Paolo Polloniato

Exhibition Future Memories - April-May 2019

Paolo Polloniato and Reinhilde Van Grieken

Paolo Polloniato was born in 1979 in Nove, a small town situated between Venice and Vicenza, famous for its production of ceramics. The town is situated on top of layers of fine earthenware used in the production of majolica pottery since the renaissance. For six generations, his family has been linked to the art of painting and creation of italian artistic ceramics. Ceramics are in Paolo’s DNA so to say. Paolo attended the university of fine art in Venice and he obtained his diploma in 2007. At present he lives and work in Nove (Italy).

He received several awards amongst them the prestigious “Premio” awards in Faenza, Italy’s world famous city for ceramics. Paolo had an impressing exhibition “10 ans de céramique” in Andenne during the ceramics biennial in the summer of 2018, where he was invited as artist in residence. His work was displayed in several international galleries in Paris, Lille, Roubaix, Vallauris and Brussels and in many exhibitions in Italy.

In his work he, exclusively, utilizes classic molds that have been in the family for hundreds of years. His ceramics are hybrid of contents and form, referring to the ancient pottery, which makes them pleasantly familiar, but on the other hand timeless.

Paolo says in the catalogue of the “60° Premio Faenza” (2018):

“For me creating ceramics means to be in continuity with my family story and with the Earth where I was born. The tradition of a place, of an environment, is the lifeblood of my research. My goal is resuming the ancient techniques to express concepts linked to nowadays, through a conceptual and formal renewal always respectful and linked to tradition. Innovating means recovering in order to evolve. It means using the ancient techniques to represent contemporary concepts. … “

His ceramics are the perfect example of a free artistic expression.