Adelaide Cioni

Central to Adelaide Cioni’s practice is an exploration of colour. Brightness explodes from the surface of her images creating an immersive space for the viewer to inhabit. Employing shape, pattern and dimension, her use of form fills the space. Despite her matte application of paint and flat surfaces, there is depth to her images, her minimal colour blocking, and neutral backgrounds create an endless space. Cioni’s work draws from the canons of Italian painting, from Pascali, Novelli and Merz, her primary influences, to employing the same shade of pink as Giotto and della Francesca. Her colour choices are rich, and her masterful application of paint is almost velvety in the thickness of its concentration. Her work is joyful, there is a youthful exuberance and wonder to her minimal depiction of subjects like ice-creams. What Cioni demonstrates through her body of work is the seductive nature of colour, her subjects are the means rather than the ends, an opportunity to explore the expansive possibilities of colour in itself. ...

The name P420 is inspired by Pantone 420, a universally recognized shade of grey known for its ability to serve as the perfect background, enhancing whatever it accompanies. P420 thus emerges as a platform whose primary aim is to embrace and elevate artistic ideas and expressions, fostering their harmonious coexistence within a context that supports, encourages, and celebrates diversity and innovation. Here, every voice can resonate powerfully and distinctly, much like a work of art standing out against the backdrop of Pantone 420. P420 has been instrumental in the rediscovery of artists such as Irma Blank, Laura Grisi, Ana Lupas, and Stephen Rosenthal, collaborating directly with the artists or, when necessary, with their heirs or the Estates representing them. Through exhibitions, off-site projects, fairs, and a strong online presence, the gallery also supports the evolving narratives of contemporary art, initiating and supporting the journey of many young emerging talents like Victor Fotso Nyie, Francis Offman, and Shafei Xia. ...