Alessandra Giovannoni's Paintings of Rome's Spontaneous Vegetation

Alessandra Giovannoni's solo exhibition 'Volevo metterci il cielo' at Francesca Antonini Arte Contemporanea in Rome, on view until April 24, 2025, focuses on the imperfect, spontaneous plant growth on the city's ancient walls. The artist, born in Rome in 1954, has always been a landscape painter, but here she zeroes in on weeds, thistles, figs, ivy, and daisies—what writer Giorgio Manganelli called 'cellulite of the centuries.' The show includes an accompanying text by Michele Tocca, who shares a neo-Macchiaioli painting approach. Giovannoni's thick impasto, cement-like rendering of walls, layered glazes, and earthy colors create a veristic, almost Macchia-like effect. She rejects the 'beautiful frame' in favor of close-up, blurred visions of extended mural surfaces, capturing rusty gate curls, a typical Roman 'nasone' fountain, and climbing botanical presences. The artist follows the poetic trace of 'marginal greenery' without embellishment or pretension.