Hemstitching is a technique that originates from the subtraction of threads from the fabric’s weave: a minimal gesture that lightens the cloth and creates a harmonious balance between fullness and void. This practice inspires the title of the exhibition, À Jour, Simona Pavoni’s first solo show in Italy, presented in the spaces of Mare Karina in Venice. Pavoni’s works are site-specific installations conceived and crafted for the spaces that host them, giving rise to an ephemeral architecture that dresses and accessorizes the environment. Each intervention requires careful measurement, balance between materials and volumes, and attention to atmosphere.
Simona Pavoni, “L’Insieme (Curtains)”, 2025, pleated and perforated paper, photo Tiziano Ercoli, courtesy of Mare Karina, Venice
Made of paper, glass, and organic materials, the works stem from the need to explore the utmost intelligibility of ordinary raw materials in their essential state, acting on form while, in the artist’s words, «faithfully maintaining a deep adherence between technique and the structural nature of the material».Through artistic gestures – folding, piercing, juxtaposing, reconstructing – these materials are ennobled and, at the same time, rendered ambiguous, equivocal, almost unintelligible. Drawing from biology, mathematics, architecture and an intimate spiritual inquiry, the artist questions what the defining characteristics of the artwork should be and, through observation, finds answers by codifying a new language that gives semantic meaning to the structural qualities of matter. Her research manifests as a challenge and resolves in conflict, in the search for complementary characteristics among materials that, by coexisting, reveal their essence. The artist says: «I do not choose the material (I would work with all materials), but I choose to respect its properties and make them manifest through simple gestures». Thus emerges an affection for the artistic gesture: a patient ritual unfolding over time, inviting contemplation, inviting us to inhabit a space that lives by its own relational dynamics in which we inevitably participate.
Simona Pavoni, “Pori (5941)”, 2025, acrilico e carta su tela; “Sottoinsieme”, 2025, vetro temperato e vetro su struttura di legno, ph. Tiziano Ercoli, courtesy Mare Karina, Venezia
L’insieme (Curtains) allows itself to be traversed only if we approach it with care, attuned to listening and observation. The act of passage, which sets movement in motion, changes the perception of space: the relationship becomes central within an environment made of delicate, permeable materials that communicate through different languages. Paper is porous, fragile, capable of revealing its delicacy through its susceptibility to movement, light, and the passage of visitors. The folds mark its rhythm, transforming it into a translucent, vibrating organism. Respecting the integrity of the material does not mean leaving it as it is, but rather stimulating it to discover the forms it conceals, the relationships it is willing to weave with the environment, the ways its surface reshapes itself. Unlike L’insieme (Curtains), in Pori (2980), (5941) the additional space created by the perforations in the canvases is filled: the relationship between materials is guided. A dense chromatic dimension takes shape within a geometry of forms, molded by the direction of the pores. The artist acts upon the dimensionality of the surface, creating a representative geometry, and upon the dimensionality of the material, exploring what the canvas is willing to receive. The perforation is a patient, ritual, disciplined gesture, a sober act of construction that knows everything is already available if only we know where to look.
Simona Pavoni, “Pori (5941)”, 2025, acrylic and paper on canvas; “The Pack”, 2025, dog fur, photo Tiziano Ercoli, courtesy Mare Karina, Venice
The exhibition also includes Sottoinsieme, where tempered glass decomposes and recomposes into a rigorous geometry. Its forms converse with the perforations of curtains and canvases but relate to light in a disruptive way, through refraction rather than absorption. Pavoni thus reveals the secret of hospitality in a kind of discreet familiarity made of protection and repulsion, a paradoxical place of vulnerable defense where everything feels familiar, yet nothing is as we would expect. À Jour is a den that seems not designed for us, yet fits us perfectly. The works, inevitably sensitive to their surroundings, place us behind the scenes of what happens outside, without ever truly hiding us from the gaze of passersby: the shadows, silhouettes, light and movement manifesting behind L’insieme (Curtains) become the object of a discreet voyeurism that allows us to grasp fragments of what is happening, without invading or being invaded.
Simona Pavoni, “Pori (5941)”, 2025, acrylic and paper on canvas; “The Pack”, 2025, dog hair, ph. Tiziano Ercoli, courtesy Mare Karina, Venice
In the window display, dormant, lies Il branco: a carpet made of dog hair that encapsulates the exhibition’s paradox, symbolizing the animal’s alertness and loyalty, defense and hospitality. Il branco is a surrendered watchdog, a helpless guardian of the threshold. Pavoni gently leads us back to ourselves, inviting reflection on safety and protection: what we believe shields us often distracts us from caring for what is essential, leaving us never truly feeling safe. À Jour thus becomes a space of hospitality – provided we are first willing to welcome ourselves. The exhibition, curated by Giulia Mariachiara Galiano and Costanza Longanesi Cattani, is presented by Mare Karina, a gallery and production studio based in Venice, from September 17 to October 25, 2025.
Elena Di Battista
Info:
Simona Pavoni. À Jour
17/09/2025 – 25/10/2025
MARE KARINA
Campo de le Gate, 3200 – Venezia
www.marekarina.com
is a contemporary art magazine since 1980
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