Silvia Argiolas Brings Eroticism and Absence to Trento

Silvia Argiolas (born 1977 in Cagliari, lives in Milan) presents a new exhibition at Paolo Maria Deanesi Gallery in Trento. Her works feature faces, objects, bodies, and animals—such as snakes—that evoke ancient symbolism while remaining grounded in painterly representation. The artist describes an absence tied to her Sardinian childhood and the smell of things, stating: 'The smell has always remained impressed on me, making me understand that art can give life but only death and smells create the inner imaginary that completes our perception of life.' This olfactory quality permeates her paintings through thick, material color. Female nudes express an unconscious interiority of women she calls 'independent, wrong, depressed, remade.' The dreamlike and erotic dimension represents the apotheosis of her poetics. She uses pigments, acrylic, and oil as the pillars of her painting, with line expressing the emotional state of the moment. The exhibition is curated by Claudio Cucco (born 1954 in Malles Venosta, resident in Rovereto), a philosophy graduate from Bologna, director of the Library of Calliano (TN), and art critic.