Pier Paolo Calzolari is known for the formal originality of his multifaceted work (painting and sculpture, but also performances, which he regards as "acts of passion"), which often uses organic materials such as tobacco leaves, fire and frost to create "work installations" that challenge the boundaries of contemporary art.

The exhibition at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco brings together works created between the end of the 1960s and 2014. Entitled Casa ideale (Ideal House), after a "text-manifesto" written in 1968, and spread over the three floors of Villa Paloma, the exhibition plays with the codes of the interior, i.e. the codes of the personal, reflecting the existentialism of the artist's production. Through works such as Luna (Moon, 1979) and the still lifes created in the mid-2000s, which combine monochrome painting and sculptural elements, the exhibition shows that the Italian artist has been dealing with the most important issues of contemporary painting since 1972. He has developed a form of figurative and metaphysical abstraction, as shown in the installation Tiara con cera e chiodi (Tiara with wax and nails, 2006). The unique resonance of the materials in his work can be linked to the principles of transmutation in medieval alchemy and also to the hermeticism of the esoteric writings of Hermes Trismegistus.
Calzolari's work captivates with its infinite poetry and surprises with its long-known ability to renew itself by constantly producing new images that meet the demands of the contemporary world.
The retrospective exhibition Casa ideale offers the rare opportunity to discover the world of Pier Paolo Calzolari, an artist who has left his mark on the history of art through his unconventional approach to the various practices of visual art.
November 17, 2023 to April 7, 2024

www.nmnm.mc

YouTube

By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.
Learn more

Load video