La Scatola curator Valentina Fois unveils her latest discovery, Steven Morgana, who’s exhibition explores the contradictions and possibilities of entropy, through beautiful sculptural pieces and large scale installations – manifestations of elaborate historical research, and a cynical and activist attitude.

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The show was definitely worth to going to Southend. Sadotti has built an hilarious monster, this is made of all different parts that many other artists have ‘kindly donated’ to him for this project.

As in all his conceptual work this was very funny and full of surprises. It took me 40 minutes to notice that a tomato was one of the  eyes of the monster and more than an hour to notice a lemon on top of the sculpture. Each single part of this frankensteinian assemblage have their specific meaning, they are all unique and specifically realised for this project, together they bring alive this work. I liked the fact that on the glass window where located different copies of Frankenstein’s stories. It is not the first time that Sadotti uses reference to literature in his work.

The more you look, the more you discover, the more you discover the more you want to stay before the sculpture and find out some more! This is not a punch line, but It is an intricate puzzle.

We have recently worked with Giorgio here at La Scatola Gallery, for the first talk of the Exchange we in fact proposed a live performance and talk where Giorgio was playing with the audience at a ping pong table while answering my questions and chatting with the visitors. Instead of using pin pong paddles we were playing with art books and we all had a great deal of fun.

Watch the video here

As I have said you cannot go to one of Sadotti’s shows and not enjoy yourself, so I strongly recommand to pay a visit to Focal Point Gallery to see ’THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS’ . Show runs from the 16th April to 30th June 2012.

You cannot miss it!

THIS THIS MONSTER THIS THINGS’

Includes work by Shahin Afrassiabi, Fiona Banner, Mark Beasley, Vanessa Billy, Roxane Borujerdi, Eleanor Brown and Loolie Habgood, David Burrows, Denna Cartamkhoob, Rachael Champion, Steven Claydon, Kelly Eginton, Laura Eldret, Graham Fagen, Karin Felbermayr, Ella Finer, Ceal Floyer, Freee, Neil Gall, Anya Gallaccio, Liam Gillick, Matt Hale, Matthew Higgs, The Hut Project, Alan Kane, Lisa Kirk, Elise Lammer and Lawrence Leaman, Mikael Larsson, Simon Liddiment, Raphael Linsi, Simon Martin, Fraser Muggeridge, Paul Noble, Carlos Noronha Feio, Stefano W. Pasquini, Elias Rediger, Audrey Reynolds, Sarina Scheidegger, Dina Schuepbach, Georgina Starr, Alexandra Stähli, Jemima Stehli, Jack Strange, Milly Thompson, Chris Watts, and Elizabeth Wright.

This is my favourite part by Stefano W. Pasquini

All Images by Raymond  Cheung

Dark melancholic shadows are Melissa Bugarella’s prerogative in shaping her sculpture and toying with video art and sound. La Scatola curator Valentina Fois unveils her latest discovery.

If Melissa Bugarella were a movie she would probably be a cross between Psycho and Island of Lost Souls.

From Psycho, I see the obsessive relationship between the protagonists reappear as a ghost in Bugarella’s work. In the video Under the Sheets, 2012, that unmistakable tension of Hitchcock’s famous plot – that you could cut with a knife – becomes the pure melancholia of a fanatical repetition of a scene. Here Bugarella……Read the full article here

We had such a good time, without doubt the best part was to see people engaging with Sadotti, playing competitive ping pong..
It was a good excuse to get together and having fun while discussing about art.

A Curator’s View: David Paredes’ evolution

Valentina Fois, the curator of London gallery La Scatola, introduces us to the work of David Paredes, and his evolutionary installations.

David Paredes’ artistic practice explores themes of evolution, displacement and religion. Originally from Peru, David grew up in a solid catholic belief environment. Like many other artists who had studied fine arts with him at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru in Lima; one cannot deny a strong religion influence in his work. Religion is a starting point to investigate human evolution and its response to survival, Paredes is particularly fascinated with Charles Darwin’s theories, which he often takes as references for his multimedia works……

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