Paola Grizi is an Italian artist born in Rome in 1968.
Paola Grizi has spent her entire life immersed in the art world. As the granddaughter of a well known Italian painter and sculptor and the niece of a ceramicist, her creativity was fostered from a young age. This has translated into a successful career as an artist, where she is particularly known for her unique terracotta and bronze sculptures.
In her early years, Paola did not intend to follow in her grandfather footsteps. Paola studied Classics and Italian Literature, even working as a journalist and editor prior to focusing on her art career. But the desire to express herself artistically is stronger than anything else: Paola wants to shape the earth and manipulate the material. The talented journalist then becomes an artist. Her passion for writing will never cease to occupy her and to mix with the bronze that she works.
For many years Paola has produced incredible sculptures of faces that seem to emerge from the pages of books. Whether sculpted in terracotta or cast in bronze, she subtly manipulates the compositions to evoke emotion. These mysterious faces seem to appear from the ether, sometimes casting a meditative gaze and at other times lacking any eyes at all.
Paola skillfully manipulates her mediums of choice, with her sculptures continually evolving into more complex pieces of architecture. The pages of the books appear to get thinner as the “paper” flips and folds to create new dynamic compositions. Interestingly, her focus on these literary pieces of art recalls her own passion for the written word. Here, letters and human nature are intertwined and merged. Through her bronzes Paola gives us her dreams and ambitions, her fears and her nightmares. A hand, a face, a nose emerge from these bronze pages, with indecipherable characters. Are they there to break the mystery of history, to challenge the truths or to keep a secret?
Paola enjoys international recognition. Whether in France, Italy or China, her work is rewarded by numerous prestigious awards. Among many prizes, Paola Grizi won the 3rd Biannual International Ceramic Contest of Ascoli Piceno; and she was invited twice in 2014 and 2015 by the Chinese Chanchun Municipality to represent Italy in the China Changchun International Ceramics Symposiums. She also won the Special Public Award at the 35th CICA International Competition de L’Alcora in Spain and then went on to serve on the jury of the same contest in 2016.
Additionally, she was chosen by the Pontifical Gregorian University in collaboration with the Kunst-Station of Köln in Germany for a Contemporary art project in the Church of Saint Peter, along with eleven other international artists.
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