Barbara DePonti

On Thursday 7th May, Ciocca Arte Contemporanea welcomes you to the first solo show of Barbara DePonti, a young artist from Milan, with a new compilation of works, purpose-made for the gallery's spaces. The works are inspired by the city of Milan and its architecture. Upon entering, the visitors will find a map of the city on the gallery's ceiling. Illuminated spots will trace three constellations, whose stars will correspond to 19 different architectural projects. The projects are shown on backlit wrapping paper sheets and arranged on the gallery's walls to form three more constellations. This particular approach by the artist does not lend itself to traditional drawing.

The paper, previously covered with black acrylic painting, is skillfully folded untill it has created a thick axonometric projection grid. The forms, that emerge from the black background, are obtained due to the continuous folding action that breaks the black coating and lets the light, from behind, seep through the surface, with different luminous intensities. The project starts from three questions, asked by the artist, to three hundred people, with the purpose of creating an emotional map of the city where she lives: Which architectural project, conceived for Milan, you would have liked to have seen realized? Which architectural project, realized in Milan from the post-war period, do you think is essential for the city? Which architectural project, realized in Milan from the post-war period, isn't essential for the city?

45° 28' N, 9° 12' E is the grid reference in Milan where the stars in the sky are not visible to the eye because of the growing pollution. The question now asked is: ‘Will Milan let the ‘architecturel star’ shine in the future of construction sites in the city? “Con tale arte fu costruita Andria, che ogni sua via corre seguendo l'orbita d'un pianeta e gli edifici e i luoghi della vita in comune ripetono l'ordine delle costellazioni e la posizione degli astri più luminosi” (Calvino, Le città invisibili)

Barbara DePonti, was born in 1975, she lives and works in Milan. Her major exhibitions include three special projects realized during 2008: Simmetrie tripersonali, Fabbrica Borroni, Bollate, T, 2008 per Tacchini during the Salone del Mobile and Le Fabbriche dell'Arte, project promoted and organized by Fondazione Stelline, Milano; INTERAZIONI strutturaspazioluce, project realized with Carlo Bernardini,by L. Caramel, Milly Pozzi Arte Contemporanea, Como. Amongst hers solo show : Percorsi urbani (2007), by Alessandra Pioselli, Studio, Tourin; URBS (2005), Spazio Senzatitolo, Rome. Barbara DePonti will partecipate to the first edition of Led organized by Comune di Milano for the Christmas period Web site: www.barbaradeponti.it