When Thread, Color, and Word Intertwine
ALICE SCHIVARDI, LUCIANA PRETTA, LUISA LANARCA
Three Artists in Dialogue
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Maja Arte Contemporanea is pleased to present a series of three solo exhibitions curated by
Giovanna Dalla Chiesa. The event brings together the work of three artists—Alice Schivardi,
Luciana Pretta, and Luisa Lanarca—marking their first collaboration with the gallery.
Alice Schivardi > 19 February – 8 March
Luciana Pretta > 12 – 29 March
Luisa Lanarca > 2 – 19 April
According to Giovanna Dalla Chiesa:
“The art of painting, in its richness, has accustomed us to such a layering of elements that the
function of each is often obscured in favor of the network of meanings that sustains the overall
composition. In this exhibition, seemingly designed to highlight the contours of a feminine
constellation, each of the three artists is entrusted with the role of fully supporting one of these
elements against the subtle backdrop of painting: Alice Schivardi takes on the power of thread,
which in her ‘embroidery drawings’ replaces the pencil or pen, tracing figures that float in the air, suspended by transparent supports, marking the aerial and infinite dimension of space, as well as its concentration in small details. Luciana Pretta explores the flow of emotions within expanses of color that slide like a liquid blanket from top to bottom, from sky to earth, simulating the tectonics of a soft, welcoming environment capable of enveloping our space like tapestries. Luisa Lanarca’s task is to intertwine thread, color, and light, invoking poetic language through the art of weaving, transforming it into a call, transcribed according to the style of late 19th-century signs and affiches.
The ‘when’ in the title refers not to a general mode of thread, color, and word, but to the specific
moment and the particular event in which things will unfold—not only for the artists but also for the visitors, who will see and be invited to interpret the three different solo exhibitions, each lasting two weeks, intertwining their threads to bring out the variables within a common substrate.”
Selected works
Critical essay
Alice Schivardi
By Giovanna Dalla Chiesa
With the thread of her ’embroidery drawings’ on transparent paper, Alice Schivardi has not only told stories that bring to the forefront the intimacy and focused contemplation of the feminine world, but has also built a bridge between aspects of artistic representation that have traditionally remained abstracted from reality and those deeply rooted in life.
These include not only ethically or spiritually exemplary figures such as the partisan Mario Fiorentini or Saint Rita of Cascia—protagonists of some remarkable performances—but also the entire living world: from extraordinary social insects like bees to other creatures who, regardless of their place in the natural order, deserve respect, even to the point of receiving a proper burial. This extends to the animal kingdom of dogs and birds, with whom the artist achieves a profound sense of identification, as well as to the broader spectrum of human diversity—ethnic, gender-based, or genetic—as reflected in her recent work with the blind.
Alice Schivardi’s thread is, therefore, a thread of thought—immaterial yet persistent—that weaves both severe and gentle stories onto transparent surfaces, allowing it to float in the air. It crosses boundaries, continually forging connections and, when necessary, reshaping the narrative to reunite what human prejudice has divided.
This wise and profound thread, aesthetically enchanting, engages with anthropological, political, social, and religious dimensions—foundations of our human awareness and essential to the possibility and necessity of harmonious coexistence and survival.
Exhibited Artists
