Artists' portfolio: Giovanni Ozzola, the action of light in everyday space

Born in Florence in 1982, he currently lives and works in the Canary Islands. After a few years spent in London, in 2001, he returns to Italy where he begins to develop his own artistic path which leads him, in the same year, to participate in the exhibition Happiness. A Survival Guide for Art and Life, edited by David Elliott and Pier Luigi Tazzi, al Mori Art Museum of Tokyo. From that moment the center of his attention refers to light and three-dimensional space as matter for the formulation of his own vision, simultaneously developing an accurate research on the mental image and the essence of the subject. This often leads him to confront fundamental philosophical questions such as human existence and the meaning of life. The metaphor of the journey, exploration as a means to face ancestral fears, awareness of the passing of time, the dialectic between light and darkness or between life and the mental place of emotions and fantasies, are just some of the recurring themes in the his artistic career. Themes that merge and develop, opening up to a broader reflection on the relationship between man and the universe. 

His research starts from the observation and analysis of the visible world: small events, natural phenomena that repeat themselves every day, equal to themselves and yet always unique and different. Moments of a world made up of visions on the verge of vanishing are explored with an almost scientific will. His photographs capture the variation of lights in a continuous attempt to stop something fluctuating and fleeting, as if to confirm the epiphanic qualities of the photographic medium. In “Fallen blossoms”, the new cycle that the artist presented in the exhibition “Octillion” – staged at the beginning of 2019 at Continua in San Gimignano, his reference gallery - leaves and flower petals, having reached the peak of their life cycle, fall and scatter on the asphalt. These are images that reflect on the transience of life, on the ephemeral sense of beauty but also on the possibility that natural and artificial elements mix seamlessly.

Although he has made photography, video and installations his privileged terrains, his works have something in common with painting, this clearly emerges in a series of unpublished works present in the exhibition: portions of the wall "torn" from a place that lead with itself a multitude of stories. “They are entirely painted, which translate the vision of walls marked by graphite (an image that the photos of the bunkers often highlight), through a process that seems to derive from photography and refers to the ancient technique of fresco strappo , that of a silicone sheet that impresses itself "by contact", creeps into the cracks of the graffiti and positively captures the plot. Only when the detachment, the tear has occurred, does the artist intervene with the color creating other stratifications, the impression of another time (that of painting) which he superimposes on time, incalculable, inscribed in the history of graffiti.” (Davide Ferri in “Fallen Blossoms”, Gli Ori, 2018). 

Exhibition activity

He has exhibited his work internationally at numerous public and private institutions, among the most recent exhibitions: Pitch Black, Palacio de los Marqueses de Moctezuma, Unicaja Joaquin Peinado Museum, Ronda (Málaga), Spain, MI VERDAD, WITH YOUR TIME AND SPACE – ALGO TUYO Y MÍO, Fundación Unicaja, CUC Centro Unicaja de Cultura de Antequera, Spain, Vanitas, Rotary Waregem, Claessens Canvas, Waregem, Belgium, BOTH SIDES, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France, THE RECALL DI CTHULHU, MANIFESTA 12, collateral event, Palazzo Mazzarino, Palermo, Italy, WunderMoRE, MAXXI – National Museum of XXI Century Arts of Rome, Italy in 2018; Wrecks and Star Chambers, Untitled Association Lynchen, Berlin, Germany, The Mirage,, Suburbia Contemporary Cultures, Granada, Spain e Smoke, Macro, Rome in 2017; Adrift, District 6 Museum, Cape Town, South Africa, reality systems, sms, Pisa, Italy e Re-Birth, Abu Dhabi Art, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in 2016. His works are held in numerous private and public collections, including the MART in Rovereto, Italy; Chelsea Art Museum in New York, United States; Sharjah Maraya Art Center in Dubai; Mori Museum in Tokyo, Japan; Schunck-Glaspaleis in Herleen, the Netherlands; Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn Und Taxis, in Bregenz in Austria; Man Museum of Art, Nuoro, Italy; Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan; Center d'Art Bastille, Grenoble, France; GC, AC, Monfalcone, Italy; Viafarini Docva, Milan, Italy; Pescheria Visual Arts Center, Pesaro, Italy; OCAT – Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai, Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China; 2139, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; District Six Museum, Cape Town, South Africa, Star Museum, Shanghai, China.

Presence in public and private collections

Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART), Italy. Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto (MART), Italy. 
Chelsea Art Museum, New York. Chelsea Art Museum, New York. 
Sharjah Maraya Art Center, Dubai. Sharjah Maraya Art Center, Dubai. 
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. 
Schunck-Glaspaleis, Heerlen, Netherlands. Schunck-Glaspaleis, Heerlen, The Netherlands. 
Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz, Austria. Künstlerhaus Palais Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz, Austria. 
Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin. Galleria Continua, San Gimignano / Beijing / Le Moulin. 
Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena, Italy. Papesse Palace, Siena, Italy. 
Man Art Museum, Nuoro, Italy. Man Art Museum, Nuoro, Italy. 
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. 
Center d'Art Bastille, Grenoble, France. Center d'Art Bastille, Grenoble, France. 
GC.AC – Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art of Monfalcone, Italy. GC.AC – Municipal Gallery of Contemporary Art of Monfalcone, Italy. 
Viafarini Docva, Milan, Italy. Viafarini Docva, Milan, Italy. 
Pescheria Visual Arts Center, Pesaro, Italy. Pescheria Visual Arts Center, Pesaro, Italy. 
Ocat – Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai, Guangdong Muesum of Art, Guangzhou. Ocat – Contemporary Art Terminal, Shanghai, Guangdong Muesum of Art, Guangzhou. 

Awards and Residencies

Artist in residence, Nirox Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, South Africa. Artist in Residence, Nirox Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, South Africa (2015). 

First Prize : 12th Cairo Prize, Milan, Italy. First Prize: 12th Premio Cairo Prize, Milan, Italy (2011) 

Talent Prize, First Prize Winner, Milan, Italy. Talent Prize, first prize winner, Milan, Italy (2010). 

Terna Prize for Contemporary Art: Gigawatt Category, Rome, Italy. Terna Award for Contemporary Art: Gigawatt category, Rome, Italy (2008). 

Artist in residence, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France. Artist in Residence, CitéInternationale des Arts, Paris, France (2008).

Artist in residence, Bernard Magrez Cultural Institute, Bordeaux, France. Artist in Residence, Bernard Magrez Cultural Institute, Bordeaux, France (2008). 

Market and prices

Thanks to the originality of his artistic research and the excellent promotion work of the reference gallery which, in addition to periodically organizing personal exhibitions for him in its offices in Italy and abroad and exhibiting his works in the main fairs of the planet, manages to place him in important group exhibitions, Ozzola's work is acquiring an international dimension. This has a positive impact on his quotations which are slowly but progressively rising. To purchase his photographs, it is necessary to foresee an investment that can vary from 3/4 thousand euros to over 20 thousand. The videos cost between 10 and 15 thousand euros. The sculptures have prices that start around 7 euros and go up to over 30. More demanding figures, even if still contained, for installations that from 15/20 thousand euros can even exceed 80 thousand euros.

Gallery: La Continua di San Gimignano, with offices in Boissy le Châtel – seine et Marne (France), Beijing and Havana (Cuba) Tel. +39 0577 943134 sangimignano@galleriacontinua.com, is Giovanni Ozzola's reference gallery. The artist also works with Smac gallery, Cape Town, Johannesburg and Stellenbosch (South Africa) - info@smacgallery.com and 313 Art project in Seoul.