NAME:

Annamaria Zanella

NATIONALITY:

Italian

BASED IN:

Padova, Italy

WEBSITE:

ABOUT ARTIST:

Annamaria graduated at the “P. Selvatico” Institute of Fine Arts, Padua in 1985 in the Jewellery section. From 1992, she obtained the Diploma in Sculpture at the Academy of Arts in Venice.

She started her personal and artistic search in contemporary jewellery when she started her teaching at the “P. Selvatico” Institute of Fine Arts in 1987 in Padua.

The Italian “Arte Povera” movement inspired her conceptual works from the beginning. Precious and “less precious” materials (broken glass, resin, copper, gold, plastics, enamels, wood and paints) are transformed into provocative shapes and signs. Surfaces are corroded; precious metals, as well as poor materials, are used, without considering their value.

Her works are about the everyday lives of women, history of her own life. Just like pages from an autobiography, each piece stems from a different constructional arrangement like a continuous “metamorphosis”. She won the Herbert Hofmann prize in Munich in 1997 and in 2006 and the Bayerischer Staatpreis Gold Medaille in 2002. The necklace FORTUNY realized in 2012 was collected by the archistar Sir. Norman Foster.

Her highly expressive works of art are in many of the most important Museum Collections in Europe and in the USA.

SUBMISSION: THE CELL

THE PERCEPTION OF THE BEAUTY OF A PERFECT SPHERICAL SHAPE IS AN EXAMPLE OF SCULPTURE THAT CAN TRAVEL THROUGH TIME AND SPACE. It is well known that we humans are children of the stars. A meteorite from Space brought molecules to earth (abiogenesis) through which the first chains of amino acids formed billions of years ago. The cells of the human body are interconnected and give life to the individual.

In daily life, all of humanity is interconnected through the internet and social media. Social media has helped us confront solitude during the pandemic of 2020. The net, used with intelligence, will unite the inhabitants of the earth and the moon. My Cell reminds us of the constellations of Giotto in the Chapel of Scrovegni in Padova, built with precious materials always used by artists to represent the sacred and the spiritual: blue lapis lazuli, gold and silver. The deep blue represents infinity in the objective and philosophical dimension.

Human beings have always searched for answers regarding the moon, the stars, and the celestial bodies.

In the future, everything will be connected through virtual reality, but uncertainty and fear for our fragility will always remain. My Cell reminds us that we are part of the Universe, notwithstanding our limits.