There are times when I have to push, prod and pummel my way through life. Then, there are others when I let life lead me. My work develops in much the same way. I often have no idea where it’s going when I begin. The joy, for me, lies in the uncertainty; in embracing that void. The raw materials are all here: my yarns and the lost objects found by family and friends in this city I love. So, too, are the tools: the rigorously hand-made male tools, also kindly provided by the city. It is the process that is the true revelation. I use a needle felt technique. Which translates into hours of constant jabbing, pushing, probing, puncturing. This repetition, the relentless rhythm of it, creates a momentum. A momentum that not only gives birth to the piece itself but that also transports me.
I am Italian. I grew up in a home and a country with clearly defined, traditional male/female roles. My father supported us as a metal worker. My mother ‘kept house.’ She cooked. She cleaned. She knit. My mother was an obsessive knitter.
These ‘old world’ origins are as much a part of my art . As for the work? The metal tools, the soft, warm wool fibers and of course, the process... They are all about a ‘new world.’ A world in which as a woman and an artist, I believe we must push past those traditional assumptions, penetrate myths and provoke questions. Yes, this creates uncertainty and doubt. But doubt keeps the door open. Not just in life but in art.
Paola Citterio was born in 1964 in a small village close to Milan, Italy. She received her Bachelor of Art degree in Scenography from Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, NABA, in Milan 1986. For the next fifteen years she would work as a set designer for theater, film and commercial productions.
In 2001, Paola moved to New York City and found artistic inspiration in her family life, creating pieces that blend the traditional craftwork she learned from the women in her childhood home (knitting, sewing, felting and baking) with found objects from the city streets around her.
There is always an element of surprise in Paola’s work, as she likes her audience to engage with her pieces and discover them inside and out.
CV:
EDUCATION
1986 MFA at NABA
Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan, Italy
1982 BFA Liceo Artistico Interculturale, Monza
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 WOMAN, showcase Malo+Paola Citterio, Milano
2019 VISCERE, Fondazione Kenta, Milano
2019 atelier MONICA CASTIGLIONI, Brooklyn NY
2018 Capsula Lato 1/ Lato2, Milano
2018 AIR@4HEADS, art residency at Governors Island , NY
2018 Pip-Squeak Chapeau
2016 CELEBRATING BIRTH Weylin Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2016 #SYA-NYC - NYC City-Wide Art Installation as Demonstration
2016 MEN AT WORK - Picture Farm Gallery, Brooklyn NY
2014 SOLOFIFTY+viralcolonization - Picture Farm Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2013 VIRALCOLONIZATION2013 a year Residency (Bathroom) Jonathan Levine Gallery, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 GO FIGURE: THE FEMALE GAZE, The Hewitt Gallery of Art NY
2019 WELLS ART CONTEMPORARY, Somerset UK
2019 EVERY WOMAN BIENNIAL, LAMAMA Galleria, NY
2018 BOMBAY SAPPHIRE ARTISANS SERIES, New York finalist, White Space Gallery NY
2018 ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF, Cigar Factory LIC, NY
2018 WOMEN AT WORK, Ground Floor Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2017 4Heads GIAF Governors Island, NY
2013 CREST ART SHOW, Brooklyn, NY
2011 METROPOLITAN BUDDHA, Cappelletti Arte Contemporanea, Milan-hosted by Michela Martello
2011 EATART. MANGIA 'ARTE, Italian Cultural Institute,
Los Angeles, CA
2011 NUOVI TALENTI, Wook & Lattuada Gallery, NYC
2011 EATART. MANGIA L'ARTE Wook & Lattuada Gallery, NYC
2011 IMAFestival, La MaMa Theatre- The Club, NY
2011 ART ESTATE, IMAFestival & Corcoran Group, Gramercy Park, NY
