About Constanza Piaggio

Contemporary artist Constanza Piaggio has been interested in art history, color and curatorial theory since she began creating art. Piaggio’s approach is rooted to a classic tradition of art making, both in process and in theory, but continues to test the confines of the frame and modern art’s perception of visual language. Topics of concern relate to perception, memory, and our relationship with the natural world.

The artist had two solo-shows with the gallery, Mental Meteorites in 2015 and (earlier work) The Trap in 2021. More about these series and samples of other projects follow.

Préludes by Constanza Piaggio

In Préludes (2022- ) the artist's gaze explores the natural world and establishes a connection with the ecosystem through the creation of images. Through this series, Piaggio continues a line of interest which considers the impact of humanity in relationship to nature. Piaggio’s photographic series evokes the idea of origin- the beginning of a story, an emotion, a sensation. They represent the possibility of starting again from scratch, from a virgin territory, unaltered, in search of oneself and a link with the natural environment.

Mental Meteorites by Constanza Piaggio

Mental Meteorites (2017-2018), the artworks featured above, is a plastic and formal visual study that combines photographs from Piaggio’s personal image-archive; dry pigments; and, in some images, color grounds. Rather than collages, Piaggio considers her integrations of these base elements “interventions.” The works are instinctive and elemental, playful and spontaneous. Like visual haikus- the prints are concise yet expansive. Indeed, this project is a culminative one. The series keeps with Piaggio’s interest in art history, touches on traditional aspects of visual representation via the powder-pigment, and engages the role of the snapshot in everyday life and contemporary art. Piaggio’s Mental Meteorites underscores that the human desire to preserve a moment for future enjoyment is primal, never all-inclusive, and always open to interpretation. 

Rock - Paper - Guillotine by Constanza Piaggio

Rock - Paper - Guillotine is a short film Piaggio shot in 8mm that has been transferred to DVD and edited to HD-resolution. It tells a story of euphony and cacophony through brief moments of everyday life strangely tainted by the singular texture of the film. Images of backwash, colorful smoke, and locations in France familiar to Piaggio are edited to the rhythm of the paper cutter. Each “cut” designates a change of direction or location, a new occurrence whereby certain elements emerge, disappear, and reemerge. The looping nature of the video render Piaggio’s autobiographical images more intimate and more enigmatic. They make passing references the process of collage and experimental cinema. Rock - Paper - Guillotine recounts an elliptical and highly personal story through contemporary art. It was created by Piaggio in collaboration with Romain Sein and features a soundtrack by Duncan Toth.

Limited edition prints from Mental Meteorites are accompanied by download of an authenticated version of the video, Rock - Paper - Guillotine; the video is integral to the work. Rock - Paper - Guillotine is one of several videos by the artist.

Sharp Memories by Constanza Piaggio

Sharp Memories (2019- ) builds upon previous ground, borrowing and reinventing from strategies, structures, and inferences previously established. Constanza Piaggio “intervenes” in the artwork she makes, this time with stronger effect than in Mental Meteorites. The artist tears directly into the surface of analog photographs she makes of nature and fragments of classical paintings. The images she begins from are generally moving or out of focus- these details heighten the action in the work. Piaggio backs the absent space with color ground to push our contemplation of the permanent shift in the original object, filling but also underscoring the void of what should be there. The permanence of tearing an image is irreparable. This action symbolizes the way human activity is transforming the planet. When something is gone, it is gone forever. Still, most of the image remains.

As in earlier work, The Trap, the two subjects in Sharp Memories- nature and painting- seem dis-connected, but juxtaposed we are forced to make connections between the two. Natural elements and fragmented figures share a harmony of intervention. From opposition- connection. Nature and human- not different, actually, the same. This work reflects the urgency of an emotional and metaphysical search that has developed in the artist’s response to the Anthropocene era. In Sharp Memories Piaggio reminds us that humans are capable of distraction, but also creation- the creation of beautiful things, art bing one. What other solutions may we find if we put our minds and actions behind it.

The Trap by Constanza Piaggio

Constanza Piaggio’s photographic series The Trap (2007-2009) is composed of large format prints of solitary figures and pastoral scenes. Executed just over a decade ago, contemporary circumstance lends new context to our eye. Today, Piaggio’s The Trap has gained gravity. These open-ended-narratives once spoke with a sly criticality of bourgeoise malaise unsubdued by distractions- societal traps of dinner-parties, fancy toys, or the time-honored tradition of the rich hunting small animals for ‘sport,’ today ring more true. They still speak to discontent, loneliness, and introversion, but now do so in a moment simplified by the acknowledgement that that things don’t create happiness, people do. As we write the subtext of these discontented characters (or our own narratives) anew, we discover a glimmer of courage in the invitation of action. In recognizing our own traps, we can yet evade them. These works nudge impetus in their unraveling of “idealism” and offer an escape- a remembrance for gratitude and hope for a rebirth of humanitarianism via our own individual gestures and actions.  

Argentinean-born and Parisian-based artist, Constanza Piaggio studied at the School of Creative Photography (EFC) and at the Sindicato de la Industria Cinematografica Argentina (SICA). She earned a Masters in Fine Art with a specialization in photography and cinematography in 2004, and has exhibited internationally in Argentina, Columbia, Brazil, the United States, Mexico, France, Switzerland, and Spain.