28.06.2025 – 28.09.2025
The title A Song of Ascents comes from a series of religious psalms traditionally recited by pilgrims travelling to sacred sites. For Giovanelli, the idea of “ascension” reflects our human desire to reach higher states of consciousness – be it through spiritual devotion, sensuality and love, intoxicating substances, the thrill of performance or simply horror. This journey to transcend consciousness unfolds in her paintings as an uncanny fusion of emotions in which exaggerated expressions, richly layered textures and intense, colour-saturated imagery evoke both ecstasy and discomfort. Louise Giovanelli creates memorable, hypnotic paintings that allow light to radiate from them on a visual and metaphorical level. Her works repeatedly feature mysterious objects, such as a closed curtain, a shimmering mop of hair or the reflective surfaces of cocktail glasses through which protagonists appear. Characters also appear, usually women, drawn at a moment when they are about to cross a boundary of experience and realisation. Their motifs are deliberately ambiguous and can be associated with the vagueness of a memory or a half-forgotten dream. The exhibition, curated by Marie-Charlotte Carrier and Sandro Droschl, shows a precise selection of existing works alongside ten new paintings produced especially for the occasion.
Louise Giovanelli: A Song of Ascents
28.06.2025 – 28.09.2025
HALLE FÜR KUNST
Burgring 2
www.halle-fuer-kunst.at
