My work revolves around the experience of colour, meant as the matter and trace of existence. My works are sedimentations of time, presented in the form of chromatic diaries. What I produce every day in the isolation of my studio on the basis of a precise rhythm, one colour a day, is then placed in relation with the outside world, with other realities, in the attempt to trigger contact between my own interiority and the shared space.
My interaction with artists has always been very important and intense: I have frequented studios, shared living and working spaces, taking part in residencies and curating workshops myself. From 2002 to 2012, initially in my studio in Venice and then at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, I coordinated the incontri del mercoledì: encounters for artists alone, in which an artist could show, speak and reflect on his/her own work together with other colleagues. In 2007, I curated a workshop at the DOCVA Via Farini in Milan, and in 2012 I staged an intensive workshop of Visual Knowledge for the CLASAV Master Course of the IUAV University of Venice.
I consider holding exhibitions a complementary part of the creative process. What I produce in solitude in my studio stands in relation to other spaces, being reactivated in an ever-changing manner and forever producing new meaning. Since 1983, I have exhibited in Italy and abroad in private and public spaces, both those officially designed for art and otherwise, in some cases even exhibiting in the open air. I have often addressed heavily connoted spaces from a symbolic, artistic, historical and architectural point of view.
My first institutional solo show was curated by Angela Vettese at the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice in 2006. Since then, I have held various other exhibitions in museums and institutions such as Via Farini, Leporelli, curated by Milovan Farronato, Milan, 2007; Diario cromatico curated by Chiara Bertola, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, 2008; Museo di Castelvecchio, L’unità di misura è il colore a curated by Chiara Bertola, Verona, 2010; Casa Testori, Giardini squisiti with Massimo Kaufmann, Novate Milanese (MI), 2014. In 2017, I opened a permanent installation curated by Chiara Bertola in the café of Mario Botta for the Fondazione Querini Stampalia of Venice.
I have taken part in numerous collective shows in institutions including most recently: L’emozione dei colori nell’arte, curated by Carolyn Cristo-Bakargiev, Marcella Beccaria, Elena Volpato, Elif Kamisli, GAM/Castello di Rivoli, Turin, 2017; Èdra, tutta l’Italia è silenziosa, Reale, curated by Davide Ferri, Accademia di Spagna, Rome, 2015; Autoritratti, Iscrizioni del femminile nell’arte italiana contemporanea, curated by (among others) Francesca Pasini, MAMbo, Bologna, 2013; La fortezza plurale dell’arte, curated by Giacinto Di Pietrantonio and Umberto Palestini, Fortezza Borbonica, Civitella del Tronto, 2012; Quadriennale, Rome 2009.
Over the years, a series of publications have been issued with contributions from (among others): Cristina Baldacci, Chiara Bertola, Davide Ferri, Ilaria Gianni, Mel Gooding, Susan Harris, Paul Hills, Caoimhìn Mac Giolla Léith, Francesca Pasini, Rosella Prezzo, Raphael Rubinstein, Gabi Scardi, Barry Schwabsky, Marco Tagliafierro, Angela Vettese, Giorgio Verzotti and Elena Volpato.
I have designed various artist’s books and other kinds of publications that I consider places in which to share experiences with others. In 2018, various books of mine have been published: a short Monografia edited by Stefano Arienti; Pondus, published by 100 Copie Edizioni and Nel buco, published by Les Cerises Edizioni: an artist’s book for children. In 2017, I collaborated with Jean-Luc Nancy on Il colore succede, non si provoca, published by Corraini Edizioni; in 2016 with my son Piero Pes on Mi aiuti a capire cosa sto facendo?, Fortino Editions; in 2014 with Matteo Nucci on I diari di Via dell’Oca e di Via della Penna and in 2006 with Barry Schwabsky on Storia di un quadro, published by Corraini Edizioni. In 2010, I published Un diario tira l’altro with Corraini Edizioni. In the first volume, I placed my own chromatic diaries alongside the diaries of my father Piero Morganti, and in the second I called on the participation of: Claudio Bartocci, Laura Boella, Gianmario Borio, David Carrier, Lawrence Carroll, Angiola Churchill, James Elkins, Anna Finocchi, Manuela Fraire, Lea Melandri, Cesare Pietroiusti, Rosella Prezzo, Vincent Katz and Tiziano Scarpa among others.