that aims for the substantial core of the forms in order to focus the attention on the iconic power of images.

 

My artistic language, which at the beginning was predominantly figurative and originated from a neo-pop inspiration, has become over time increasingly essential and evocative, reaching a highly graphical stylistic balance that wavers between memory of figuration and analytical abstraction. This artistic perspective, which places my work in a sort of iconographic limbo, brings the viewers directly into play in the decoding of images, forms, and colours, enabling them to oscillate and explores between the two visual languages.

 

The highly graphic style and the meticulous execution of my work explicitly evoke digital production and its visual codes, a visual impression which is however denied at the moment of the direct contact with the artworks, when they reveal their pictorial nature. This discrepancy between the supposed digital appearance, generated by the mimicking of the visual codes of mass communication, and the actual pictorial production of the artworks is one of the key themes of my artistic research.

 

My multidisciplinary background has allowed me, over the years, to develop projects in various artistic fields and study different disciplines, such as painting, fashion, graphics, illustration, and cinema, and has also enabled me to collaborate, for some projects, with artists coming from the most varied fields.

Biography

Born 1981 in Avezzano (AQ), Italy.

Lives and works in Bologna, Italy.

Education

2009 Higher Education Diploma in Graphic Technique for Press and Printing, Salesian Istitute of Bologna

 

2008 Master Degree in Cinema, Television and Multimedia Production, University of Bologna

 

2005 Bachelor Degree in Drama, Art and Music Studies (DAMS), University of Bologna

 

2000 High School Diploma of  Fashion, Design and Decor, Art Istitute of Avezzano (AQ)

Selected solo shows

2023

Personae (curated by Maria Chiara Wang), CRAC Spazio Arte, Castelnuovo Rangone

Galleria. Ouverture (curated by Manuela Valentini), Galleria Cavour 1959/Fondazione Palazzo Boncompagni, Bologna

 

2019

Essenziale, Galleria Spazio Testoni, Bologna

2018

Souvenir, CRAC Gallery, Terni

2016

Deep Down Inside The Color, Galleria Spazio Testoni, Bologna

2015
Lumen, ArteFiera 2015, Galleria Spazio Testoni, Bologna

2014
Token (curated by S. Fabbri), Galleria Bianca Maria Rizzi & Matthias Ritter, Milano
Cònectére (curated by C. Ronchini), Caos Museum, Terni

 

2013
Fucinus Lacus (curated by A. M. Martini and Rossella Del Monaco), L’Aia Dei Musei, Avezzano (AQ)
Fucinus Lacus (curated by A. M. Martini), Galleria Spazio Testoni, Bologna

 

2012
The Line Below (curated by A. Di Paolo and M. Bouhana), Rue De Beauce, Parigi
Written on the Hays, Ester Grossi & Giulio Zanet (curated by Chiara Canali), First Gallery, Roma

 

2010
SEMI_GUARDI (curated by C. Ronchini), FAT/CAOS MUSEUM, Terni
Sovrapensiero (curated by Adele Dell’Erario), Galleria Spazio Testoni, Bologna

Selected group shows

2024

Per Grazia Ricevuta (curated by Alberto Mattia Martini), Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Milano

Drawings from Motel (curated by Art Motel, Biennale del Disegno di Rimini), Palazzo Cassa di Risparmio e Fondazione del Monte, Lugo

La Geografia della trasformazione/Una riflessione su arte e moda sostenibile (curated by the designer Cristina Battistella and The Bank Contemporary), Galleria Cavour, Bologna

 

2023

La Geografia della trasformazione/Una riflessione su arte e moda sostenibile (curated by the designer Cristina Battistella and The Bank Contemporary), Centro Pecci, Prato

Drawings from Motel (curated by Art Motel), Palazzo Ratta, Bologna

2023

Drawings from Motel (curated by  Art Motel), Palazzo Ratta, Bologna

2022

The Soft Parade (curated by Marcello Tedesco), Fondazione Rusconi, Bologna

 

2021

141 Un secolo di disegno in Italia (curated by Maura Pozzati and Claudio Musso), Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, Bologna 

2020

Pittori fantastici nella Valle del Po (curated by Camillo Langone), PAC, Ferrara

INEDITO, Chiara Ronchini Arte Contemporanea, Terni

2019

Reliquaire (curated by Adiacenze and Koma Galerie), Museo Magi '900, Pieve di Cento

2018

L’arte che protegge (curated by Camillo Langone), Palazzo dei Capitani del Popolo, Ascoli Piceno

Arteam Cup (curated by Livia Savorelli and Matteo Galbiati), Fondazione Dino Zoli, Forlì

