Alek O. (Biography)

Alek O. – Biography

EDUCATION

2005

Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

IUNO, Rome, Italy (upcoming)

2023

Il giorno della fine non ti servirà l’inglese, Martina Simeti, Milan, Italy

2022

PAROLACCE, curated by Massimiliano Scuderi, Fondazione Zimei, Pescara, Italy

La prima rosa, Spazio Lima, Milan, Italy

Lamb Arts, London, UK 

2017

L’impero delle luci, Frutta, Rome, Italy

2016

Time Goes By So Slowly, Jeanine Hofland, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2014

If There is a Last Summer Morning, Frutta, Rome, Italy 

2013

On Parasols, Jumpers and Balls, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Belgium

Uprisings: Alek O., MOSTYN, Wales, UK

2010

The Thing, Gallery Vela, London, UK

2009

Rien que les heures, 317 association pour l’art contemporain, Nice, France

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

ITALIA 70 – I NUOVI MOSTRI, curated by Massimiliano Gioni, Milano, Italy (upcoming)

2023

Panorama L’Aquila, curated by Cristiana Perrella, Italy

Basel Social Club, Basel, Switzerland

Everything broken down, Solid Haus Kunsthalle, Suffolk Coast, UK

2022

Back Home, Lamb Arts, London, UK

Future cities, National Poetry Library, South Bank Centre, London, UK

There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in, Martina Simeti Gallery, Milan, Italy

L’abaco rovesciato, Straperetana 2022, Pereto, Italy

2021

To Situations New, Lamb Arts, London, UK

Io dico Io – I say I, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Rome, Italy

Panorama, curated by Vincenzo De Bellis, Italics, Procida, Italy

2020

Io dico Io – I say I, curated by Cecilia Canziani, Lara Conte e Paola Ugolini, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e contemporanea, Rome, Italy

Unquiet Moments: Capturing the Everyday, MA Curating the Art Museum, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Sommerset House, UK

2019

Appocundria, curated by Marta Cereda, Casa Testori, Novate Milanese, Italy

2018

Into the Wild, curated by Christiane Rekade, KunstMeran, Meran, Italy

In Addition, an Exhibition of Artist Editions, curated by Adam Carr, MOSTYN, Llandudno, UK

The Collector’s House, curated by Caroline Corbetta, Salone del Mobile, Molteni&C., Milan, Italy

Per andare dove dobbiamo andare, per dove dobbiamo andare?, Nomas Foundation, Rome, Italy

One Missing Sock After Doing Laundry, curated by Giulia Colletti, The Art Laundrette, Glasgow, UK

The Annotated Reader, curated by Ryan Gander and Jonathan P. Watts, Cork Street, London, UK

Ortica, Frutta, Rome, IT

2017

Deposito d’Arte Italiana Presente, curated by Ilaria Bonacossa and Vittoria Martini, Artissima, Turin, Italy

Playspace, PS8, curated by Samantha Rosenwald, Rosa Tyhurst and Grace Xu, CCA, San Francisco, USA

EXIT, curated by Adam Carr, Rodolphe Janssen Gallery, Brussels, Belgium

ALL’APERTO – Tre artiste per Trivero, curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Andre Zegna, Fondazione Zegna, Trivero, Italy

2016

La seconda volta, curated by Cristiana Perrella, 16a Quadriennale d’Arte 2016, Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (Awarded: Special Mention Under 35)

Ma l’amor mio non muore, Opere dalla Collezione Alloggia, curated by Rita Selvaggio, Casa Museo Ivan Bruschi, Arezzo, Italy

Je Ne Sais What?, Carnelutti Firm Law, Milan, Italy

Support Material, soft furnishings, curated by Liang Luscombe and Lisa Radford, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Project Space, Melbourne, Australia

Sem Saber Quando Virá o Amanhecer…, curated by Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, Silvia Cintra + Box4, Rio De Janeiro, Brasil

Art Situacions III, SPAIN / ITALY, curated by Vicente Todolì, Maria de Corral, Lorena Martinez de Corral, Ilaria Gianni, Matadero, Madrid, Spain

