Represented artist
Francesca Polizzi
Palermo, 1988. Based in Palermo, Düsseldorf
Statement
Francesca Polizzi creates her works through the implementation of natural materials – mainly raw wool, but also wax, rosin, brambles – which become imprinted with her intervention from the earliest stages of their transformation; in shaping them, she imbues them with personal and collective memories, a process that lends them a rigorous formal definition and reconceives them as reliquaries of a heady sensory resonance.
Sculptural bodies, images printed on lengths of woollen felt, expansive installations that clearly allude to architecture; her works all appear as apparitions, revelations of familiar forms and materials whose origin has been forgotten. They seem the wandering articles of our memory, often uneasy and elusive, distant though formerly close. Like landscapes that surface and disappear, their passage is weightless and lyrical.
Polizzi studied at the Palermo Academy of Fine Arts, where she completed a postgraduate diploma in Sculpture; she embarked upon the personal arc of her practice while engaged in her postgraduate studies.
In 2018 she undertook a Kulturamt-funded residency in Düsseldorf after winning an open call announced by the association Verein Düsseldorf-Palermo.
Since her debut in 2014 she has shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions. Among them: Il Profumo delle Fiabe | Rosaspina, Museo Santa Maria della Scala, Siena (2022); Wir sind Tiere, Atelier Am Eck, Düsseldorf, Germany (2018); Die Grosse, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf (2021); Only the Restless Know How Difficult It Is To Survive the Storm and Not Be Able To Live without It, Palazzo Ziino, Palermo (2019).
Installation views
Works
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
21 × 22 × 22 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
19 × 15 × 11 cm
Resin and silica
360 × 36 × 36 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
22 × 30 × 15 cm
Beeswax and paraffin
50 × 15 × 8 cm
Brass and Bronze
35 × 20 × 10 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
45 × 21 × 21 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
49 × 35 × 18 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
34 × 26 × 14 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
42 × 40 × 28 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
28 × 33 × 25 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
39 × 27 × 27 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
34 × 23 × 28 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
31 × 17 × 10 cm
Raw wool felts and rust
31 × 21 × 5 cm
Encaustic and oil painting on raw wool felts
62 × 42 × 10 cm
Brass and Bronze
100 × 40 × 15 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
28 × 20 × 16 cm
Brass and Bronze
35 × 185 × 30 cm
Raw wool felts and rust
31 × 21 × 5 cm
Raw wool felts and rust
40 × 31 × 6 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
33 × 18 × 14 cm
Plaster, raw wool and iron
245 × 180 × 180 cm
Mixed clays, wool, glaze
36 × 40 × 18 cm
Encaustic and oil painting on raw wool felts
62 × 42 × 10 cm
Encaustic on raw wool felts
100 × 250 × 20 cm
Inkjet on wool
57 × 40 cm
Wax
50 × 50 × 20 cm
Wool and steel
328 × 300 × 300 cm
Exhibitions
- DüsseldorfFIESTAKatharina Maderthaner, Francesca Polizzi, Luigi Presicce, Sebastian Bartel and 9 more12 June – 18 July 2026
- PalermoLunariaFrancesca Polizzi9 May – 20 June 2026
- DüsseldorfThere is a Crack in EverythingRimma Arslanov, Francesca Polizzi18 October – 23 November 2024
- PalermoIn AntisFrancesca Polizzi22 February – 28 March 2020
News
- 23 June 2026TalkFrancesca Polizzi introduces La herida abierta at the Accademia di Belle Arti di PalermoOn 23 June 2026 Francesca Polizzi co-introduced the meeting La herida abierta. Sobre el impacto del sida en las artes in Palermo.Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo, Palazzo Fernandez, Palermo
- 12 June 2026Curatorial projectFIESTA, a group show organised by Katharina Maderthaner at RizzutoGallery DüsseldorfKatharina Maderthaner organises FIESTA, a group show of thirteen artists at RizzutoGallery Düsseldorf, 12 June – 18 July 2026.RizzutoGallery, Düsseldorf
