LUDOVICO BOMBEN

Pordenone, 1982



       

Galleria Michela Rizzo is pleased to present Aere. Practices of Approach, the first solo exhibition of the artist Ludovico Bomben, which opens on Wednesday, December 4 at 6:00 PM in the Mestre space.

In Ludovico Bomben’s research, the various declinations of the terms space, environment, and measure take on ever-different functions and values. What unites them is the precise intention to relate them through a mark, a finish, or by means of light.
It is in this area of necessity—between delimiting a space or juggling its immeasurable value—that Ludovico raises in relief on paper perspectival forms in which it is difficult to orient oneself.
Landscapes as vast in the mind as they are excessively complete in form and relief.

 

The Carte con passaggio perhaps appear as an untouchable terrain until grazing light scores their surface. And perhaps this is the method to which the practice of approach refers: conceiving within the two-dimensionality of the paper the thresholds of spaces, where the paper becomes surface and light becomes mark.

So too one might reflect on the more recognizable works—only as subject—Le nuvole (The Clouds). Also in this series of works, there is an element that appears extraneous (a gash, already present in other works by Bomben) placed at the center of the photograph.
It physically pierces both the image and the surface of the work. Detached from reality, exaggeratedly disproportionate in shape, size, and material to what the image conveys, the gash—or the black, round obsidian stone—breaks through the impalpable atmosphere, overturning its perception.

 

In the cycle of Notturni, skies covered with clouds allow glimpses of black spheres, small particles floating in an apparently infinite space, revealing a connection between macrocosm and microcosm. Letting ourselves be carried by those particles, we can navigate the darkness, certain of our primordial bond with nature.

Whether object or light he chooses, Bomben’s gesture invades the impalpable and elusive aere and reveals a reality that is not random but objective, which becomes sculpture, bas-relief, composition. The celestial spaces thus generated are portions of contained and safe environments.

The light interventions—such as the fabric in the background of the gallery and the chromatic light variations of the structure itself—are the most emblematic signature of Ludovico Bomben’s work. He intends to manage the entire space as a single work in which the artworks can be experienced as intelligible spaces, which can be understood and brought closer to us.

Ludovico Bomben (Pordenone, 1982) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice in the four-year program in Decoration B. His artistic research began with luminous environmental installations, designed to restructure spaces and alter the perceptions of those who habitually frequent them. In recent years, he has shifted his focus from the environment to the object, investigating the relationships between material, language, form, and concept. This has led him to use symbols of sacred origin as new territories of exploration: through a balance between golden proportions and formal rigor, Bomben seeks to reinterpret and redefine the sacred image in a contemporary context, blending ancient traditions with innovative industrial materials. He has exhibited in private and institutional spaces, including the 54th Venice Biennale, the Talent Prize, Dolomiti Contemporanee, the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, the Tina B Festival in Prague, the Fabbri Prize, Villa Manin, CAREOF – Via Farini, the Cramum Prize, the Revoltella Museum, and the Cairo Prize at Palazzo Reale in Milan.

    

In 2021, he took part in the exhibition NON C’È + NESSUN VIRGILIO A GUIDARCI NELL’INFERNO, curated by Martina Cavallarin at Open Dream in Treviso; he participated out of competition in the Cramum Prize at Villa Mirabello, Milan, under the curatorship of Sabino Maria Frassà. He also participated in Futuro Arcaico Fest, curated by Maria Teresa Salvati at the Civic Museum of Bari, and in the Premio Musica Pordenone, curated by Patrizio A. De Mattio at the Verdi Theatre in Pordenone.

In 2022, he exhibited in the group show Who Killed Bambi, curated by Gianluca d’Incà Levis, at Dolomiti Contemporanee – Nuovo Spazio di Casso (PN).

In 2023, he was the protagonist of the exhibition Equorea (of seas, ices, clouds and other waters still), curated by Giulia Bortoluzzi and hosted by Buildingbox in Milan. In the same year, he exhibited in the group show American Beauty. From Robert Capa to Banksy at the Altinate San Gaetano Cultural Center in Padua.

In 2024, he took part in the group show Hic Sunt Leones, curated by Angelo Bertani at the Sagittaria Gallery in Pordenone, and was selected for the Mellone Art Prize at the National Museum of Science and Technology “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan.

In 2024–2025, he presents the solo exhibition AERE – Practices of approaching the infinite at GMR.2 (Galleria Michela Rizzo, Mestre), from December 5, 2024 to January 24, 2025.

In 2025, he takes part in several important exhibitions: the group show Stralûs. 1985–2025 Arte in Friuli / Art in Friûl (April 4–May 11) at Palazzo Ragazzoni in Sacile, curated by Magalì Cappellaro and Alberto Vidissoni (University of Udine); the two-person show Doppio Dialogo, with Amedeo Sanzone, at Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo in Venice, curated by Almerinda Di Benedetto, Enrico Lucchese, and Alessandra Santin; the group show Together / Insieme Exhibition 1 (February 4–15) at the Salaborsa Library in Bologna; the two-person show Vuoto–Semi–Vuoto, with Francesca Dondoglio, at Studio La Linea Verticale (Bologna, January 30–March 1). This exhibition, part of the ArtCity Bologna/ArteFiera 2025 program, explores emptiness as a generative matrix in dialogue with gesture and light.

    

His curriculum also includes, in 2013, participation in the project Recupero of the Triennale Design Museum in Rome, carried out with ICE BADILE studio.

According to MutualArt, important venues such as GMR.2 have hosted his exhibitions. Building Gallery defines his path as a refined balance between materiality and perception.