Mariella Simoni

Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris

The singular artistic trajectory of Mariella Simoni (born in 1948) revisits the connections between conceptual art and abstraction, between poetry and matter. Originally from the Lake Garda region in Italy, the artist studied art history in Parma, as well as philosophy and psychoanalysis. Her early works, in the mid-1970s, immediately affirm her interest in organic developments and the movement of the living, through the use of objects in imbalance, or plants invading exhibition spaces. Her move to painting in 1982 can be seen as the extension into pictorial space of these questionings. The matter retains in her paintings this same vivacity. The trace of the artist's gestures, the sedimentation of layers of paint, bear witness to the sometimes long temporality of their conception. She settled in Vienne during this period and formed ties with several artists who shared her preoccupations, such as Herbert Brandl, Otto Zitko, close to the Junge Wilde, or Franz West. She took part in several exhibitions organized at the gallery of Peter Pakesch, then was invited to exhibit at Documenta IX, an international contemporary art event, in Kassel, in 1992. An artist in movement, Mariella Simoni's work evolves along with the cities where she stays: Athènes, Paris, Gand, New York… She occasionally turns to sculpture or installation. Variations in formats, supports, dominant colors, and contrasts constantly bring her practice back into play, as shown by her recent productions, which manifest a greater economy in the use of materials, and a different relationship to relief. The presentation of this set of works newly acquired from the artist and from Peter Pakesch bears witness to the intensity of this artistic research.

Source: Paris Open Data ↗