BIO
Alberto Maggini (b. 1983, Rome) is an Italian visual artist. He holds a BA in Biology, an MA in Botany and Restoration Ecology from Sapienza University in Rome and an MA in Fine Art from the Chelsea College of Arts.
Alberto’s ceramics, wearable sculptures and performative works reflect his background in biology and botany and his interest in queer ecologies, mythology and native identities. Selected projects include the Tate Lates Exhibition, A celebration of LGBTQIA+ artists and creative communities at the LGBTQ+ Centre of Tate Late (London, 2022), Crafting Ourselves at Ugly Duck and LGBTQ+ Courtauld Institute of Art (London, 2022), the Solo Exhibition Diva’s Boudoir at Deptford Does Art (London, 2021), Rally, MA Fine Art Graduate Show at Chelsea College of Art (London, 2021), Make Utopia Great Again as part of Qw’ere London at Matchstick Piehouse (London, 2021), Why do you tear my from myself? at The Cookhouse Gallery (London, 2021), Indigenous Nature at the Chelsea College of Arts (London, 2021), Essential Constellation on Google Maps (Online, 2020) and Animism at the Salzburg Fortress (Salzburg, 2018).
Alberto lives and works between London, UK and Rome, Italy.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my work I fuse scientific knowledge with popular mythology as a methodology that enables me to unpack the healing power of metamorphosis; the process of transformation that connects humans to nature. Through painting, sculpture, video and performance, I seek new ways to use my body. Within the context of my practice, the body is seen as the fruit of the synthesis of nature and culture, and it holds the promise of liberation against societal confines and prejudiced ideologies. In my view, the rift between human and nature is what caused the rise of man’s dominance over nature through colonial practices, capitalist economy and patriarchal culture. Through my work I attempt to unpack this “three-headed monster” of contemporary society, and to offer ways of reconnecting with others and our environment.
In an effort to deconstruct these social systems and through the careful use of my selected materials, I often depict satirical and ironic references to patriarchal histories, the colonisation of nature by man, and capitalist consumerism. In addition, my use of bold, bright, liquid and playful motifs, colours and patterns that appear in nature is a political statement that references the aesthetics of Camp. As Susan Sontag wrote in Notes on Camp, “Camp Sensibility that, among other things, converts the serious into the frivolous” and “Pure Camp is always naïve”. With this in mind, I propose a different aesthetic, a new way to exist in the World, far from the machismo culture that had shaped Italian culture.
My practice scrambles notions of gender, sexuality and the human form in order to unveil their underlying meanings. By embracing and questioning how it is to live as a plant or exist in the wild as an animal, I employ natural forms to connect with a universal intelligence that transcends human intervention. Through this exploration, I break apart the dominant dualisms that divide rather than unite us and thus seize my own social agency.
This process disrupts the normative paradigm of beauty and idyllic masculinity that is prevalent throughout the history of art, science and western society, and is joined by my interest in the study of disidentification (to re-configure an object’s encoded cultural meanings), as it was described by José Esteban Muñoz. Through disidentification, imitation, ornamentation and metamorphosis I aim to reimagine the visual archetypes that define the dominant, hegemonic cultures of our time in order to subvert them.
EDUCATION
2020-2021 | MA, Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
2019-2020 | Graduate Diploma, Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK
2008-2010 | MA in Botany and Restoration Ecology, Università la Sapienza, Rome, Italy
2005-2008 | BA in Biology, Università la Sapienza, Rome, Italy
COURSES & WORKSHOPS
2018-2019 | Rome University of Fine Art, Pictorial Disciplines, Rome, Italy
2018 | International Summer Academy, Portrait and Animism Workshop with Caroline Achantrie, Salzburg, Austria
2018 | Rome University of Fine Art, Life Drawing, Rome, Italy
2010-2014 | Scuola di Arte Educatrice, Ceramic Sculpture Course, Rome, Italy
SELECTED EXHIBITONS & PERFORMANCES
2022 | They/Them/Their: Naturally Not Binary, IMT Gallery, London, UK
2022 | Tate Lates Exhibition, A celebration of LGBTQIA+ artists and creative communities at the LGBTQ+ Centre of Tate Late, London, UK
2022 | Crafting Ourselves, Ugly Duck & Courtauld LGBTQIA+ Society, London, UK
2021 | Postcards from Isolation, Archaeological Museum of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, AT
2021 | Seduction of Artifice (performance), Deptford Does Art, London, UK
2021 | Diva’s Boudoir (solo show), Deptford Does Art, London, UK
2021 | A Lost World, Sotheby’s Institute, London, UK
2021 | Rally, MA Fine Art Graduate Show, Chelsea College of Art, London, UK
2021 | Make Utopia Great Again (performance), Qw’ere London, Matchstick Piehouse, London, UK
2021 | Why do you tear my from myself?, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
2021 | Indigenous Nature, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
2021 | I Am Ready to Dance Again, Safehouse Gallery, London, UK
2020 | Healing Landscape, The Cookhouse Gallery, London, UK
2020 | Essential Constellation, Google Maps, Online
2020 | Street Installation in the old center of Rome as part of the Anti-Rocket Online Exhibition, Rome, Italy
2020 | Different Visuals Lightly Touched, The Triangular Space, London, UK
2018 | Animism, Salzburg Fortress, Salzburg, Austria
2014 | Group Exhibition, Arte Educatrice Museum, Rome, Italy
RESIDENCIES
2022 | Artist-in-residence at VONK_studios, Hasselt, Belgium