2015

Ennesima, curated by Vincenzo de Bellis, Triennale, Milan, Italy

What is a Bird? We Simply Don’t Know, curated by Domenico de Chirico, Nicodim, Bucharest, Romania

16° Premio Cairo, la Permanente, Milan, Italy

Art Situacions I-II, SPAIN / ITALY, curated by Vicente Todolì, Maria de Corral, Lorena Martinez de Corral, Ilaria Gianni, Villa Croce, Genova, IT, MACRO, Rome, Italy

TAVERNA – We are open (Icastica 2015), curated by Ilaria Gianni, Fraternità dei Laici, Arezzo, Italy

Shadow Scenes, Colomoscope 2015, curated by Natasha Ginwala and Menika Van der Poorten, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Fantastica. The way we make art, BeatTricks, Milan, Italy

Alek O. and James Viscardi, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, Sweden

Le regole del gioco, curated by Luca Lo Pinto, Studio Castiglioni, Milan, Italy

2014

The Go-Between – artists from the Ernesto Esposito collection, Museo di Capodimonte, Napoli, Italy

SMALL, curated by Adam Carr, Frutta, Rome, Italy

Ab-Stretching the Canvas, Jeanine Hofland, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Non-Profit & Profit, SpazioA, Pistoia, Italy

Accordion, Laura Bartlett, London, UK

2013

Grand Opening, Frutta, Rome, Italy

Premio Moroso, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Italy

2012

D’après Giorgio, Fondazione Casa Giorgio De Chirico, Rome, Italy

Differenza e ripetizione, Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples, Italy

Everything old was once new, National Trust, Arts Council Collection, Worcester, UK

Als Morandi mit der Kinematographie liebäugelte, Supportico Lopez, Berlin, Germany

An Incomplete History of Incomplete Works, Francesca Minini, Milan, Italy

Lucie Fontaine: Estate, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, USA

Without (Jonathan Monk), Meessen De Clercq, Brussels, Belgium

Detective, Galerie Andreas Huber, Vienna, Austria

2011

Illy Prize Present Future, Artissima 18, Turin, Italy

To see an object, to see the light, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, Italy

Ariane De Rothschild Prize, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy

Domesticity, Prague Biennale 5, Prague, Czech Republich

Fruits, Flowers and Clouds, with Gallery Vela, MaK, Vienna, Austria

Quite Like A Lake, Unosunove, Rome, Italy

Like rowing a boat; facing the way you came, Gallery Vela, London, UK

V Bienal de Jafre, various seats, Jafre, Spain

2010

Exhibition Exhibition, Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli, Turin, Italy

Certo sentimento, Cripta 747, Turin, Italy

Olivia Flecha, Alek O., Helen Marten, Gallery Vela, London, UK

Gallery, Galerie, Galleria, Galleria Norma Mangione, Turin, Italy

2009

Lisson Presents 6, A Troubling Metamorphosis of Loose Ideas into Cast Forms, Lisson Gallery, London, UK

Italian Open, Annet Gelink, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Territoria 4, The Great Leap, Centro per l’arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy

Playlist, Neon > Campobase, Bologna, Italy

2008

Seek Refuge, Venezia Village, Venice, Italy

Onufri Award 2008, National Gallery of Arts, Tirana, Albania

Don’t disappear, Expotrastiendas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2007

La legge è relativa per tutti, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, Italy

2006

5th Shenzhen International Ink Painting Biennal, The Black Theater, E-6, Shen Zhen, China

La necessità di un’isola, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy

2005

J’en rêve, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, France

Isola in-video, Isola Art Center, Milan, Italy

GRANTS/PRIZES

2018

Premio Lissone 18 / Exibart Editorial Prize, MAC Lissone, Italy

2017

Level 0, ArtVerona, Verona, Italy

2016

Special Mention Under 35, 16th Art Quadriennial, Rome, Italy

PROJECTS

2018

Ho Ho Ho, Frutta, Rome, Italy

2016

Je Ne Sais What?, Carnelutti Firm Law, Milan, Italy

2011

‘Two Times Once’- an exhibition by Mr. Rossi, Limoncello, London, UK 

Night School #8, performance as Mr. Rossi, ICA, London, UK Festivela, Gallery Vela, London, UK

