ROSSELLA PALAZZOLO E SERGIO ZAVATTIERI
Erbario impossibile
Curated by Vito Chiaramonte e Arianna Catania

Two different research paths, which in the practice of reworking the imaginary meet conceptually and aesthetically complementary outcomes.
Zavattieri retraces the memory of the plant element with a declared homage to Karl Blossfeldt, the photographer who at the beginning of the 20th century produced an extensive catalogue of the main European botanical species with the intention of creating an atlas of the phytomorphic forms of Art Nouveau. But the artist from Palermo does not act with a scientific intent, but combines biology and photography in an evocative synthesis, making plastic clones. Similarly, in Palazzolo’s practice, the transfer from photographs of the plant world to concrete marks the transition from the biology of images to their fossil condition. Here, too, the aesthetic is that of the floral atlas, in Nouveau and Art Nouveau taste, uninterested in scientific classification.
It seems quite evident that the photographic image can feed and live in another matter and can survive in subtle and impalpable forms.

BIO

Rossella Palazzolo (Palermo, 1983), graduated from the State Institute of Art and in 2009 graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo. Since 2014 she has dedicated herself to the project Studio Kepha, participating in various exhibitions and fairs in Italy. Since 2020, she has been conducting art workshops. She has been selected for the exhibition project ‘5 years of artistic twinning Düsseldorf Palermo’, for the award for the XXVI Deutsch-Italiniesche Kulturbörse, for ‘Die Grosse’, an annual exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf. She participated in several exhibitions in Italy and abroad.

Sergio Zavattieri (Palermo, 1970) is a visual artist and photographer who lives and works in Palermo. He studied at the ABA in Palermo and the Universitat Politècnica de València. He lived between Spain and Germany.

Since 1997, he has exhibited in Italy and abroad: IVAM – Institut Valencià d’Art Modern in Valencia, SPACE in Pittsburg (USA), Kunstpalast Museum in Dusseldorf, MACRO Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome, Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, Museo Riso, Palazzo Ziino (Palermo), MACA Museum in Alcamo, Galerìa Blanca Soto in Madrid, NOPX in Turin, Gallery Myymälä2 in Helsinki (Finland), etc.