From 9 May to 5 July, Villa Brandolini in Pieve di Soligo (Treviso) hosted Idoli Pedemontani, a solo exhibition by Denis Riva, curated by Leonardo Regano and promoted by Agalma Associazione Italiana, with the support of the Municipality of Pieve di Soligo.
Photo credit: Comune di Pieve di Soligo
The exhibition brought together around one hundred works, characterized by the use of heterogeneous techniques and reclaimed materials.
The core of the exhibition revolves around the series Idoli Pedemontani, comprising ten large-scale canvases bearing the names of towns and villages in the Treviso foothills. Rather than reproducing these place names faithfully, however, Riva subjects them to what curator Leonardo Regano describes as a "phonetic violence." San Boldo becomes Boldus, Brandolini is transformed into Bandhi, Fiadora into Fiadd, and Follina into Foll. Installed within the same gallery are the canine heads from the series Guardania, which face the monumental Idoli Pedemontani, establishing a visual dialogue between the two bodies of work.
Photo credit: Artribune
Another room, illuminated by natural light, presents several works on paper executed in watercolor and gouache. The exhibition also includes the Polittico dei Giorni immobili, a project conceived during the 2020 lockdown.
Photo credit: Artribune
Photo credit: Artribune
Denis Riva (Cento, 1979), also known as Deriva, is an artist whose practice spans a wide range of media, from painting and drawing to sculpture and installation. Nature has long been a constant presence in his work. He spent the first part of his life in the area he refers to as Ganzamonio, described by the artist as "that Emilian Bermuda Triangle from which my imagination has been nourished since childhood". It is a conceptual territory encompassing the cities of Bologna, Ferrara, and Modena. In 2012, Riva moved to Follina, a small hill town in the province of Treviso, listed among The Most Beautiful Villages of Italy. There he found the environment best suited to his way of living and working: a slower pace of life, a reassuring daily routine, and a constant relationship with the animal and plant world. The artist describes himself as feeling like a twentieth-century painter who "every morning leaves home, walks through the woods along a nearby path […] talks to dogs, observes plants, remains in silence, and reaches the studio on foot through the village". This close relationship with nature immerses him in a cyclical perception of time that stands in sharp contrast to the frenetic pace of contemporary life, from which he consciously seeks to distance himself.
Photo credit: Thomas Possamai. Source: Instagram @derivadr
