Paola Pivi

Born in Italy in 1971, Paola Pivi’s artistic practice is diverse and enigmatic.


For Pivi, art is an expression of reality liberated to its fullest potential, conveying the most profound emotions through diverse materials. Her art often features recognisable objects like airplanes, polar bears, and pearls. However, Pivi modifies these objects unexpectedly, encouraging her audience to reconsider their preconceived notions of what they represent. Through this approach, she creates a unique form of utopian extravagance, continuously exploring new expressive forms and pushing the boundaries of artistic creation.


One of Pivi's most captivating series is her Pearls artworks. Accumulation of lines of pearls, these paintings decline a nuancier of colors going from the ivory to the black whose declinations of tints celebrate the various colors of the skin. To realize them, Pivi appropriated the result of the “work” of a multitude of oysters. She has also seized on the similarity between the painter’s work on a canvas and the action of an oyster that deposits layer after layer of nacre on the pearl.


Pivi's art is a statement on the human experience, exploring the boundaries between reality and imagination, ordinary and extraordinary.

Paola pivi ph lady tarin 2

Biography

Solo exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
I, A helicopter upside down, San Carlo Cremona, Cremona
2024
I, We are the baby gang, Les maisons de Judith, Courmayeur
GR, I wish I am fish, Ama House, Spetses Island
CDN, Come check it out, Calgary Contemporary, Calgary
2023
F, Paola Pivi – It's not my job, it's your job. Ce n’est pas mon travail, c'est votre travail, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Marseiile
2022
USA, I Want it All Curated by Jose Carlos Diaz, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg
USA, Free Land Scape, Galerie Perrotin, New York
USA, You Know Who I Am Curated by Cecilia Alemanni, High Line Line commission, New York
F, It's me, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
2021
USA, Art in Unexpected Places Curated by Peter Doroshenko, Aspen Skiing Company, Aspen and Snowmass
I, Rock the art, Paradiso Terrestre, Bologna
F, Paola Pivi. 25,000 Covid Jokes (It's Not A Joke), Chapelle de La Vieille Charité, Marseille
USA, Paola Pivi: Bear like me, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen
USA, We are the baby gang, Aria Hotel, Las Vegas
PRC, Why Not?, MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong
USA, Paola Pivi, ARIA Resort & Casino, Las Vegas
I, Red Carpet - Stop by, Paola Pivi, Art Verona, Verona
USA, Lies Lies Lies, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage
2020
D, We are the Alaskan tourists, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Skovvej
2019
I, Paola Pivi, Museo del Novecento, Milano
I, Paola Pivi. World Record Curated by You Hanru, Anne Palopoli, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Roma
USA, We are the baby gang, Perrotin, New York
KR, Paola Pivi, stand of Massimo De Carlo Curated by Hou Hanru, KIAF ART SEOUL, Seoul
2018
USA, Art with a View, The Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach
USA, I did it again Curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah
2017
UK, You don't have to believe me, Massimo De Carlo, London
UK, You Don't Have To Believe Me, Massimo De Carlo, London
J, They all look the same, Perrotin Tokyo, Tokyo
I, I am tired of eating fish Curated by Cloe Piccoli, La Rinascente, Milan
2016
USA, Ma'am, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas
USA, Ma'am, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas
I, Art Club #10 - I giovedì della Villa Curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto, Académie de France à Rome - Villa Médicis, Roma
Group exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
F, EUPHORIA: Art is in the air, Grand Palais, Paris
I, True colors. Tessuti: movimento, colori e identità, MAXXI L'Aquila, L'Aquila
KR, Cabinets of Curiosities, Perrotin Seoul, Seoul
I, DA CINDY SHERMAN A FRANCESCO VEZZOLI. 80 artisti contemporanei Curated by Daniele Fenaroli, Palazzo Reale, Milano
I, Facile ironia. L’ironia nell’arte italiana tra XX e XXI secolo, MAMbo, Bologna
I, Le ferite di Milano. Come l’arte può ricucire la storia Curated by Spazio Taverna, Triennale di Milano, Milano
2024
D, Eccentric; Aesthetics of freedom Curated by Eva Karcher and Bernhart Schwenk, Pinakothek del Moderne, Munich
IT, Il Castello Incantato, Castello di Rivoli , Rivoli
F, Italie, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
I, Mostra Arte e Design. Design è Arte, MA*GA, Gallarate
F, Panorama, Perrotin, Paris
I, ITALIA 70 – I Nuovi Mostri Curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Milano
I, Expanded With Curated by Marcella Beccaria, Castello di Rivoli, Torino
ROK, A Drawing A Day, MASSIMODECARLO Seoul Studio, Seoul
CN, Nanhai Art Biennale Outline 2024 Curated by Hubart, Nanhai, Nanhai
2023
F, Just Phriends Curated by in partnership with Sarah Andelman, PERROTIN 8 MATIGNON, Paris
I, Reaching for the Stars, Da Maurizio Cattelan a Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Curated by Arturo Galansino, Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze
H, The Cuteness Factor, Ludwig Museum, Budapest
E, Imaginary Friends, Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona
USA, Think Pinker Curated by Beth Rudin DeWoody, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles
IND, The Great Void Curated by Davide Quadrio, Italian Cultural Centre, New Delhi
PRC, I fell the way you feel Curated by Zhou Yi, Perrotin, Shangai
I, The Gemma De Angelis Testa Donation, Ca’ Pesaro - International Gallery of Modern Art, Venezia
KOR, Zero, Ten, Perrotin Seoul, Seoul
2022
I, L'esca, MACTE, Termoli
PRC, The First Beijing Biennial 展览名称: 第一届北京艺术双年展, National Base for International Cultural Trade, Beijing
I, La casa nella casa. Omaggio a Dino Glavina, ADI Design Museum, Milano
F, Serpent Cosmique Curated by Fabrice Cousteau, Musée de L’Hospice Comtesse, Lille
I, Il Grande Vuoto Curated by Davide Quadrio, MAO, Torino
I, Vita nova: arte in Italia alla luce del nuovo millennio Curated by Andrea Bruciati, Villa d’Este, Tivoli
I, ES-SENZE, Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo, Venice
USA, Actual Size! Photography at Life Scale Curated by David Campany, ICP, New York

Public collections

Country
Location
Australia
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
France
Centre National d'art et de la culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
Collection Vedovi, Paris
Germany
Collection Haubrok, Dusseldorf
Deutsche Bank Collection, Frankfurt
Hong Kong
K11 Foundation Collection
Italy
Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Torino
Collezione Consolandi, Milano
Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Milano
MACRO - Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Roma
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino
Galleria Internazionale D'Arte Moderna "Cà Pesaro”, Venezia
MAMbo - Museo d'Arte Moderna, Bologna
United States of America
The Bass Museum, Miami
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

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Title
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Paola Pivi