Artvisor is pleased to present Discoveries, a survey of works by Giovanni Ozzola spanning from 2003 until today. This body of work has a grounded pursuit and interest in the force and history of human endeavour. Ozzola’s use of gold leaf, slate, and aluminium evokes light with a poetic allusion to cosmic genealogy defined by the artist’s personal mythos and reflected on pulling upon the universal viewer’s own.

Giovanni Ozzola, Sir William Edward Parry 1818 CE – 1825, 2012 © Giovanni Ozzola Archive

Ozzola’s slate works, marked with the seafaring routes of early European explorers, are a thought-provoking exploration of human passage and mapping. By stripping away geographical landmarks and preserving only the records of exploration, Ozzola challenges his audience to consider the temporal nature of maps versus a constant desire for navigational certainty. His slate works record an extinct practice of understanding the world, capturing the incremental discoveries made by travellers who frequently had to retrace their steps and decelerate when they wanted to move swiftly — an apt metaphor for the present human experience.

Giovanni Ozzola, Plants—Tus lunares son estrellas (Plants—Your Beauty Marks Are Stars), 2016–2018 © Giovanni Ozzola Archive

Two bronze sculptures from the series Plants—Tus lunares son estrellas (Plants—Your Beauty Marks Are Stars), 2016–2018, play with the similarity between the casting process and the natural passage of sap, drawing a parallel between philosophical and material transition. Similarly, reflexive is Ozzola’s photographic Archival series of negatives, which requires fixing one’s vision on the horizon. These small openings of light invite deeper contemplation, transforming the process of seeing into one of crossing into new worlds and opening new doors outside of time. The singular thread binding this survey together is the physical, historical and poetic motion and state of passage.

Giovanni Ozzola, Sand Light and Warmth, 2024 © Giovanni Ozzola Archive

Ozzola’s medium is one of discovery itself, whether physical or through self-exploration. The exhibition draws a long-standing connection between Ozzola’s work and René Daumal’s allegorical novel, “Mount Analogue”, bridging themes of exploration and the human spirit’s unyielding pursuit of knowledge and understanding. The Mountain only becomes visible under precise lighting; otherwise, the summit remains invisible, a metaphor for illumination and mastering the unknown.

Discoveries at Artvisor invites viewers to reflect on the broader human quest and passage into understanding, often with a non-linear and ephemeral nature marked by beauty and the unknown.

Giovanni Ozzola (b. 1982, Italy) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans photography, video, and sculptural installations. His practice oscillates between immediacy, memory and constructed artifice. Ozzola’s work is present in numerous institutional collections globally, including the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; M Woods Museum, Beijing; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar; Collezione Gori, Pistoia; Waseda University, Tokyo; Centre d’Art Bastille, Grenoble; Star Museum, Shanghai. Ozzola lives and works in the Canary Islands. He has exhibited in institutions and galleries worldwide including the Chengdu Biennale, Chengdu Art Museum; III Xinjiang Biennale, Urumchi; Manifesta12, Palermo; MAC – Museo De Arte Contemporaneo De Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo; XVI Bienal Internacional de Fotografia, Tenerife; Tsinghua University Art Museum, Beijing; Gangnam-Gu, Seoul; Fosun Foundation, Shanghai; MAXXI National Museum, Rome; Foundation VAF, Stadtgalerie, Kiel; Palazzo Reale, Milan; 313 Art Project, Seoul; Mori Museum, Tokyo.

Ozzola has received numerous awards, including the Premio Cairo, Milan (2011), Talent Prize, Rome (2010), the Premio Terna Gigawatt Category (2008), and Seat Pagine Gialle (2007). He participated in multiple residencies, such as Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France; Institute Bernard Magrez, Bordeaux, France; and Nirox Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Exhibition Information
Discoveries. Giovanni Ozzola
5 June – 15 July 2024
Artvisor
Mayfair, London