Colazione con Mr. Rossi, performance as Mr. Rossi, Artissima Lido, Turin, Italy

2009

As you enter the exhibition, you consider this a group show by an artist you don’t know by the name of  Mr. Rossi, ex-fabbrica Minerva, Milan, Italy 

L’indiano in giardino, various seats, Milan, Italy

2007

A Certain Ratio, Room arte contemporanea, Milan, Italy

WORKSHOPS AND RESIDENCIES

2023

Alek O. Che disfare? – Web TV, Centro Pecci, Prato, Italy

2018

Alek O. – Il Giardino, Artissima, Turin, Italy

2010

Flux Factory Inc., Long Island City, New York., USA

HIAP, Helsinki International Artist-in-residence Program, Helsinki, Finland

2006

Wherever we go, workshop with Adrian Paci, Viafarini, Milan, Italy

Making Of, Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’art contemporain, Luxembourg

2004

Real Presence 4, Museum 25th May, Belgrad, RS

2003

Corso Superiore di Arti Visive, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy

REVIEWS AND CRITICAL TEXTS

Silvia Conta, «Alek O.», Exibart n.104, April – June 2019, Milano

Caroline Corbetta, «Il mestiere dell’arte», Esquire n.3, March 2019, Milano

Enrico Migliaccio, «Alek O.», Insideart n. 102, May 2015, Roma

Pier Paolo Pancotto, «Alek O.», Artforum, November 2014, New York

Vincenzo Latronico, «Alek O., Un’opera di specchi (questo ricordo di te)», Flash Art n. 314, Feb.2014, Milano

Luca Lo Pinto, «Histoire d’O.», in Moroso Award for Contemporary Art catalogue, 2013

Alessandra Galletta (interview with), Flash Art n. 308, February 2013, Milano

Chris Fitzpatrick, «A Few Recombinant Layers», in Artissima 18 catalogue, 2011

Vincenzo Latronico, «Alek O., Questo ricordo di te», Flash Art n. 293, May 2011, Milano

Francesco Manacorda, «Alek O.», in Ariane De Rothschild Prize catalogue, 2011

Adam Carr, «Lives and works – Alek O.», Spike Quarterly n. 26, 2010, Wien

Laura McLean-Ferris, «Alek O.: The Thing», Art Review on-line, November 2010

Marco Tagliafierro, «Esotico quotidiano, Fenomenologia dell’alterità», Flash Art n. 276, June – July 2009, Milano

Roberta Tenconi, «Permission To Stay. Essere un artista straniero a Milano», Flash Art n. 268, February – March
2008, Milano

Roberta Tenconi, «A Certain Ratio, spostamenti minimi», Flash Art n. 267, December – January 2008, Milano

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

The Annotated Reader, Ryan Gander & Jonathan P. Watts, London 2019

Artists’ Artists, Frieze Masters, Issue 6, London 2017

2015: Present Tense, Indefinite Mood, Mousse Publishing, Milano 2015

A Metaphysical Interior, Izet Sheshivari & Luca Lo Pinto, Boabooks, Genève 2014

TERRAZZAArtisti storie luoghi in Italia negli anni zero, Marsilio, Venezia 2014

Alek O., Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales 2013

Moroso Award for Contemporary Art, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venezia 2013

To see an object, to see the light, Mousse Publishing, Milano 2011

Artissima Lido, catalogue of the project, 2011

Ariane De Rothschild Prize 2011, catalogue of the exhibition, 2011

Exhibition Exhibition, Skira, Milano 2010

Ange Leccia et le Pavillon, Musée Bourdelle, Paris 2009

100e Ceramiche per il Paradiso, Mariogros edizioni, Torino 2008

Oh, Charlotte, artist book, Salzinsel, Luxembourg 2007

J’en rêve, catalogue of the exhibition, Actes Sud, Arles 2005

Design at Work, Stefania Palmieri, Edizioni Polidesign, Milano 2004

Richard Nonas, Quaderni del Corso Superiore di Arte Visiva, Charta, Milano 2004

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

2011

Arts Council Collection, London, UK