ALEK O. : THEY DIDN’T EXPLAIN MUCH, AND NO ONE DARED TO ASK
curated by Cecilia Canziani and Ilaria Gianni
May 3 - September 13 2024
They didn’t explain much, and no one dared to ask , Alek O's solo exhibition, (1981) features a series of new and pre-existing of the Italian-Argentinian artist's works in relation to IUNO's domestic space.
By formally deconstructing and reworking everyday objects, Alek O. articulates an alphabet of signs that through a certain degree of abstraction, preserve and integrate imperfections, asymmetries and usages referable to their previous function.
A new and yet "familiar" lexicon that, as the title seems to suggest, reinterprets matter and its forms from an aesthetic and affective re-signification of what would otherwise be destined for oblivion.
The sharpness of geometries and volumes proposed by the artist becomes in this sense the custodian of a memory that, like remembrance itself, is malleable and in continuous transformation.
Download the critical text here
Critical text: Giulia Gaibisso
Photo: Chiara Cor
Thanks to Thanks to 0,75 – zerosettantacinque for the support for the support
In her practice Alek O. In her practice Alek O. blends the common notion of the ready-made with craft, embroidery and other traditional art-making forms. On the verge between transformation and conservation, Alek O. strips the objects’ common visual aspects and replaces them with geometric abstraction. Reversing the perspective of design, Alek O. favours re-creation over creation and deconstruction over construction. Alek O. lives and works in Milan, where she graduated in Design from Politecnico. The artist’s works have been exhibited widely at institutional level, notably at Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milano (2024); the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome (2021); The Courtauld Institute of Art, Sommerset House (2020); Nomas Foundation, Rome (2018); Fondazione Zegna, Trivero (2017); 16th Quadriennale d’Arte, Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni (2016); Triennale di Milano, Milan (2015).