BEND/BREATHE
Giulia Piera Livi

January 16 - April 25, 2021

OPENING EVENT:
Friday, February 5, 2021 | 5 - 8 PM during first Friday

As part of our Hennessy Experiment Series, Giulia Piera Livi investigates interior design, the curated home space, and the visual and tactile accessibility to objects of art. Livi’s immersive experiences explore visual encounters that dissect the material clutter of desire and consumerism. Does too much warp a sense of aesthetic? Does too little inject a sense of completeness?

Furnishings from memory, color, and forms allude to multi-functional art objects, while shapes elbow through the space creating areas of visual rest. Bend/Breathe looks at our relationship to objects of art, the information and the inspiration generated by them, and their ability to revitalize or circumvent desire. This exhibition questions the role of the artist in a society with an aspiration to be modern. How can paintings be multi-functional to highlight the absurdity of convenience. What is the existential role of decorative objects that the viewer uses to ascribe purpose? How does desire and consumerism bend or deflect an object’s purity?

Mounted in ways to distort a sense of space, the objects occupy a formal limbo unified in materiality with varying form, color, and construction. As such, objects become paintings that challenge the viewer to question reality.

Livi received a BFA in Painting and Drawing from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA and an MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD. She currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Art at MICA and Associate Director for C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore, MD. Livi is the recipient of several fellowships and awards notably, Sondheim Semi-Finalist, Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts; Meyerhoff You+ Graduate Fellowship, Baltimore, MD; Ranchos Nativas Art & Experience Residency, Vega Alta, Puerto Rico; Vermont Studio Center, Residency Fellowship, Johnson, VT; Trawick Young Artist Prize, Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards, Bethesda, MD; and others.

Constance S. & Robert J. Hennessy Project Space

VIRTUAL GALLERY TOUR