ROBERTA CONTI
Born in Turin (ITALY), 1972
Lives and work in Agugliano – Ancona (ITALY)
ARTISTIC EDUCATION
Art college – Institute of Art, Ancona
Degree in Art DAMS (Drama, Art and Music Studies) – University of Bologna
Visual Designer Qualification – The CNIPA Institute, Ancona
School of Nude – Academy of Fine Arts, Bologna
Teacher of Artistic Education
My artworks have been exhibited in Italy, Athens and Thessaloniki. I have curated contemporary art exhibitions and has designed microARTfest, a festival of contemporary arts. My work was edited by S. Nastro, C. Caliandro, E. di Mauro, I. Falbo, C. Lio, S. Cardinali and L. Mozzoni. Selection of some exhibitions: Naked Soul, Santoni Palace, Contemporary Day for the Pinacoteca di Jesi, curated by S. Cardinali; ArtMille, a contemporary art space at Assitalia INA in Piacenza, curated by L. Baldini; The First Quiet Night at A. Grigoletti architectural studio for Verona Fair, curated by C. Caliandro; Italian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition 150th Italian Unity in Turin, curated by V. Sgarbi; in Bologna 13X17 by P. Daverio and J. Blanchaert; Flash Art Show Bologna curated by L. Baldini and G. Politi; Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens, edited by D. Gianti and A. Oikonomidou.
SANTA NASTRO (art critic and journalist)
(…) Roberta records everything. Absorbs, with bright and penetrating eyes, and then metabolizes into energy what he has seen and wants to tell. She is disenchanted, enchantment delegates it to his painting, but not resigned. And it does not pretend to provide solutions or to transmit the absolute truth. She is not right, she is not left. She does not belong.
His only goal is to tell stories.
Critics
CRITICS
An interview of Santa Nastro
Who is Roberta Conti?
She’s an artist, a woman, a human being.
Which way and urgencies have brought you to the choice of becoming an artist?
When I was 14 I got aware that I couldn’t help but express my thoughts through images. I often used to go through a crisis because being (not DOING) an artist needs to go into deep, exploring universal themes also looking at ourselves inside.. and this is not an easy path!
Why painting?
It gives me the liberty to give shape to the images I’ve got in my mind. My thoughts are transformed into shapes and colours and I need them to ‘push them out’ through the direct process of drawing and painting. There is a direct link between the pictures I build in my mind and my painting. Art can sum up and express my life in this world.
Your works tell us about stories from the real life. Characters, ideas, experiences that truly exist somewhere in this world. Which part of the daily life do you bring in your art?
I think art is the most concise, direct, profound and poetic to talk about the world I live in and to discuss the social and cultural aspects that involve us all. I work as an art teacher at the lower secondary school and this transpires through my painting. Everyday I get into contact with young people and families’ stories who are involved into difficult destinies. This allows me to acknowledge and talk about realities, often not very much known, like illness, disability, pathological reactions (and not only these ones) and the parents’ heroism. This is everybody’s world, this is true life.
As for the up-to-date moment, a recurring theme in your work, what kind of relation do you mean to establish with the real?
I think art is generated, and is regenerated, in the daily life, in places different from art itself. I want to keep my eyes wide open on the present moment to highlight, through my work, the basic and most relevant ‘knots’ of life.
When you go to an art exhibition, what do you look for or expect? (as an artist as well as a common spectator)
As a spectator, I look for the substance, a message that helps me think about and grow: I’d like to come out of an exhibition enriched, full. As an artist, I try to learn from the artists who are cleverer than me, I try to understand which way they go to for their research in themes and styles. This stimulates the continual renewal of my language. I consider possible affinities and/or differences that can make my experience more direct and communicative so that it is in line with the contemporary communicative ways of art.
And what would you like people to find in your work?
The immediate message, clarity, humanity, warmth. I’d like my thought get to people immediately. I’d like that, before one of my works, the spectator say: ‘I had never thought about this thing’ or ‘I had never considered the topic from this point of view’. I’d like that people don’t have to find any tortuous reasoning because what I talk about is in the spectators’ life, it is life.
