ARTE CONTEMPORANEA ED EVENTI CULTURALI

Swann Art Gallery

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Swann Art Gallery

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Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea ed Eventi Culturali

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MARIELLA BOGLIACINO

ESPRESSIONE

a cura di Riccardo Dellaferrera

22/01/26 - 28/02/2026

This exhibition begins from what might initially appear to be a peripheral element yet is in fact central to Mariella Bogliacino’s artistic research: her artist’s books. Far from being simple editorial objects, these works function as conceptual spaces where writing, mark, and material intersect. They reveal from the outset a practice rooted in intellectual rigor, in which artistic making and critical responsibility are inseparable.

Writing - and, more broadly, the culture of the written word - runs through Bogliacino’s work as a conscious and deliberate position. In dialogue with contemporary philosophical thought, particularly with critiques of logocentrism and of the supposed primacy of oral tradition, her work affirms art as a space of critical engagement with reality. Writing is never decorative or ancillary; it becomes trace, memory, wound, and political gesture. It is within this framework that her practice has often been described as a form of “artivism”: an art that confronts complexity without simplifying it, and that seeks to expose the tensions of the world rather than neutralize them. The trajectory traced by this retrospective exhibition unfolds from a sustained engagement with the present - its social conflicts, political fractures, and unresolved contradictions. History is never treated as a neutral background, but as a living substance to be examined and transformed. This urgency is reflected in a highly material pictorial language, often developed through mixed media, where colour, gesture, and mark become tools of knowledge grounded in bodily experience and emotional perception.

Myth and history - particularly classical Greek culture - are not approached as nostalgic references or scholarly citations, but as critical lenses through which to interpret contemporary reality. In the cycle dedicated to Aphrodite, and most notably in The Womb of Aphrodite, myth becomes a symbolic space that concentrates the tragedy of a humanity unable to escape cycles of violence and war. The wounds of ancient history resonate with those of the present, and in the cycle Wounds they take the form of incised, layered surfaces that confront the viewer with the weight of collective suffering.

Bogliacino’s exploration of mark, colour, and gesture often approaches the language of abstraction, yet it never relinquishes narrative intensity or expressive intent. Her painting does not merely suggest; it engages the viewer directly, demanding attention and emotional response.

In the cycle Volcanoes, the imagery of magma and molten matter - the “blood of the earth” - becomes a powerful metaphor for the human condition. It evokes a primordial energy capable of generating life yet repeatedly diverted into destruction. This imagery reflects a humanity trapped within the mechanisms of technocratic and hyper-capitalist systems, increasingly alienated from its own creative and ethical potential.

Despite its confrontation with pain and conflict, Bogliacino’s work never collapses into pessimism. On the contrary, the act of passing through tragedy opens a space for transformation. This possibility emerges again in The Womb of Aphrodite, where love, femininity, and female beauty are affirmed as generative forces. Ancient symbols - roses, doves, dolphins, as seen in the cycle Dolphins - reappear not as remnants of the past, but as living signs of renewal and hope, pointing toward alternative futures that art can still imagine.

Narrative clarity also characterizes the cycle A-Mare, in which the letter “A,” the first letter of the alphabet, acquires an originary and almost cosmic resonance. It signifies beginning, breath, and the first movement of meaning. Yet this is not a dominating or totalizing logos; it is one that remains open to emotion, memory, and imagination. It reflects a persistent trust in human intelligence and in its capacity to envision more just possibilities, even in the face of present-day inhumanity.

From this perspective, ESPRESSIONE is not merely a survey of Mariella Bogliacino’s career, but an invitation to awareness. Painting, writing, and material converge to reaffirm art as a critical practice: a political act in the most profound sense, and a space in which beauty and thought work together to imagine different forms of humanity.

The strongly material nature of Bogliacino’s painting is never a purely formal choice. It is the point at which philosophical reflection becomes visual language and thought takes on physical presence. The painted surface expands beyond traditional flatness, accumulating thickness, relief, and texture, as if seeking to move toward volume. This tension suggests an urgency to speak about the human body as living matter - vulnerable, exposed, and contradictory.

Such an emphasis on corporeality challenges the notion of representation as simple imitation. The body that emerges in Bogliacino’s work is never pacified; it is crossed by opposing forces, by impulses toward both creation and destruction. Her research aligns with a tragic vision of existence, in which the human being remains suspended between the desire for meaning and the persistence of conflict.

This is a painting that does not simply depict.
Mariella Bogliacino’s painting is body.

Riccardo Dellaferrera – January 2026

Biographical Notes
She lives and works in Turin and participates in events in Italy and abroad. In 2014 she took part in the 4th Edición de la Bienal del Fin del Mundo, Special Pavilion of Tibet, curated by Ruggero Maggi, at the Centro Cultural Unzué, Mar del Plata (Argentina). In 2022 she held the solo exhibitions A come amore, curated by Francesco Corsi, ArtinGenio Museum, Officine Garibaldi, Pisa, and CLG Contro le guerre, curated by Alessandro Allocco, ATB Associazione Culturale, Turin. In 2025 the book Mariella Bogliacino – Percorsi, published by ATB Turin, was released.