Monica Piloni
Monica Piloni was born in Curitiba, Brazil in 1978. She lives and works in Brussels, Belgium. She graduated from the Sculpture Course at the School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná (EMBAP) in 2002. Among her solo shows in Brazil, stand out “Dissident Symmetries”, Sorocaba Contemporary Art Museum (2022), “Humans, All Too Human” (2022) and “Cyclo” (2019), both in Zipper Gallery, São Paulo and “Both Odd”, Laura Marsiaj Gallery, Rio de Janeiro (2013). She participated in group shows in important institutions such as “Sartori Collection – Contemporary art inhabits Antônio Prado”, Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art, Porto Alegre (2022), “Diversity of our Time”, Figueiredo Ferraz Institute, Ribeirão Preto (2017), TRIO Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro (2015), “All Too, Pasolini”, Mário de Andrade Library, São Paulo (2015), “New Brazilian Sculpture”, Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro (2011), “The dreams Collector”, Figueiredo Ferraz Institute, Ribeirão Preto (2011), among others. Her works appear in important public and private Brazilian collections such as Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, Sorocaba Contemporary Art Museum, Figueiredo Ferraz Institute, Cleusa Garfinkel and Bernardo Paz.
When looking at her work as a whole, Piloni’s interest in the representation of the female figure becomes evident, which began as a result of using her own body as a living model. The self-portrait that at first came about for convenience, over time symbolically became a portrait of all women because what she was expressing was a type of collective narrative and, in fact, according to Piloni , art is the greatest promoter of social change. Most of her works have a common feature in their construction and mirroring. This resource distorts the body, creating another dimension in the perception of the human figure, making it as attractive as it is repulsive. She uses several mediums, but mainly sculpture, whether physical, virtual, photographed, animated, mounted on a base or installation, while also exploring different materials such as bronze, marble, ceramics, fiberglass, plastiques and others. In her quest to reconceive the human, these predominantly female figures display the unconventional anatomy of their naked bodies as a peaceful protest to indicate a path towards the emergence of a post-human feminist turn that rejects the idea of the universalist posture of our species as the supposed “measure of all things”, criticizes the notion of human exceptionality, and the hierarchy of species. The reflective or rotational symmetry used as an aesthetic resource in constructing these works creates new versions of bodies that break with the biological constitution and with the bilateral structure of human beings, making them non-functional. Despite being built exclusively with human parts, they can refer to creatures such as demons, mythological characters, or extraterrestrial beings, representing the ability to manifest through different identities and to change perspectives with fluidity.
Works:
Vitae:
Solo exhibitions (selection)
2022: “Humans, All Too Humans”, Zipper gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2022: “Dissident Symmetries”, Sorocaba Contemporary Art Museum, Brazil
2019: “Cycle”, Zipper gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2017: “Monica …”, Epicentro, São Paulo, Brazil
2014: “Illegals”, @Larger Creators at Work, Red Bull TV, Recife, Brazil
2014: “In My Room”, Fass gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2013: “Both Odd”, Laura Marsiaj gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Group exhibitions (selection)
2024 : “Repetition and Singularity: the Meeting of Series and Multiples”, Número gallery, Recife, Brazil
2023: “Color Geometry Object”, Número gallery, Recife, Brazil
2023: “The deepest is the skin”, Belizário gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2023: “Dialogues”, EMBAP – School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
2022: “Sartori Collection – Contemporary Art Inhabits Antônio Prado”, Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art, Porto Alegre, Brazil
2018: “Uncanny”, Verve gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2017: “Embassy of Food”, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, Netherlands
2017: “Art Therapy in a Liquid World”, Soma gallery, Curitiba, Brazil
2017: “Diversity of our Time”, Figueiredo Ferraz Institute, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2016: “Clairvoyance”, Guy Hepner gallery, New York, USA
2015: “All Too, Pasolini”, Mário de Andrade Library, São Paulo, Brazil
2015: TRIO Biennial, National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2011: “Brazilian New Sculpture”, Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2011: “The dreams Collector”, Figueiredo Ferraz Institute, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
2011: “UP STARS”, Coletivo Amor de Madre + Baró gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2011: “OFF”, Blanca Soto Arte, Madrid, Spain
2010: “Ant(I)”, Cartel 011, São Paulo, Brazil
2010: “Arsenal”, Baró gallery, São Paulo, Brazil
2008: Exhibition Program, Ribeirão Preto Art Museum, Brazil
2008: 14º Salão da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
2008: 13° Salão dos Novos de Joinville, Joinville, Brazil
2007: Triângulo Mineiro Biennial, Honorable Mention, Uberlândia, Brazil
2007: Culture House Center, Uberlândia, Brazil
2002: Graduation Show, School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná – EMBAP, Curitiba, Brazil
2001: Art&Design, Cultural Foundation Solar do Barão, Curitiba, Brazil
1999: “Insertions”, Ybakatu Gallery, Curitiba, Brazil
1998: Centro Cultural Correios, Curitiba, Brazil
1997: 4th Philips Arts Award for Young Talents, São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo, Brazil
1997: 2nd School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná Award, Inter Americano Art Gallery, Curitiba, Brazil
1995: 12th Ceramic Salon, Alfredo Andersen Museum, Curitiba, Brazil
Private and public collections (selected)
Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, João Sattamini Collection, Brazil
Sorocaba Museum of Contemporary Art, Brazil
Figueiredo Ferraz Institute, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
Bernardo Paz, Brumadinho, Brazil
Cleusa Garfinkel, São Paulo, Brazil
Paulo Sartori, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Casa Caus, Lisboa, Portugal
Calmon-Stock, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Mônica Filgueiras, São Paulo, Brazil
Marcelino Rafart de Seras, São Paulo, Brazil
José Marton, São Paulo, Brazil
Education
2002: Graduate Studies in Sculpture, School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
Exhibitions:
