Paola Pivi | Come check it out

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Paola Pivi, “Bad Idea,” 2017

(courtesy of the Gallery)

Come check it out is Italian artist Paola Pivi’s first major institutional solo show in Canada. Born in Milan, Italy and currently residing on the Island of Hawai’i, Hawaii, Pivi’s practice subverts the familiar and ordinary in ways that expands on our relationship with the built environment. 

The exhibition includes sculptural installations that question the authenticity of iconic landmarks and symbols like the Statue of Liberty and the Polar bear, symbols that have come to stand in for ideas of freedom and the global climate crisis respectively. Staged as seemingly whimsical and theatrical assemblages, Pivi employs the power of association to unpack and demystify the contrived relationship between the natural and manufactured worlds, and in so doing invites us to reflect on our choices, and the inherent responsibility they carry. Animals feature prominently in her cast of characters alongside readymade and repurposed objects, placed in unnatural or unreal situations that makes the hand of the human, though unseen, starkly present. Her work seeks the truthful and factual in ways that peel back layers of misinformation, and stereotypes, but with a sense of irony and playfulness that allows for wider engagement and deeper introspection.