Opere
Arcano XIII, 2024
Feltro, argilla rossa, legno di Balsa, 200cm x 180cm
The creation of the work Arcano XIII was necessary. Not that the other works were not born of an inner feeling that needed to come out, but this work in particular has a further value for me, the exorcisation of a pain. In the symbolism of the tarot, the thirteenth major arcane is Death. Contrary to what is thought, this card has a positive meaning in that it suggests making the old die to make room for the new. It is therefore a death not necessarily linked to life, but to a metaphysical death. The arcane thirteen wants to suggest a change, a transformation, the act of letting go of the old to welcome the new.
Shortly before my paternal grandmother left us, in her house there was a small infestation of wool butterflies, woolen moths, as her house was full of textile material. At first glance I didn't give him weight, but after his grandmother's death I interpreted that event, the infestation, as a sort of sign. It suggested a transformation to me; butterflies were born from the larvae. Maybe my grandmother changed her shape too, maybe from this earthly life she turned into something else.
Thus was born Arcano XIII, an installation that takes up the structure of the weighted frames, but that instead of the weights leaves room for light felt cocoons. Inside these casings, not visible to the observer, there are hidden red clay butterflies that could metaphorically be born at any moment. You need an act of faith. You can believe that these clay amulets are really there, or it is not. The choice is up to all of us.
E ochete de a nona, 2024
(Grandma's ochette), wood, naturally dyed wool, embroidery, 2024
Frame made by hand by Nello (grandpa)
With the precious help and exquisite craftsmanship of my beloved grandfather, we built this little comb loom. The work in this case is intended to be a tribute to grandparents. And ochete de a nona (the ochette of the grandmother in Venetian, Venetian dialect), refers to the image woven in the frame work. The image is simple, the drawing that has almost a childish stroke is a collage resulting from the overlapping of some drawings made by the grandmother in holiday or birthday greeting cards. So the theme of memory and memory, but also of tradition, returns and, in this case, there is a veil of nostalgia. It's a nostalgia that belongs to the future, that I haven't felt yet, but that I'm sure I'll try one day. I will feel this nostalgia for the past, for the childhood lived, for all those notes that grandma wrote to her grandchildren accompanied by those funny drawings of ochette and that made us laugh so much. This work is a kind of future Amarcord, it is a time capsule.
Already in the title, sororal is the adjective that embodies the meanings of affectionate, loving and tender. The work aims to be a treasure chest, a conservator of the precious feeling of love that binds and unites two sisters. In the jars, my hair and that of my sister Angela, ruffle with each other and remain in time. The life cycle of a hair lasts about five to seven years. I enclosed my and my sister's memories together in two jars. It is a preserve of memories that belong to a period lasting about a year.
Conserva sororale, 2024
Hair, glass jars
The textile medium and its multiple modes of use allow me to create a link with a world made of manual expertise, domestic intimacy and with a practice traditionally comparable to the feminine. The thread has in itself the magical force of the tale, the energy of a mantric rhythm; the woven mesh dialogues with light and shadow and constitutes a passage between a here and an elsewhere. In this work I feel strong the link with the figure of the mother. The softness of his embrace forces you into the suffocating warmth of his maternal and pure love.
It represents a state of calm, the achievement of the realisation that there is a need to go into the world and start living your life. 'So I ''wait'' to free myself from this hug to be able to embark on my journey''
Maternità, 2023
Mixed technique (sashiko, embroidery, felt), textile material, organic plant material, hair
Environmental measurement (190cm x 37cm)
Diagnosi? Disagio. 2023
Mixed technique (embroidery, sewing), cotton, cotton thread 157cm x 148cm
Organo trasmettitore, 2023
Uncinetto, filati, ovatta 160cm x 17cm x 7cm
Multiple textures are intertwined with different thicknesses, colours and fibres. Within the fabric are trapped plant elements representing the primordial and potential matter that still emphasise the state of transformation of the work.
The tissue is alive; between texture and warp there are tiny openings that let air through, like lungs. They are slits in which resides the soul of the tapestry that continues to exist in harmony with the textile body.
Intreccio vivo, 2022-2023
Frame weaving with shuttle, hand-dyed yarn, plant elements, wood 126cm x 127cm
A year after conception and realisation, as a real living being, Intreccio Vivo is 'dead' devoured by woolen moths. The event, from a spiritual point of view, was very symbolic.
As wool is biodegradable in just three or four months, I buried the work in the garden of someone dear to me. Wool releases essential elements such as nitrogen, sulphur and magnesium into the soil, so it becomes an excellent fertiliser for the soil and plants.
So Intreccio Vivo da Natura has arrived and returns to nature to feed it.
Tauros, 2022
Shuttle weaving, hand-dyed yarn, plastic, inner tube, seawood
60cm x 67cm
Sagrado Femenino, costellazione familiare, 2022
Mixed technique (woven fabric, jute, embroidery, threads, charcoal, graphite) 175cm x 84cm
Irene and Mari artistic collaboration
Nell’ombra dell’onda: appello alle coscienze, 2023
Artistic collaboration, textile materials and recycled plastics
Mari
Irene Gris, born in Venice, born in 2001, lives in Casale sul Sile (TV). Graduated from the State Artistic High School in Treviso. Graduated at the Triennial of Visual Arts, with painting address, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.
Irene is a mixed media artist who lives and works in Casale sul Sile. Her work draws heavily on the crafting techniques learned in everyday life in a family environment since childhood a particular attention goes to the textile medium.
At the base of her artistic research is a deep interest in the meditative aspect linked to the action of weaving, working with yarns and dyeing the latter.
Through the process of building her works, the repetitive rhythm of the plot that weaves the warp is able to transport her mentally and spiritually into a much deeper dimension.
In its interest there is also the question of 'transmanding' traditional techniques related to history and the female figure in relation to textiles.
Irene finds in the fabrics a place of refuge to escape the hecticness of life and finds in them a space to realign her body with her own spirit.
The thread has in itself the magical power of the story; the woven mesh dialogues with light and shadow, constitutes a passage between a here and an elsewhere.
The practice of weaving goes so far as to wrap the body in the form of a dress, like a second skin. It becomes, therefore, a barrier that places a limit from which we want to free ourselves or we want to be protected and lulled.
Artistic CV:
Show You Belong by Irene Fontana, Paratissima in Turin, 2023
Exhibition at Labs Contemporary Art, Bologna, 2023
Exhibition OpenTour, Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, 2023
Workshop with the artist Francesco Arena, The Measure of Things, Bologna 2023
Exhibition OpenTour, Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, 2022
Textile Dyeing with Natural Pigments Course with Anabel Torres, 2022
Natural Yarn Dyeing Course with Lucrezia Moro (Bilulu), 2022
Workshop with the artist Leonardo Pivi, Oil Technique, Bologna, 2021
Art workshop on Kandinsky with the children of the ChiaraAmEnte centre, 2021
Realisation of a group mural for CGIL Treviso, 2018
Artistic workshop with Children of the Fairies, Banca del Tempo sociale by Franco Antonello, headquarters Freely in Treviso, 2017, 2018
Work created in collaboration with other artists for CartaCarbone Festival, 2017
Work created in collaboration with other artists for CartaCarbone Festival, 2017
Exhibition at the Galleria del Liceo Artistico Statale in Treviso, Dario Fo, 2016
Contact
e-mail irene.gris.tv@gmail.com
cell. +39 3913522204
