Louise Giovanelli

Monday Guest Lectures –

Louise Giovanelli (b. 1993, London, UK) lives and works in Manchester (UK). She completed her postgraduate studies at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main (DE) with professor Amy Sillman in 2020, after having earned a Bachelor’s Degree (B.A. Hons, Fine Art) at the Manchester School of Art, Manchester (UK) in 2015.

Louise Giovanelli has been drawing attention as a rising young painter for her delicate, luminous works, which inject vitality into historical subjects from the canon of Western art. Through interconnected series, Giovanelli weaves together visual clues surrounding a specific moment or event. Her subject matter is primarily chosen for its formal qualities and includes, staged photographs, film stills, classical sculpture, and architectural elements. Within each series, Giovanelli repeats her motifs and certain paintings appear nearly identical, excepting slight alterations of the composition, or tonality. Deftly manipulating light and form, her multivalent imagery reminds us that the classical foundations of painting remain sources of delight and innovation. Keenly attuned to the historical significance of painting as a medium and system of representation, her paintings challenge the eye by dissolving representation into carefully crafted textures and patterns. For Giovanelli, painting allows for a visual slowing-down, and beholding her works is akin to a meditative process.

Solo exhibitions include: Collection Spotlight: Louise Giovanelli, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool (UK); As If, Almost, White Cube Bermondsey, London (UK); Auto-da-fé, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); A Priori, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); in medias res, Workplace, London (UK); Aerial Silk, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Time Inside, Frutta Gallery, Rome (IT); Louise Giovanelli, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester (UK); Louise Giovanelli, Workplace Foundation, Gateshead (UK); A Throw to the Side, Warrington Museum and Art Gallery, Warrington (UK); Slow to Respond, Touchstones Gallery, Rochdale (UK); Hold your tongue, Louise Giovanelli and Pius Fox, Transition Gallery, London (UK).

She has also participated in the following group exhibitions: The Kingfisher’s Wing, curated by Tom Morton, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Dissolving Realms, curated by Katy Hessel, Kasmin, New York, NY (US); Love is the Devil: Studies after Francis Bacon, Marlborough, London (UK); Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London (UK); Someone said that the world’s a stage, curated by Margot Samel, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Reflections beyond the Surface, Akzo Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); Romancing the Surface, curated by Loie Hollowell, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL); Life Still, C.L.E.A.R.I.N.G., Brooklyn, NY (US); El oro de los tigres, Air de Paris, Romainville (FR); Touching from a Distance, curated by Workplace Foundation, The Conduit, London (UK); The Dream That Follows The Mouth, Arcade Gallery, London (UK); Tales of the haunted and the body, curated by Kuba Paris, Casa Cristea Schneider, Berlin (DE), among others.

Giovanelli’s work can be found in the collections of the Akzo Nobel Art Foundation (NL); Asymmetry Art Foundation (UK); The Contemporary Art Foundation (JP); THE EKARD COLLECTION (NL); Fundación Medianoche0 (ES); The Government Art Collection (UK); The Grundy Gallery Collection (UK); Hall Art Foundation (US); The Hepworth Wakefield (UK); Hill Art Foundation, New York, NY (US); Hort Family Collection, New York, NY (US); Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (US); Longlati Foundation (CH); Manchester Art Gallery Collection (UK); Manchester School of Art Collection (UK); The National Museum of Oslo (NO); Sarow Gallery Collection (DE); The UK Government (UK); The University of Salford Collection (UK); Warrington Museum and Art Gallery (UK); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (UK) and many private collections. Source: Grimm Gallery.com

Take Away From The Talk

Louise Geovanelli – apply for anything and everything, start small – eg. small scale exhibitions. Look back historically to artists you admire and use them to inform your work. Get involved with artist residencies. Do not be afraid to showcase other great and/or historical work alongside your own as this might open otherwise closed doors. Do no be afraid to take small parts of great paintings and recreate them in your own work. Do not be afraid to use plastercine and then photograph it and then paint it for your work. Believe in yourself. Louise has been active with the Grimm Gallery and White Cube.