Isabelle Cornaro's Elegant Hallucination at Fondazione Giuliani

Isabelle Cornaro (born Aurillac, 1974; lives between Paris and Geneva) presents a solo exhibition at Fondazione Giuliani in Rome, characterized by an immersive yet not environmental installation. The show oscillates between elegant hallucination and brutal concreteness, with a disturbing intimacy reminiscent of vanitas. Personal memories surface through enlarged bronze reproductions of the artist's late mother's necklaces, displayed in vitrines and on heavy Gabonese plywood panels, evoking a martial, funereal atmosphere. These colliers suggest torture and oppression while composing minimalist landscapes. On the floor, dark carpets hold a grandguignolesque pile of blood and horror objects. At the conceptual center, a reproduction of Eugène Delacroix's "The Death of Sardanapalus" sits among modern perfume boxes resembling skyscraper models. Two disorienting videos feature vivid colors, flowers alternating with hand grenades, and barefoot walks over rocks, jewels, and chains. The highlight is a small assemblage of objects—costume jewelry, perfumes, an explosive memento, glass shards—forming a sinister cornucopia that encapsulates the show's unhealthy grace.