Laurina Paperina

Laurina Paperina (Rovereto, 1980)

Laurina Paperina is an Italian artist who lives between Italy and Duckland, a small town in the Universe. She completed her studies at the Institute of Art in Rovereto and at the Fine Arts Academy in Verona, Italy.
She paints, draws, creates installations and video animations.

Working predominantly with the imaginary of contemporary heroes, her works reference contemporary pop culture and the ‘80s and ‘90s eras of her childhood. Laurina Paperina has over the past years created artwork especially inspired by the Art World that present an ironic commentary in response to current events.

Laurina Paperina has presented her work internationally, including solo and group exhibitions in galleries, art foundations, museums and public spaces: The Elisabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York, USA; Stadtgalerie, Kiel, Germany; Triennale di Milano, Italy; Palazzo della Permanente, Milano, Italy; MART – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rovereto, Italy; CCA Kunsthalle, Majorca, Spain; Centro Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporaneo, Victoria-Gasteiz, Spain; Museo Pecci, Milano, Italy; Kunsthaus Essen, Germany; The Royal Standard – Liverpool Biennal, UK; Janco Dada Museum, Haifa, Israel; École supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Nimes, France; J. M. Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan (WI), Usa; Madre Museum, Napoli, Italy; The Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, USA; FRAC Languedoc Roussilon, Montpellier, France; Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ, USA; Kunst Merano Arte, Italy; Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Monfalcone, Italy; Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venezia, Italy; Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea di Trento, Italy.

Her work has been featured in exhibitions in Italy, Usa, Germany, France, United Kingdom, China, Belgium, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Israel, Ireland and Mexico.

Publications include: Art in America, New Times Miami, SF Gate, SF WEEKLY, San Francisco Chronicles, Global Times, XL Repubblica, FAUX Q, Totally Dublin, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, Monopol, DPI publishing, Arte al Limite, Exibart on paper, Work Art In Progress, Kult, Espoarte and Arte Mondadori.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Working predominantly with the imaginary of contemporary heroes, Laurina Paperina pokes fun at art and life in her morbidly humorous paintings, drawings, installations and animations.
She describes herself as “a duck with a human head and vice versa…” who, “doesn’t want to make serious art”. Instead She ridicules the self-importance endemic to the artistic enterprise, as well as politics, religion, and pop culture, through her cartoonish caricatures.

In her multi-part project titled, How to Kill the Artists (begun 2007), Paperina pays twisted homage to modern and contemporary art stars like Picasso, Marina Abramovic and Takashi Murakami by killing them with their own work. Murakami, for example, is eaten alive by one of his maniacally grinning flowers while Abramovic performs herself to death.

The motivation of her relentless abuse is a wild sense of humor, a commentary on contemporary forms of media, and a successful attempt to make light of the all too often serious pretensions of today’s art world. Despite their often gruesome acts, her child-like characters are disarming and full of wit.

SPECIAL PROJECTS, VIDEO SCREENING

2020
Aurora Home Festival, video art festival, South America
Io ti vedo Tu mi senti?, tv program, a project by N. Ballario, Sky Arte, Italy
Laurina Paperina | Notes on Sculptures, special project for Raffaelli Viewing Room, Italy 2° Maratona di Visione, Film Festival, various location, Italy

2018
Pop Up Town, Cartoon Network Store, Milano, Italy
The Last Judgement, Giorgio Chinea Art Cabinet, Galleria Cappellato Pedrocchi, Padova, Italy

2017
Notte delle arti / Inaudita, Fusion Art Gallery, Torino, Italy

Nonostantetutto… , in collaboration with “inspiteofeverything” di Roberto de Pol, Pozzale, Pieve di cadore (BL), Italy

2016
Faster Than Light, liveries customized for Sky Racing Team VR46, in collaboration with Sky Arte, Moto GP, Misano, Italy
 Wall of fame, in collaboration with Rolling Stone Italia, Pitti Immagine Uomo, Firenze, Italy
Hinds Project, House of Vans, Brooklyn NY, Usa

2015
Videoart Yearbook, Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy
Offerte Speciali, Carrefour Express, Torino, Italy
Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival / Lo sguardo sospeso, Università Cà Foscari, Auditorium Santa Margherita, Venezia, Italy Like a City, Babylon Open Atelier, Bolzano, Italy

2014
Invasion, mural for Smartlab, Centro Giovani, Rovereto, Italy

Rohbau, Chestlan, Bressanone, Italy
Pulsart Restart: Ritual, Spazio Shed, Schio, Italy

Videoart Yearbook IX, Chiostro S. Cristina, Bologna, Italia
 Green Call, Kränzelhof Garden, Merano, Italy

2013
Artmrkt, Festival Pavillon – Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, Usa
Icone 5.9, Street Art in Modena and in Emilia Romagna, various places, Italy 
 Videoart Yearbook, Museo del Novecento, Milano, Italy
Screen Festival, Galeria Ferran Cano, Barcellona, Spain