BIOGRAPHY

Elena Carozzi was born in Milan in 1967.
She grew up in an environment in which art and decoration formed a rich humus of inspiration; she started her own creative journey in Milan, where she collaborated with architect Roberto Peregalli in interior decoration. In 1996 Elena moved to Sarzana, in Liguria. Having regularly been at the studio of her grandfather Gian Carozzi – who was a founder of the Spatial movement in the 50’s, together with Lucio Fontana – she was drawn to painting. Colour, light and matter became the pillars of her research into pictorial form. Hand painted wallpapers has become another form of linguistic contamination and visual suggestion; a blending of painting and decorative experience.

Elena Carozzi is a visual artist. In her research, she starts from a profound knowledge of painting materials and ancient painting techniques to span and connect practices and languages beyond the dimension of the framed painting. She constructs her archive of images and visions starting from the rituals of everyday life, from the relationship with domestic objects and from the immer- sion into nature. This archive steers the gesture in a continuous process of investigation of shape, painting supports and techniques, into an expansion that ranges from painting to wallpaper, from ceramics to painted and embroidered fabrics.

The need to enter the profound body of things, of earth and vegetation, defines the organic vitali- sm of her paintings. There, materials of pictorial origin, such as oil, pastels, chalk and pencils, are stratified and put into relation within different techniques, such as embroidery and painting on terra cotta. Embroidery, used beyond any technical virtuosity, connects the dimension of painting to that of craftsmanship, and relates the preciousness of silk canvas with the brief and materiali- stic trace of the thread, intended as a graphic sign as well as pictorial gesture. From this expansive and multifaceted investigation of painting, installations and exhibition environments take shape. Painting supports and materials overlap, designed as traces of a continuously transforming story.

Critical essay by Lara Conte

Besides her artistic research, Elena Carozzi collaborates with companies operating in the field of furnishing textiles and wallpapers, as well as with professional artists. Through these experiences, she has become expert in the technical transitions between art and industrial production.
Elena Carozzi collaborates with Somma industria tessile and Lizzo Fabric, two high quality inte- rior design textile companies, to create wallpaper collections linked to their brands. The exchange between Elena Carozzi and professionals in the production sector stem from tailored projects, which have led to the creation of a series of wallpaper collections. These collections are designed by drawing both from the pictorial archive and hand-painted prototypes of Elena Carozzi, as well as from the collection Printed Wallpaper that she has developed in recent years.

Since 2002, she has exhibited her works both in public spaces and private galleries. She has held personal exhibitions at the Galleria Antonia Jannone Gallery in Milan, with whom she has colla- borated since 2005.

Elena Carozzi was one of the founders of the research group “tra lo Studio”, together with the ar- tists Beatrice Meoni, Maja Thommen, Phillippa Peckham and Silvia Vendramel. From sharing their practices, through methods linked to dialogue and the redefinition of the boundaries of authorship, four exhibition projects were born and held between 2015 and 2016. These exhibitions deviated from the collective exhibition conventional models, and offered new possibilities of artistic inter- vention. Throughout this experience, the mixing and juxtaposition of languages and ideas allowed new perspectives and possibilities for reflection on individual work.

With Valentina Giovando, Elena Carozzi has created numerous installations and exhibition projects. In 2020, they jointly participated in the cycle of exhibitions at the Laboratorio della Se- dia Leggera in Chiavari with the project “Il Salotto Buono”. In 2023, they created the Mnemosine exhibition in the Visconti Castle in Pavia.