Adrian Paci the simplicity of now

"There are recurring elements: a continuous human presence, moments of daily life, bodies which become images, ghostly presences, and from these images they become works on paper, canvas, plaster or sometimes marble as pieces of a mosaic. What remains in these passages is the sense of a vibration, of a phase shift and of an enigma that doesn’t need any mystifying veil, but whose presence is also confirmed through the luminous transparence of the images. I am not trying to affirm and celebrate the image but to witness its otherness, its being simultaneously familiar and strange."

Adrian Paci (b. 1969 in Shkodër, Albania) lives and works between Milan and Shkodër, and will be the subject of a solo exhibition at kaufmann repetto, New York, in 2021. 

Throughout his career he held numerous solo shows in various international institutions such as: Kunsthalle Krems, Austria (2019); National Gallery of Art, Tirana (2019); Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburger (2019); Museo Novecento, Florence (2018); Chiostri di Sant'Eustorgio, Milan (2017); MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome (2015); Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway (2014); MAC - Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal (2014); PAC - Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea, Milan (2014); Jeu de Paume, Paris (2013); Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich (2010); Bloomberg Space, London (2010); CCA - The Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2009); MoMA PS1, New York (2006); and Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2005), among others. Amongst the various group shows, Adrian Paci's work has also been featured in the 14th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia (2014); in the 48th and the 51st edition of the International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia (respectively in 1999 and 2005); in the 15th Biennale of Sydney (2006); in the 15th Quadriennale di Roma, where he won first prize (2008); in the Biennale de Lyon (2009); and in the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art (2013). Adrian Paci's work is held in the collections of Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Fundaciò La Caixa, Barcelona; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich, among others.

*All text included in this online viewing room are from an essay titled The Simplicity of Now, written by Adrian Paci during summer 2020.

Click here to read the entire essay

Click here to know more about Adrian Paci