Paris Internationale - © Paris Internationale
Luisa Gardini, DURATA (2011-2024), exhibition view, Ermes Ermes, 2024
Ph. Luana Rigolli - © Courtesy of the Artist and Ermes Ermes, Paris Internationale
Ermes Ermes

ERMES ERMES was opened in 2017 in Vienna, later in 2021 the gallery moved to Rome in Via dei Banchi Vecchi 16 in an historical Palazzo from 1400.
The gallery represents Italian and international artists whose practices investigate different media: sculpture, painting, photography, video, performance and installations.

Ermes Ermes presents a conversation between Beatrice Bonino (b. 1992, Torino, IT) and Luisa Gardini (b. 1935, Ravenna, IT). Despite belonging to different generations, both artists employ a wide array of media to articulate intimate narratives of daily life and time. Through the layering, erasure, fading, and preservation of memories and materials, Gardini and Bonino engage with the ever-evolving language of matter.

Beatrice Bonino’s work explores the boundaries between the visible and invisible. Delving into concepts of form and surface, as well as the relationship between content and container, her sculptures are composed of various found objects and materials, including paper, glass, silicone, plastic, and textiles. Once functioning as cases, shells, everyday objects, or ornaments, these materials interact to create a layered opacity of surfaces. By exploring different shades of transparency, Bonino transforms the original purpose of materials into a narrative of memories and time, blurring the lines between images and visual perception. While Bonino evokes fragile and transient atmospheres, Luisa Gardini engages with matter through a continuous oscillation between creation and destruction, addition and removal.
In Gardini’s work, illegible asemic writing, various materials, and found objects merge to create a fusion of forms and textures embedded within deep layers of matter. Gardini’s artistic journey began in the 1950s when she became part of the vibrant artistic community at Toti Scialoja’s school in Rome. Since then, her practice—spanning painting, drawing, collage, and sculpture—has been marked by rapid gestures and authentic expressiveness. For a long period, Gardini distanced herself from the conventional art system, focusing instead on developing her own unique language. This commitment to artistic freedom led her to step away from exhibitions between the 1950s and the 1980s, a decision that now shapes the rhythm of her career, which has spanned over fifty years.

Beatrice Bonino
Letto, 2024
Glass, plastic, silicon
30x40 cm (11,8x15,7'') - © Courtesy of the Artist and Ermes Ermes
Ph. Luana Rigolli, Paris Internationale

Beatrice Bonino
Letto, 2024
Glass, plastic, silicon
30x40cm (11,8x15,7”)

Ermes Ermes - © Paris Internationale

Luisa Gardini
Senza titolo, 1983
Charchoal on canvas
70x100 cm (27,5x39,3’’)

Ermes Ermes - © Paris Internationale

Beatrice Bonino
Senza titolo, 2024
Glass, plastic, rubber
40x50cm (15,7x19,6”)

Ermes Ermes - © Paris Internationale

Luisa Gardini
Senza Titolo, 1978
Collage, mixed media on canvas
24x36 cm (9,4x14’’)

Ermes Ermes - © Paris Internationale

Luisa Gardini
Salso mare, 1995
Mixed media, collage and graphite on canvas
30x40 cm (11,8x15,7’’)

Artists

Beatrice Bonino (b.1992, Turin) lives and works in Paris; holds a PhD in Sanskrit at Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle.
Selected solo and group exhibitions: 2024, Post Scriptum. Un museo dimenticato a memoria, curated by Luca Lo Pinto at MACRO, Rome, IT; Gallerina at Galerie Molitor, Berlin, De; Cosetta at Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, DE; Kill your darlings at Ermes Ermes, Rome, It; 2023 Living Spaces at Galerie Molitor, Berlin, DE; Cosetta at MMXX, Milan, IT; If I did, I did, I die at Jacqueline Sullivan gallery, New York, USA

Luisa Gardini (b. 1935, Ravenna), lives and works in Rome.
Selected solo and group exhibitions: 2024, Luisa Gardini - Beatrice Bonino, presented by Ermes Ermes at Paris Internationale, Paris, FR; Luisa Gardini, DURATA (2011-2024) at Ermes Ermes, Rome, IT; Luisa Gardini, solo presentation by Ermes Ermes at Artefiera, Bologna, IT; Fluttuazioni del visibile, Artisti fra immagini e figura, curated by Silvia Pegoraro at Galleria Marchetti, Roma; 2023, Luisa Gardini at Intermezzo Studio, Paris, FR; Luisa Gardini – Ser Serpas at MiArt, presented by Ermes Ermes in collaboration with LC Queisser, Milan, IT; 2022, Clin d’oeil with Davide Stucchi at Ermes Ermes, Rome, IT; 2018, Trimini Rising at Belmacz, London, UK; 2017, Trialogo/Rossini & Beiderbecke at Librogalleria La Diagonale, Rome, IT; Gli amici di Toti Scialoja e Gabriella Drudi at MACRO, Rome, IT; 2016, Luisa Gardini & Felix at Guimarães, Vienna, AT; Luisa Gardini at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò, New York University, New York, US; 2014, To continue. Notes towards a Sculpture Cycle. Parte prima: Materia, curated by C. Canziani and I. Gianni at Nomas Foundation, Rome, IT; Carte e sculture - Anni Settanta e Anni Duemila, curated by P. Bonani at La Diagonale, Rome, IT; 2012, Smeared with the gold of the Opulent Sun, curated by C. Sharp at Nomas Foundation, Rome, IT; 1996, Luisa Gardini (29 aprile), in Martiri e Santi at Associazione Culturale L’Attico, Rome, IT; Luisa Gardini at Ronchini Arte Contemporanea, Terni, IT; Luisa Gardini at The Voxxx. Kultur und Kommunikation Zentrum, Chemnitz, DE; 1993, Luisa Gardini at Galleria Miralli, Viterbo, IT; 1992, Luisa Gardini. Opere recenti at Chiesa SS. Giovanni e Paolo, Spoleto, IT; 1989, Luisa Gardini. Opere recenti at Studio Durante, Rome, IT; 1988, Post scriptum. Artiste in Italia tra linguaggio e immagine negli anni ‘60 e ‘70 at Civiche Gallerie d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, IT; 1984, Luisa Gardini. Opere recenti at Galleria Mèta Arte Contemporanea, Bolzano, IT; 1983, Luisa Gardini. Opere recenti at Galleria L’Isola, Rome, IT; 1981, Luisa Gardini. Opere su carta e su tela 1977-1980 at Galleria d’Arte Grafica dei Greci, Rome, IT; 1979, From page to space. Women in the Italian Avant-Garde Between Language and Image, curated by M. Bentivoglio at Center for Italian Studies - Columbia University, New York, US.

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