Mikayel Ohanjanyan and Linda Carrara Explore Nature's Wonders at Building Gallery, Milan

Building Gallery in Milan is hosting a dual solo exhibition titled 'Naturalis Historia,' referencing Pliny the Elder's ancient treatise. The show features Armenian artist Mikayel Ohanjanyan (born 1976 in Yerevan) and Italian artist Linda Carrara (born 1984 in Bergamo), presenting their respective approaches to sculpture and painting. Ohanjanyan, who won a Golden Lion at the 2015 Venice Biennale for the Armenian pavilion, works with marble, basalt, and steel cables. His sculptures emphasize the concept of 'bond' as a primary value in a divided society, treating stone as malleable and vulnerable, with cables constraining and wounding the mineral blocks to reveal anatomical fragments and sutures. Carrara's paintings, not necessarily executed with traditional painterly means, explore historical genres and canonical techniques to transcend physical appearance. Her polyptych 'Fasi Lunari' (2024) consists of eight long white cardboard panels with circular openings, using frottage to evoke astronomical visions and cosmic rhythms. She also employs marble in three 'suns,' referencing hidden correspondences and figurality, alongside mirrored paintings and large digital prints saturated with otherworldly chromaticism.