Valentina Artone's 'Animali degli Specchi' Explores Mirrors as Thresholds

Valentina Artone's exhibition 'Animali degli Specchi' at a gallery in Italy transforms the mirror into a metaphor for a threshold between past and present. The show features twelve works, including drawings and panels, in intimate dimensions with sandy and earthy colors. The title references Jorge Luis Borges and Margarita Guerrero's 'Manual de zoología fantástica,' specifically the legend of creatures imprisoned in mirrors. Artone's works incorporate oval structures, fissures, and dark openings that evoke eyes, creating a reciprocal gaze between artwork and viewer. Notable pieces include 'Il pesce' (2026), 'no name / sogno in cassetta' (2026), and 'no name / extension' (2026), which function as contemporary reliquaries. A wall is dedicated to pastel and graphite drawings on paper, featuring faces, anatomical fragments, and hybrid forms. The exhibition emphasizes ambiguity and silence, with some works left untitled to resist fixed interpretation.