Artefiera 2018, Galleria Spazio Testoni, Bologna

 

2017

Reliquaire (curated by Adiacenze and Koma Galerie), Koma Galerie, Mons

Reliquaire (curated by Adiacenze and Koma Galerie), Adiacenze Gallery, Bologna

 

2016

Arteam Cup (curated by  Livia Savorelli and Matteo Galbiati), Palazzo del Monferrato, Alessandria

Private Galleries in the city - Associazione Gallerie d’arte Ascom Bologna per ArteFiera40, Bologna

The art of food Valley / Parma 360 Festival (curated by Chiara Canali), Palazzo Pigorini, Parma

Il segreto dei Giusti (curated by Margherita Fontanesi), Museo Il Correggio, Correggio

2015

La bellezza fa 40 (curated by Better Days), Castello Carlo V, Lecce
Mappa dell’arte nuova / Imago Mundi / Luciano Benetton, Fondazione Cini, Venezia
Praestigium Contemporary Artists from Italy/Imago Mundi/Luciano Benetton (curated by Luca Beatrice), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino

2014
Pathosformel (curated by A. M. Martini), Galleria De Magistris, Milano
Remake, Fondazione Terruzzi Villa Regina Margherita, Bordighera (IM) 
Remake, Galleria Spazio Testoni, Bologna

2013
Last Young (curated by R. Farinotti, A. Baldoni, L. Respi), Villa Brivio, Nova Milanese
Mantegna Cercasi (curated by A. M. Martini, F. Baboni, S. Taddei, C. Micheli), various locations, Mantova

2012
L’isola dei Morti (curated by Roberta Vanali), EXMA’, Cagliari
Perturbaciones (curated by Silvia Fabbri), Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, L’Habana, Cuba
Scusate il disturbo (curated by Rossella Farinotti), Palazzo Isimbardi, Milano
SPAM! (curated by Sguardo Contemporaneo), Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Roma
C’era una volta. Primo festival di Family Artentainment di Roma Capitale (curated by Valeria Arnaldi), Macro Testaccio-La Pelanda, Roma

2011
BLOOOM The Creative Industries Art Shows, padiglione DO2 curated by Fabrica Fluxus, Colonia
The First Italian Show (curated by Luca Beatrice), First Gallery, Roma
Memento (curated by Valeria Arnaldi), Mondo Bizzarro Gallery, Roma
Summery, Galleria Spazio Gianni Testoni La 2000+45, Bologna
54ª International Art Exhibition of Venice - Pavilion Italy - Region Abruzzo (curated by Vittorio Sgarbi), Aurum, Pescara

2010
Italian Factory Price 2010 (curated by Chiara Canali), First Gallery, Roma
De l’Esprit de L’Eau (curated by Virginia Ryan), Fondation Charles Donwahi, Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire
BLOOOM The Creative Industries Art Shows, Padiglione DO2 curated by Fabrica Fluxus, Colonia
THE BEST OF, Galleria Spazio Gianni Testoni La 200+45, Bologna
Fan! Fun! Tra Fanzine ed editoria indipendente (curated by Youthless), Spazio Gerra, Reggio Emilia
Butterbrod international cultural project (curated by A. Goloborodko e A. Guvieva-Civjane), Berlino
Premio Opera per l’Opera (curated by Artefiera e Teatro Cumunale), Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Bologna

2009
Ondequadre 3.0, Emerging Contemporary Art Exhibition, Forte San Mattia, Verona

2008
Beata Remix (curated by Davide W. Pairone), Palazzo d’Avalos, Vasto (CH), Italia
Art.Live, evento ARTEINGENUA, Chair and the Maiden Gallery, New York
Re-volt: Il corpo tattile dell’immagine Fotografia Europea 2008,  (Ex Centrale dell’Enel), exhibition with photographer Yashima Mishto, Reggio Emilia
MUSAE (Museo Urbano Sperimentale d’Arte Emergente) area bolognese
MUSAE (Museo Urbano Sperimentale d’Arte Emergente) circuito nolano

2007
Mastri e Maestri, Castello Piccolomini, Celano (AQ)

Screenings on movie festivals

2019

When the lanterns are lit in the evening they will never die out

Official video for Lau Nau directed by Sara Bonaventura and Ester Grossi

Oulu Music Video Festival, Oulu (FI)

Lago Film Fest, Revine Lago (IT)

Awards

2018

Finalist Arteam Cup

2016

Finalist Arteam Cup

2012

Finalist at Premio Cairo prize

Residencies

2022

Solarpunk Academy, Rjukan, Norway

2017

De-Construkt, New York, USA

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