BOOK:Paola Pivi-Phaidon Publications

After abandoning her university studies in chemical nuclear engineering, Paola Pivi shifted her ambitions towards a career in contemporary art. Celebrated today for her provocative eccentricity, Pivi’s artistic production is full of odd encounters and whimsical moments. Often using recognisable objects that are modified to introduce new scale, material, or color, her work challenges viewers to rethink their position. The in-depth monograph “Paola Pivi” by Phaidon was made with the close involvement of the artist, is her most substantial publication to date and features more than 250 images, including previously unpublished work, together with five newly commissioned essays giving insight and perspective on her incredibly diverse body of work. Born in Italy in 1971, Paola Pivi’s artistic practice is diverse and enigmatic. Commingling the familiar with the alien, Pivi often works with commonly identifiable objects which are modified to introduce a new scale, material or color, challenging the audience to change their point of view. Animals are often cast as protagonists in Pivi’s world. She draws upon their perceived characteristics and instills them with human mannerisms. In Pivi’s art, Polar bears practice yoga, hang from trapezes, and engage with one another. Sprouting multicolored feathers, the artworks are both life-sized and miniaturized as baby bears. Spanning sculpture, video, photography, performance and installation, Pivi’s practice trespasses perceived limits to make possible what before seemed impossible. Zebras frolic in the arctic, goldfish fly on airplanes, and in her 2012 Public Art Fund installation, a Piper Seneca airplane was lifted on its wingtips and installed to constantly rotate forward.-Dimitris Lempesis