Reviews

CHRYSALISES

To speak of Simona Ragazzi is first and foremost to speak of her multifaceted nature, where nothing is secondary or merely in service of something else—everything is part of a path that consistently chooses the more difficult route, or at least, like Robert Frost, the less obvious one.

Simona Ragazzi’s photography unsettles; it is none of what you would expect. Her way of transmuting the immediate concreteness of a solid work into the gentle lightness of an image allows for steps of supreme strength and depth.
They are absolute steps...
And as one begins to engage with her photographic themes, it becomes clear that Chrysalises are among her most intriguing works.

Any reference to the chrysalis cannot avoid, in our shared cultural understanding, the intrinsic concept of transformation. In a way, this connects to the alchemical maxim that states, “that which is in constant transformation cannot perish,” thus endowing it with a kind of immortality.
In immortality, it is neither the caterpillar nor the chrysalis that truly dies—and perhaps not even the butterfly—if all is seen from a broader perspective of change. Then, everything remains by continuously transforming, until maybe, in a distant future, it can only return to what it once was.

As Ragazzi herself affirms, these photographs “…symbolize the transmutative process of my ceramic-sculptural work. I capture a stage of creation as an ephemeral song, transitory and enclosed in time... like silent poems, marvelous butterflies, lattices of memory…”

A work on the work itself, one that lives its own life, drawing strength and conceptual meaning from this origin.
To crystallize the instant of poetry in the constant transformation of reality… in this case, just before the transformation brought by fire.

It all reflects how Simona’s works are part of a relentless and continuous search—steps, long steps, thoughtful or impulsive steps, steps of the soul and of the heart—and it is a joy to walk those steps with her.

Simone Di Franceschi

"...Simona Ragazzi makes matter the sole protagonist, presenting it—within a kind of ontological short circuit—as both determinant and determined in relation to the figure.

The faces emerging from the material may originate from it, pointing to the need to recognize our own material nature; or they may be the imprint left by the human passage, highlighting the equally pressing need to acknowledge the subjectivity of our gaze upon the world.

This intimate relationship with matter is further emphasized through the sculptures—whether in the objectification of the figure in Viola, or in the optimistic desire to penetrate the meaning of things in Tuffo."

Alessandro Baito

"In a time of transition such as the one we are currently experiencing, it is not unusual to encounter artists who explore the ambiguity of Being, the evanescence of Existence, staging—within a dizzying play of mirrors—the absence of presence and the presence of absence of what is, par excellence, the Subject: Man.

In the works of Simona Ragazzi, essences, traces, gathered souls take shape—souls that live within the earth, within clay. They move slowly through the magma of creation until they imperceptibly emerge into the real world, from which we behold them. In these sequences, the faces seem to shift fluidly from one panel to another, changing expression, hiding, then revealing themselves. They come to visit us, to convey a feeling, penetrating the soul of the observer as deeply as the layers in which they dwell.

Memory and oblivion, presence and absence, everything and nothing—this exhibition dances on the invisible (and indissoluble) thread that binds these opposites. And perhaps it ends up suggesting that, in truth, opposites are not merely two sides of the same coin, but perhaps—even—one and the same thing.

To be or not to be? Both. Simultaneously."

Art Journal

"...The Cloister of St. Anna, a place of particular charm, recently restored to its former splendor through a successful renovation, is located within a monumental complex in the heart of Ferrara, just a few meters from the Este Castle. It will serve as the perfect setting for the new extratemporal works of Simona Ragazzi.
These are present-day creations that interpret the contemporary world through a language rich in explicit iconographic references, yet stylistically deceptive—as if they were archaeological relics from a hypothetical future.
Everyday figures, already eroded by time, bear witness to a consumerism never truly lived."

Roberta Angelini

Her artistic research is inspired by Man—by his soul, his mind, his forms. Matter is her first passion; sculpture, specifically modeling, is the translation of her language. Her artistic journey seems to move in reverse: from full-figure narratives, to portrait-mirrors, to bas-relief notes, to moments-as-notes; a backward path, from the large to the small, from the universal to the particular.

Simona’s faces and figures—deeply realistic, raw, gentle, and poetic—hide unsettling mysteries, painful revelations, everyday stories, and ruthless denunciations. Her “notes,” bas-reliefs modeled on sheets of clay and hung on the wall like traces of memory, have captured secrets, revealed intentions, and told stories. Now, Simona feels the need to focus on the moment—to emphasize the instant within a narrative, to stop it, suspend it, abstract it from the story. And so, her most recent notes need to be placed within a defined space, to become part of a frame, co-protagonists in a still image, in an immortal moment.

Roberta Angelini

Painted terracotta, high-fired ceramics, raku ceramics on painted surfaces, and even a few patinated bronzes are the mediums of her artistic exploration, with a selective approach to images that emerge from sheets of clay.

Within the body of the material, faces, gazes, mouths, and details take shape, becoming frescoes—even within a rapid sequence of narrative flashes.

The watchful eye of the 35-year-old Bolognese artist acts upon the infinite variety of faces—at times just hinted at through specific details, other times more defined and almost characterized—that in any case capture an intimate condition and express a portrayal of personality. It's as if, on stage (the surface of the material), forms are created to be transformed and thus questioned.

A spectacle of diverse humanity, vivid and extraordinarily animated by scenes of motherhood, lost innocence, sweet deceptions ("Would you like a candy?"), self-exaltation, defeats, restlessness, impulses, and fears—all of which also bring the artist’s self-portrait into play.

Gazzetta di Modena – Michele Fuoco

Simona Ragazzi’s work, inspired by the humanity of Man and his human contradictions, employs a clear, immediate, and powerful language. Faces—or fragments of faces—emerge from sheets of clay like notes from memory, capturing emotions, telling stories, revealing intentions, denouncing horrors, and evoking passions. Faces of anyone, anonymous, yet representative of all possible faces.

Possible life stories

Art Journal – Roberta Angelini

"...Simona Ragazzi’s operational center is in the Paese dei Balocchi, an outermost suburb dominated by terracotta buildings. There, Simona feels safe and works with clay and ceramics. Sculpture is the projection of a passion called art."

Il Resto del Carlino Bologna – Column curated by Franco Basile

"...At the same time, other notes were multiplying in the same environment, distinguished by very slight differences, thus giving rise to sequences. It is precisely in these evolving elaborations that Simona’s most recent work takes shape.

Giving movement to matter, soul to sculpture, reflects her need to incorporate the flow of time as a means of communication.

The sequences unfold and differentiate; Ragazzi is not content with animating the sculpture figuratively—she also inserts metaphor to strengthen the surreal image of time passing."

Art Journal – Roberta Angelini