On Friday, November 6, 2020, within the context of Artissima 2020, Quartz Studio is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in Turin of Italian artist Giovanni Kronenberg (Milan, 1974).

For over fifteen years, Giovanni Kronenberg has been using sculpture and drawing to explore the notion of art as a human activity that resists interpretation and narrative approach. Artifacts, natural findings, and objects that have lost their use are subject to interventions and manipulations, sometimes ephemeral and almost imperceptible, other times more exuberant and invasive. His work is a quiet meditation on themes such as time, the erosion of meaning and value, and the space that human existence occupies within a horizon of events that transcends it.

Kronenberg defines the artifacts and objects he manipulates and exhibits as “not consumed by the gaze.” This statement clarifies his intention to make art defined by a continuous reworking of things and meanings that have been forgotten or obscured, far from contemporary technical or scientific knowledge. The drawings that go with his exhibitions are always small and made with colored pencils or pastels, following on his fascination with forms and materials that he excavates and reactivates, here with frequent references to the worlds of animals, minerals, and plants.

The work of Giovanni Kronenberg is the subject of an upcoming monographic publication due to be released at the beginning of December 2020 by Mousse Publishing. The book — the first comprehensive publication to cover the artist’s output from the last ten years — is edited by Alessandro Rabottini and features essays by Davide Ferri, Simone Menegoi, and Alessandro Rabottini, together with a conversation between the artist and Pavel S. Pyś.

Giovanni Kronenberg (Milan, 1974) lives and works in Milan. Selected solo exhibitions include: Renata Fabbri arte contemporanea, Milan (2020, 2017); z2o Sara Zanin Gallery, Rome (2019, 2016); Studio Guenzani, Milan (2012, 2007, 2006); and FuoriCampo, SienaBrussels (2014).

Selected group exhibitions include: Museo Civico Medievale, Bologna (2020); MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2018, 2007); Basilica Palladiana, Vicenza (2013); MACRO Museo di Arte Contemporanea, Rome (2012); Polish Cultural Institute, Rome (2012); Nomas Foundation, Rome (2012); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2011); Castello Colonna, Genazzano (2010); Peep- Hole, Milan (2010, 2009); Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Lugano (2009); Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Monfalcone (2008); Arte all’Arte X / Galleria Continua San Gimignano (2005); Viafarini, Milan (2005, 2004); and Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como (2003).

Quartz Studio would like to thank the artist and Elena Bordignon for their support.

The exhibition will be open from November 6, 2020 to January 9, 2021, by appointment.