Following the inaugural exhibition dedicated to Jan Fabre, 21Art Montecarlo continues its exhibition program with a solo show by Pier Paolo Calzolari (Bologna, 1943), one of the leading figures of Arte Povera, a movement within which the artist developed an independent body of work characterized by a strong poetic tension and a particular focus on the literary dimension of the artwork. The exhibition, titled *Pier Paolo Calzolari: Selected Works* and curated by Sergio Risaliti, will be open to the public from October 1, 2026, to January 9, 2027, at 21Art’s Monegasque venue, at 22 Quai du Petit Portier, within the new Mareterra eco-neighborhood designed by Renzo Piano. The press preview is scheduled for Tuesday, September 29, at 11 a.m.
The exhibition brings together a selection of works created primarily in 2025, alongside a few pieces from the recent past. This curatorial choice aims to highlight the continuity of a body of work that, more than fifty years after its earliest experiments, continues to engage with the processes of perception. For Calzolari, a work of art is not merely limited to occupying a space but records and activates its presences, transforming it into a place of passage and accumulation of scents, signs, traces, thoughts, and desires.
Elementary materials and processes are stripped of their ordinary functions and employed to construct a perceptual and symbolic dimension. Air, fire, earth, and water constitute some of the primary references in Calzolari’s work, recomposed through the juxtaposition of heterogeneous materials. Scrap metal, everyday objects, and neon tubes—linked to the urban and semi-industrial realm—are paired with pigments, salt, cotton, metal, fire, and other natural materials. Shells, feathers, and dried petals also introduce an organic element, lending the works a contemplative dimension and, in some cases, evocations of Eastern influences. The opening of the Monte Carlo location marks 21Art’s first international presence and is part of the company’s expansion strategy, positioning the Principality of Monaco as one of the European destinations in its program dedicated to contemporary art.
As with its other locations, the gallery is complemented by the 21Art Club, a community of collectors and industry professionals designed to offer structured support to artists and develop cultural activities for its members. The Club’s spaces, designed by the Fosbury Architecture collective, host cultural gatherings and opportunities for dialogue and in-depth discussion. These activities are aimed at collectors from the Monaco Club and members of the Rome, Padua, and Treviso locations visiting the Principality.
The exhibition is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The gallery will be closed for the holidays from December 24 through 28, inclusive. The schedule of exhibitions and activities for 21Art—a benefit corporation founded by Alessandro Benetton based on a project by entrepreneur Davide Vanin—is available on the company’s website.
“In the Monaco exhibition,” writes curator Sergio Risaliti, “the representational surface becomes charged with salt, gaining a depth of an alchemical nature; once the objects are drawn into that visual field, they sweep away the unreality of the painted image, the mimetic deception, to restore to the imagination a real body, a physicality that extends its energy in multiple directions—from the poetic to the literary, from the mythical to the surreal— in a continuous interplay of cross-pollinations, hybridizations, and exchanges that may be qualitative, substantive, or even symbolic. Pier Paolo Calzolari’s profound intent—indeed, I would say his “poetics of the profound”—seeks to exalt and regenerate the union of the forces at play and their free exchange from the perspective of both nature and humanity, in which the sensitivity and imagination of one prevail, the generative power of the other, and the infinite variety of beautiful forms. To create art that is also a way of restoring wonder to contemporary humanity—which lives amid alienation and violence, increasingly disillusioned, deprived of wonder and poetry.”
“For me, nothing is invisible; everything bears witness to itself by leaving a trace,” writes Calzolari. “For me, an olfactory trace, a current of air, are tangible physiological structures, because they are realities—not illusions of reality—they are not ghosts, and ghosts themselves are tangibly present…. I conceive of my work in a public space as a temple, a secular basilica—a place where people leave behind smells, marks, traces, sweat, thoughts, desires, worn-out nerves, requests, and prayers,” says the artist. “These are all perceptible lines of force, like Tintoretto’s lines of force.”
 |
| Pier Paolo Calzolari: Over 50 Years of Research on Display in Monte Carlo |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
IT
FR
DE
ES
CN
