Serpentine South Gallery
Kensington Gardens
United Kingdom
GIUSEPPE PENONE: THOUGHTS IN THE ROOTS
With a career spanning over five decades, Giuseppe Penone (b. 1947 Garessio, Italy) has created an expansive body of work that encompasses sculpture, drawing, painting, installation, and photography. Born in a village near Cuneo, Italy, his practice is deeply influenced by the forested landscapes of Northern Italy, shaping his lifelong exploration of the relationship between humans and nature.
Thoughts in the Roots brings together works from 1969 to the present, illustrating Penone’s enduring fascination with the interplay between organic and artistic processes. A leading figure in the Arte Povera—an influential movement that emerged in Italy in the 1960s, celebrating the simplicity of natural materials and artistic techniques—Penone experiments with a wide range of materials including wood, iron, wax, bronze, terracotta, marble, and plaster, bringing their individual physical qualities to the fore.
The exhibition embodies the key principles of Penone’s work, namely the synergy between artistic and natural process, and the poetic relationship between humans and the environment. Through a series of sculptures and installations, visitors will encounter the delicate yet powerful ways in which Penone reveals nature’s hidden structures, rhythms, and gestures.
Reflecting on the exhibition, Giuseppe Penone states: ‘‘All of my work is a trial to express my adherence and belonging to nature, and it is with this thought that I have chosen the works for the exhibition. The two paths that I have created—inside the gallery and outside of it, in the park—become two integrated gardens.’’
Thoughts in the Roots is curated by Claude Adjil, Curator at Large; and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artist Director with Alexa Chow, Assistant Exhibitions Curator.
About Giuseppe Penone
Giuseppe Penone (b. 1947 lives and works in Turin, Italy) has been featured in solo exhibitions worldwide including at the Fondazione Ferrero, Alba (2024); at the Galleria Borghese, Rome (2023); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2004, 2022); Philadelphia Museum of Art (2022); Villa Medici, Rome (2021); Palais d’léna – CESE, Paris (2019); Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield (2018); Chateau La Coste, Le Puy-Sainte–Réparade (2017); Palazzo della Civiltà , Rome (2017); Louvre Abu Dhabi (2017); MART, Rovereto (2016); Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2016); Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2015); Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (2015); the Beirut Art Center (2014); the Musée de Grenoble (2014); the Château de Versailles (2013); Kunstmuseum Winterthur (2013); Madison Square Park, New York (2013) and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2013). Giuseppe Penone has exhibited at Documenta V (1972), VII (1982), VIII (1987) and XIII (2012) and at the Venice Biennale in 1978, 1980, 1986, 1995 and 2007.
