Giuseppe Pietroniro’s inaugural solo exhibition at Labs Contemporary Art in Bologna establishes a profound dialogue between visual perception and linguistic expression, permeating the entire display. The installation is conceived as a singular work, specifically designed for the gallery’s spaces, where intangible presences guide the audience, encouraging them to explore the exhibition through unexpected paths.
Pietroniro envisions the gallery as a blank sheet of paper. Within this environment, textual language doesn’t merely function as a critical apparatus but becomes an integral component of the exhibited work. Throughout the exhibition path, curator Giuliana Benassi’s text, excerpted from her collection *Sibillina*, unfolds, physically manifesting on the walls through a typographic installation. This textual integration initiates a dialogue with the artworks, enriching their interpretations and transforming into a true scenographic element of the exhibition.
The artist configures the exhibition as an immersive environment where each artwork contributes to creating a metalanguage that guides the visitor in interpretation, unveiling multiple layers of meaning and proposing metaphors that remain open to diverse readings. Right from the entrance, a small taxidermied bird, reflected in the artwork *Codirosso* (2026), embodies this dimension: a motionless body that nevertheless evokes the possibility of flight, of a trajectory yet to be imagined. This conception of movement finds a metaphorical parallel in the phenomenon of bird migrations, which, utilizing air currents, trace paths not rigidly predefined but shaped in the course of their own movement.
Adjacent to this presence, the artwork *Anvil* (2026) is displayed, featuring an anvil – traditionally an emblem of strength and resilience, used to forge iron – yet here depicted in a lightened form, stripped of its original mass. Perched upon it is a butterfly, another figure of unpredictability, whose flight defies rational logic. The walls, meanwhile, transform into canvases for drawings traversed by delicate graphite lines that move freely, without rigid perspectival control. In *Tutti in uno* (2026), the line extends beyond architectural boundaries, creating a fluid environment where the observer is constantly invited to reconsider their viewpoint. Even minimal details, such as the air stirred by a fan, subtly alter the space, recalling the currents that guide flight.
Drawing emerges as one of the fundamental pillars of Pietroniro’s artistic research and a primary tool for interacting with the world, through which thought takes form. In his cotton paper drawings, the artist creates a kind of “manual photocopy” of previously composed collages, giving rise to impossible scenarios and surreal combinations of fragments that, nonetheless, maintain their plausibility within the realm of imagination. The layering of images and juxtapositions prove to be effective archaeological tools for exploring perception. The entire exhibition thus unfolds as a true theatrical staging. It’s no coincidence that the artist’s scenographic background is evident in the structuring of the spaces and in pictorial works like the *Modulo pinto* (2026) series, where chromatic fields follow geometric patterns to evoke skewed and unstable environments. In this context, painting acts as a device for dispersing spatial trajectories, multiplying viewpoints and prompting the viewer to constantly redefine their position.
Pietroniro’s body of work also reveals a persistent awareness of error. “I am always on the verge of failure,” states the artist. In this precarious frontier, error transcends its connotation as a deviation to become a space of opportunity, where it’s possible to experiment and embark on unexpected paths, much like the unpredictable flight of a butterfly.