- 13 May 2026TalkFrancesca Polizzi and Francesco De Grandi in the doctoral seminar Poetica dei materiali at the Accademia di Belle Arti di PalermoOn 13 May 2026 a doctoral seminar in Palermo examined material and language in the practices of Antonella Genuardi and Francesca Polizzi.Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo, Palazzo Fernandez, Palermo
- 9 May 2026PublicationDaniele Franzella writes the text for Francesca Polizzi's LunariaFrancesca Polizzi's solo exhibition Lunaria at RizzutoGallery, Palermo (9 May – 18 July 2026), is accompanied by a text by Daniele Franzella.RizzutoGallery, Palermo
- 28 March 2026ExhibitionFrancesca Polizzi presents Beringia in Generazione Sicilia: collezione Elenk'art / Longo – Polizzi, AlcamoFrancesca Polizzi and Loredana Longo share a two-person exhibition in Alcamo, part of Gibellina Capitale Italiana dell'Arte Contemporanea 2026.Cittadella dei Giovani, Alcamo
- 23 December 2025ExhibitionAntonio Catelani, Daniele Franzella, Francesca Polizzi, Francesco De Grandi, Mattia Barbieri, Katharina Maderthaner, Lucio Pozzi, Luigi Presicce, Marcello Buffa, Linda Carrara, Anna Capolupo, Andrea Di Marco, Richard Deacon, Tania Giordano, Pietro Leone, Gabriele Massaro and Cosimo Rizzuto in Gallery Party 2025 at RizzutoGallery, PalermoLucio Pozzi shows the painting Liminal pass (2017) in Gallery Party 2025, at RizzutoGallery in Palermo from 23 December 2025 to 31 January 2026.RizzutoGallery, Palermo
- 10 April 2025FairRizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2025RizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2025 with Daniele Franzella, Francesco De Grandi, Katharina Maderthaner and Francesca Polizzi.Art Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
- 1 January 2025ResidencyFrancesca Polizzi in residence at the Cité internationale des arts, ParisIn 2025 Francesca Polizzi was artist in residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, in the discipline of sculpture.Cité internationale des arts, Paris
- 23 November 2024ExhibitionDaniele Franzella, Francesco De Grandi, Francesca Polizzi and Luigi Presicce in Pinakothek'A at Palazzo Sant'Elia, PalermoA work by Luigi Presicce is included in Pinakothek'A, the exhibition of the Elenk'Art collection at Palazzo Sant'Elia, Palermo, from 23 November 2024.Fondazione Sant'Elia, Palazzo Sant'Elia, Palermo
- 26 October 2024ExhibitionDaniele Franzella, Francesco De Grandi and Francesca Polizzi in ELF – Le mostre di Düsseldorf at Haus der Kunst, PalermoDaniele Franzella is one of eleven artists in ELF – Le mostre di Düsseldorf, Haus der Kunst, Palermo, 26 October – 7 December 2024.Haus der Kunst, Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa, Palermo
- 18 October 2024ExhibitionRimma Arslanov and Francesca Polizzi: There is a Crack in Everything at RizzutoGallery, DüsseldorfThe two-person show There is a Crack in Everything opens on 18 October 2024 at RizzutoGallery's new space in Düsseldorf.RizzutoGallery, Düsseldorf
- 12 September 2024FairRizzutoGallery at viennacontemporary 2024RizzutoGallery at viennacontemporary 2024 with Daniele Franzella and Francesca Polizzi.viennacontemporary, Vienna
- 12 April 2024FairRizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2024RizzutoGallery at Art Düsseldorf 2024 with Daniele Franzella and Francesca Polizzi.Areal Böhler, Düsseldorf
- 10 April 2024ExhibitionDaniele Franzella and Francesca Polizzi at the Johanna Ey Foundation, DüsseldorfDaniele Franzella and Francesca Polizzi in a two-person exhibition at the Johanna Ey Foundation, Düsseldorf, 10 April – 11 May 2024.Johanna Ey Foundation, Düsseldorf
- 10 March 2024ExhibitionCollaboration of RizzutoGallery with Societas SiciliaeDe Grandi, Franzella and Polizzi take part in Societas Siciliae at Collica & Partners, San Gregorio di Catania, 10 March – 10 May 2024.Collica & Partners, San Gregorio di Catania
Downloads
CV (PDF)Francesca Polizzi - Dossier ITA (PDF)Francesca Polizzi - Dossier ENG (PDF)Statement (PDF)