Other critics texts of:
Edoardo di Mauro
Isabella Falbo
Simona Cardinali e Loretta Mozzoni
Solo Exhibitions
2021
Where do we come from? Who we are? Where do we go?
Papini Gallery, Ancona, curated by Massimo Vitangeli
2017
NAKED SOUL
Santoni Palace, Contemporary Day for the Pinacoteca di Jesi, curated by S. Cardinali;
VORACIOUS
Castel of Piticchio for Ar[t]cevia, Arcevia, curated by L. Coppa
2016
SOLO
Puccini art gallery, Ancona, curated by G. Naspi
2012
SOFT IDOL
A3CONTEMPORANEA gallery - Salerno, curated by M. A. Grasso
2011
ANIMAL-MIND Human dream 2.0
double solo with W. Vecchietti Church of St. Anna Agugliano, Ancona, seventh day of contemporary art, in collaboration whith AMACI2010
Human dream
double solo with W. Vecchietti, Church of St. Anna Agugliano, Ancona, sixth day of the contemporary art, in collaboration whith AMACI;
Postcards Cristina
drawings for poems written by F. Pesaresi
2009
ArtMille
contemporary art space at Piacenza Assitalia INA, Piacenza, curated by Placentia Gallery
New oversight. Nine tracks of contemporary art, Church of St. Bernardo Jesi, curated by S. Cardinals and L. Mozzoni
2003
OL3
“Field of strawberry”, Bologna, edited by I. Falbo; I can't dance as I want, Atelier Arco Amoroso, Ancona, curated by I. Falbo
2001
Waiting
La Grada, Bologna, exposition and performance, curated by A. Scalone
2000
FarArtInquina (To make art pollutes)
Ex Garage Fanesi Falconara, Ancona, collaboration whit S. Maggiori, R. Filippetti, C. Terrosi
Group shows
2020
I give you my word, ROOTS
curated by Butick collective_online exhibition
2019
A portrait of a Museum
Omero Museum, Ancona, curated by M. Vitangeli
Expo Porte de Versailles
Parigi, curated by Zoia Independent Artists
2018
Biennal of Contemporary art Marche
Ascoli Piceno, curated by S. Tonti
CHEAPART 8
art fair Salonicco, curated by A. Oikonomidou
FRAGILE III – HANDLE WITH CARE
Museum teathre of Commenda of Pré, Genova, curated by B. Spagnuolo
2017
REPLAY II – Il vizio dell’errore
Sala Messina (Ex pescheria), Giarre-Catania, curated by B. Spagnuolo; Ar[t]cevia, International art Festival, Priori Palace, Arcevia, curated by L. Coppa
2016
THE FIRST QUIET NIGHT
A. Grigoletti studio’s, Verona – event for Verona Fair, curated by C. Caliandro; COR INQUIETUM, San Niccolò Church, Jesi, curated by K. Buratti, C. Marzioni, R. Frattesi;
ANCONACREA
wall painting Faiani school, Ancona, curated by W. Vecchietti
2015
ANCONACREA
Canonici library, Ancona curated by W. Vecchietti
2014
CLOUDS
Mole Vanvitelliana Ancona, curated by D. Santinelli e A. Silicati; LANDSCAPE ENVIRONMENT CREATIVITY, PAC 3, CEA INteatro, Polverigi curated by A. Zamboni
2013
IlluVIsioni
Camerata Picena_edited by R. Conti e W. Vecchietti (catalog text of the writer Paolo Marasca)
2012
PORTA PIA OPEN ACCADEMY
Wall painting, Ancona, curated by L. Sotchi; ART WALK- Inteatro -INSTALLATION IN NATURE, Polverigi, Ancona, edited by A. Zamboni
2011-12
ITALIAN PAVILLION AT 54 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF ART- BIENNAL OF VENICE
- Turin Palace Exhibition, curated by V. Sgarbi
2010
YEAR ZERO
Literary Cafe, Fermo, curated by E. Di Mauro
2009
CHEAPART 15
space Stratopedo Kodra in Thessaloniki, Greece, curated by D. Giant and Aphrodite Oikonomidou; Italian Week, Area Technopolis - Cultural Center of the City of Athens, Organisation: Italian Embassy in Athens, curated by D. Giant and A. Oikonomidou;
