Straws, 2016
Multi-Colored and transparent plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
51 x 118 x 8.6 in / 130 x 300 x 22 cm (Diptych)
51 x 59 x 8.6 in / 130 x 150 x 22 cm (each)
Gold Straws, 2015
Gold and brown plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
42.5 x 33.4 x 10 in / 108 x 85 x 25 cm
Green Straws, 2013
Green plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
35.4 x 23.6 x 10 in / 90 x 60 x 25 cm
Transparent Straws, 2016
Transparent plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
39 x 43 x 10 in / 100 x 110 x 25 cm
Light Yellow Straws, 2015
Transparent and light yellow plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
39 x 43 x 10 in / 100 x 110 x 25 cm
Straws, 2015
Fuchia, red, pink and transparent plastic drinking straws on wooden panels and metallic frame
78.75 x 98.4 x 9 in / 200 x 250 x 23 cm
Green Straws, 2015
Green plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø 24 x 10 in / Ø 60 x 25 cm
Orange Straws, 2015
Orange plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø 20 x 8 in / Ø 50 x 20 cm
Yellow Straws, 2015
Yellow plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø 24 x 10 in / Ø 60 x 25 cm
Red Straws, 2015
Bicolor red and black plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø15.7 x 8.6 in / Ø 40 x 22 cm
Blue Straws, 2015
Bicolor blue and black and sky-blue plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø8 x 8.2 in / Ø 20 x 21 cm
Green Straws, 2015
Green plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø 12 x 6 in / Ø 30 x 15 cm
Orange Straws, 2015
Orange and yellow plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø 8 x 6 in / Ø 20 x 15 cm
White Straws, 2015
White and transparent plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø 39 x 8.6 in / Ø 100 x 22 cm
Black Straws, 2015
Black and transparent plastic drinking straws on wooden panel and metallic frame
Ø 39 x 8.6 in / Ø100 x 22 cm
Black Straws, 2015
Black and transparent plastic drinking straws on wooden panels and metallic frames
61 x 44.8 x 8.6 in / 155 x 114 x 22 cm
Spiderballs, 2014
Grey, fuchsia, red and blue plastic cobweb dusters on metallic net and wooden panel, metallic frame
Ø 47 x 10 in / Ø 120 x 25 cm
Spiderballs, 2014
Grey, green, yellow and blue plastic cobweb dusters on metallic net and wooden panel, metallic frame
47.25 x 35.4 x 10 in / 120 x 90 x 25 cm
Iceberg, 2016
Transparent plastic drinking straws on mirror polished Plexiglas and metallic frame
Ø 39 x 9.4 in / Ø 130 x 24 cm
Frappa, 2015
White neoprene on mirror polished Plexiglas and metallic frame
Ø 39 x 10 in / Ø 100 x 25 cm
Frappa, 2016
White and grey neoprene on wooden panel and metallic frame
55 x 27.5 x 8.6 in / 140 x 70 x 22 cm
Frappa, 2016
Black neoprene on wooden panel and metallic frame
43 x 86 x 8.6 in / 110 x 220 x 22 cm (diptych)
Bozzoli, 2016
Site specific installation
Polyurethane foam
Dimensions Variable
Leila Heller Gallery is pleased to announce Plastic Resonance, the first U.S. solo exhibition of Italian artist Francesca Pasquali, on view from September 8 – October 22, 2016. Through the saturated hues of site specific installation, wall reliefs, and undulating, folded sculpture, Pasquali’s work redesigns the contours of organic forms through ready-made inorganic material, rendering elegant, playful designs.
In Pasquali’s work, inert plastic and industrial material—straws, neoprene, polyurethane foam, bristles, balloons—take on an appearance flush with life. Often colorful and always laboriously arranged, cut drinking straws adopt the appearance of coral structures or microscopic topographies; vibrantly-hued plastic bursts for Spiderballs, once intended to serve as cobweb dusters, clustered on wall mounted reliefs, recall prolific sea urchins far more than prosaic domestic equipment. Indeed, stripped of their use value, Pasquali’s materials at evoke the influence of Arte Povera in their quotidian banality turned into objects of uncanny movement and beauty.
For Pasquali, material is also metaphor. ‘Plastic’ means adaptable, prone to its environment, subject to being molded, to impressions, touch, or change. Likewise, works such as the polyurethane foam cocoons of the Bozzoli series, respond to the presence of the spectator. The Frappa series, inspired by the layered Italian pastry of the same name, invites the caress of the viewer. Their delicately patterned layers of black, white, or grey neoprene take on the appearance of flesh—animal, insect, or otherwise.
In this inaugural U.S. exhibition of Pasquali’s oeuvre, the evolutionary and mutative state of microcosmic textures of plants and animals is mirrored in the weaving of reused industrial plastic materials that form the core of her sculptural works.
