A simple artist, full of emotion and inner worlds to explore and share through her elegant, silent works. We’re talking about Alice Ronchi (b. 1988, Ponte dell’Olio), born near Piacenza, in Emilia-Romagna. In the rural landscape where she grew up, who better understands the importance of contact with the life of nature. After studying in 2012 at the New Academy of Fine Arts in Milan (where she teaches today), she leaves for new cities between artist residences and travels that allow her to understand her inner world even more and refine that spontaneous artistic sensitivity that she has inherited thanks to her land. The essence of simple things shines through in the weight of her works, regardless of the medium they are minimal, light, free and smooth, in pastel colors. The result? A magical world made of works with imaginative, soft shapes, almost to be eaten as if they were clouds of colored sugar. And without presumption, the goal of Ronchi’s artistic production is to bring the viewer into a new story of life and at the same time make them reflect on themselves and on the facts of the world, where even a performance can become a reason for interaction and fun. Above all, of inner knowledge.
As with “Pioggia”, a performance made during the last year of high school. “We students had to do some landscape work, so the next day I arrived in the classroom with thirty cans of hairspray and spray cans and I gave one to each classmate and asked them to open and close those cans over and over again: collective madness!”. She continues: “In a few moments, however, a smile appeared on their skeptical faces and that noise turned into the sound of rain. From that moment I understood that things could be transformed, and the most important reason why it was worth doing, was for that smile!”
FRONTRUNNER speaks exclusively to Ronchi to find out more.
Did any particular figure in the art sector inspire you?
Lots of them. Every encounter with a work of art that moved me was a source of inspiration. From there, in fact, I studied the texts and the life of the man who created it, I wanted to understand the context and the artist’s experience: it was as if I wanted to know more intimately that work, and I met fascinating stories. I could go on for hours to list the figures that inspired me but in citing them I would give more importance to some, excluding others and I would be sorry. From prehistoric monoliths to the mountain that Francys Alÿs wanted to move…
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