POP UP! POSTER ART
contemporary art in urban space 2nd ed., Ancona, a Mac production, curated by M. Caputo, A. Corbo and L. Garbini
2008
mEFFE (F method)
Mole Vanvitelliana Ancona, curated by S. Fiorentino, T. Ferretti, G. Curatola, M. Del Pesce, L. Niccolini; The folly deserves applause, Galleria Art. è, Ancona, curated by A. Galassi; Come una regione durante il terremoto, Trevisi Accademie, Treviso, curated by di C.Lio
2007
Signs ’07
Cenacolo F. Casorati, Torino, curated by D. Gianti, Declination of contemporary fuguration, Falconara M., Ancona, curated by Prof. Tonti;
CONTEmpoRRANEA
Artessenza gallery, Ancona, curated by A. D’Annunzio; ZOOart, Fresia gardens, Cuneo, edited by M. Giuggia, O. Calvetti, P. Sasia;
CuprArte
International Festival of Contemporary Art, Cupramontana, Ancona, curated by A. Ginesi, A. Luccarini, R. Ridolfi
2006
Fight, Art
Fair Sardinia Cagliari, Amnesiac Arts Gallery, curated by B. Improta; Signs ’06, Cenacolo F. Casorati, Torino, curated by D. Gianti; 13X17, Church of S. Cristina, Bologna, curated by F. Daverio e J. Blanchaert (catalogue Rizzoli edition);
A certain form of heaven
Galleria Amnesiacarts, Potenza, curated by I. Falbo
2005
Group Show
Galleria Santabarbara, Milano, curated by B. Santabarbara; FLASH ART Show Bologna, Galleria Placentia, curated by di L. Baldini e G. Politi
2004
EXIT - CULTURE UP
contemporary art show, Bologna, curated by G. Pedullà (texts in catalogue by V. Dehò, A. De Paz, I. Falbo); Biennal of Adriatic, S. Benedetto del Tronto, curated by R. Bianchini;
RIPARTE X
International Fair of Contemporary Art, Ripa All Suites Hotel, Roma, curated by Galleria Santabarbara
2002
Good friends
Campo delle Fragole, Bologna, curated by I. Falbo; Epifanie, Sesto senso, Bologna, curated by S. Pasquini and Elia
Events
2016
microARTfest
festival of arts and contemporary culture, Ex Convento di Castel D’Emilio, Agugliano, curated by R.Conti
2015
microARTfest
festival of arts and contemporary culture, Ex Convento di Castel D’Emilio, Agugliano, curated by R.Conti
2014
SNatura
Art Human Dream 3.0, Castello del Cassero di Camerata Picena, curated by R. Conti e W. Vecchietti
2013
IlluVIsioni
Camerata Picena, curated by R. Conti and W. Vecchietti (text of P. Marasca)
Prizes
2018
Biennal of Contemporary art Marche
Selected, Ascoli Piceno, curated by S. Tonti
2014
The Sign prize
Selected, Palace of Racchetta, Ferrara, curated by Zamenhof Art Gallery
2008
Arteingenua Price
Selected by Arteingenua, Brescia’s Castel, curated by F. Magnino
2007
Artemisia Price
Selected by Artistic Association Artemisia, Falconara M., Ancona, curated by Prof. Tonti; Novara Price, Selected by Cultural Association Art Action, Novara, curated by V. Scardigno
2006
Artemisia price
Special price, Artistic Association Artemisia, Falconara M., curated by Prof. Tonti; Utopy, Admition by Pescara Price’s Selection, Museum of Modern Art Vittoria Colonna, Pescara, curated by M. Martella and E. Di Febo
2004
Metamorphosis
Admition by Pescara Price’s Selection, Museum of Modern Art Vittoria Colonna, Pescara, curated by M. Martella and M. Renzetti
Workshops
2019
workshop_
A portrait of Museum, Museo Omero Ancona, curated by M. Vitangeli
2018
Art residence_Jiwar Barcellona
curated by M. Estrada
2013
Art residence with contemporary dancers
Sparizioni/Apparizioni, Mole Vanvitelliana Ancona, curated by S. Zepponi
