Louise Giovanelli: A Song of Ascents

What lies behind the curtain? Before a performance begins, all attention is focused on the closed curtain. Everything initially takes place in the minds of the audience—expectations and possibilities are unlimited. In her often large-format oil paintings, the celebrated British painter Louise Giovanelli stages the magic of this moment, juxtaposing its fleeting nature with the richly detailed materiality of the depicted fabrics. The VILLA STUCK Museum, in collaboration with the Hepworth Wakefield Gallery and the HALLE FÜR KUNST, Graz, presents the artist's first major solo exhibition in Germany. On view are ten new works and a representative selection of works from recent years.

The play with veiling that Louise Giovanelli stages in her paintings arouses curiosity and invites reflection on perception, cognition, and representational mechanisms in art. She declares the performance setting, or the stage itself, to be the true subject, on which the painter experiments with every conceivable register of color, light, and texture with a sense of drama. The draped fabrics, reminiscent of the Old Masters, are created through numerous translucent layers of paint. Yet the material seems to dissolve theatrically through glittering light reflections. Giovanelli also applies this technique to other motifs such as dresses or wigs, which appear as precise as they are artificial. Her painting thus addresses the artificial character of art itself.

At the heart of Giovanelli's seemingly glamorous spectacles are rituals shaped by social and cultural groups. Some stage motifs refer to so-called Working Men's Clubs – establishments that emerged in Great Britain in the 19th century as a counterpart to elite gentlemen's clubs and served as a leisure activity for the working class. Religious allusions – such as the inquisitorial verdict auto-da-fé or the pilgrimage song A Song of Ascents – encounter an ecstatic nightlife, fed by the pop cultural imagery of the 1970s to 1990s. Giovanelli addresses this complex of themes in a series of small-format depictions of faces. Often blurred and fragmented, they appear otherworldly, revealing turmoil or ecstasy in wide-open, gasping mouths and distorted facial features. The intoxication becomes a consciousness-expanding experience in which drugs, sex and enlightenment unite, lust, horror and violence intertwine and individual traits become increasingly blurred.

Giovanelli draws inspiration from photographs, film stills, and iconic works of European art history. The brilliance in her works, however, transcends ethnic and social differences and creates a sense of togetherness. This radiance unfolds a visual quality that transcends mere visibility. Glittering effects obscure the actual appearance, distracting the eye—even from worn curtains. In this brilliance, collective happiness transcends the isolation of the individual.

About the Artist

Louise Giovanelli (b. 1993, London, UK) lives and works in Manchester (UK). She completed her postgraduate studies at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main (DE) with professor Amy Sillman in 2020, after having earned a Bachelor’s Degree (B.A. Hons, Fine Art) at the Manchester School of Art, Manchester (UK) in 2015.

Solo exhibitions include: Here on Earth, White Cube Hong Kong (HK); Louise Giovanelli - Paintings 2019 - 2024, He Art Museum (HEM), Foshan (CN); Soothsay, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); Always Different, Always the Same, Moon Grove, Manchester (UK); Collection Spotlight: Louise Giovanelli, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool (UK); As If, Almost, White Cube, London (UK) and Auto-da-fé, GRIMM, New York, NY (US).

Giovanelli's work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including True Colors, AkzoNobel Art Foundation at Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); Good Morning, Midnight, The Courtauld Gallery, London (UK); Self-Portraits, GRIMM, New York, NY (US); In Focus, Centraal Museum, Utrecht (NL); The Sea, the Sky, a Window, Hill Art Foundation, New York, NY (US); In New York, Thinking of You, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (US) and The Kingfisher’s Wing, curated by Tom Morton, GRIMM, New York, NY (US).

Giovanelli’s work can be found in the collections of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation (NL); Asymmetry Art Foundation (UK); The Contemporary Art Foundation (JP); Hall Art Foundation (DE, US); The Hepworth Wakefield (UK); Hill Art Foundation (US); Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (US); Longlati Foundation (CN); Manchester Art Gallery Collection (UK); MOCA, Los Angeles, CA (US); The National Museum (NO); Sarow Gallery Collection (DE); The UK Government Art Collection (UK); Warrington Museum and Art Gallery (UK); Whitworth Art Gallery (UK); Yuz Museum Shanghai (CN) among others.

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