28 November 2024 – 8 February 2025
Opening: Thursday, November 28th, 2024 from 6 p.m.
Elena Salmistraro – Alchimie nel vuoto
curated by Silvana Annichiarico
In his gallery in Milan, Antonio Colombo presents Alchimie nel Vuoto, the first solo exhibition by the artist and designer Elena Salmistraro, curated by Silvana Annicchiarico. In an original way, Salmistraro chooses to express herself primarily through drawing and painting, shedding light on the most profound and artistic side of her practice, opening doors into a fantastic world inhabited by curious figures.
Drawing is an intimate and primordial gesture, and act which becomes therapy for Salmistraro; drawing is passion, obsession, necessity. “My monsters are not evil, they accompany me, talk to me, staying close… By drawing them, I have also understood my stylistic signature, my touch, my alphabet and language.”
In this universe inhabited by hybrid and deformed characters, the artist comes to grips with her fears and those of the world, creating an imaginary where the horror vacui – fear of the void – is exorcised through a continuous flow of signs and colors. The concept of the monstrum – seen as a wonder that fascinates and disturbs – becomes central in Salmistraro’s poetics. Her monsters and her freaks, which she has drawn since childhood, are bodies on the borderline between human and animal, but also between figuration and abstraction. They invite us to explore the hidden side of our being, to look beyond the surface.
The title Alchimie nel Vuoto (Alchemy in Emptiness) suggests a dichotomy that crosses all of Salmistraro’s work. In fact, in her creations every space is filled, and the physical void is transformed into a place of reflection and metamorphosis. Her aesthetic draws on neo-primitivism, surrealism and magical realism, dissolving the boundaries between the play and dreams.
If the gallery is a clean space, a bare enclosure with white, aseptic walls, the void will play host to monsters, freaks, nightmares and fears – perhaps overcome, symbols of change and integration, manifestos of a new concept of beauty. Besides the large paintings on canvas, the show includes a carpet produced by TaiPing, two totems and three vases made by Bosa Ceramiche, painted by hand by the artist, and a wooden sculpture made by Scapin, all results of personal and artistic reflections developed over the course of years of work.
Elena Salmistraro is a designer and artist, born in 1983 in Milan, where she currently lives and works.
With a degree in Fashion Design and Industrial Design from the Milan Polytechnic, in 2009 she founded her own studio with the architect Angelo Stoli, working on projects that range from art to design and fashion.
Her style stands out for the use of three-dimensional textures and bright colors, blending art and design. She has worked with important companies like Alessi, Apple, Bosa, and Nike. She has received many awards, and in 2022 she was assigned the prestigious Frame Design Award as Best Designer by the international magazine of architecture and Frame. Since 2017 she is a World Ambassador of Italian Design. Her works have been shown in the leading Italian and international fairs, and in some of the most important museums, including the Triennale Design Museum, the Guggenheim in Venice, the ADI Design Museum, and Pinacoteca di Brera. She has participated at TEDx in Padua in 2022, and in 2023 Forbes Italia included her among the 100 successful women of the year. Besides her creative activities, she teaches Design in schools like the Milan Polytechnic and Istituto Marangoni.
