- Visit:
- Saatchi Gallery
- Magazine
- Gallery Shop
- Artists:
- Sell / Upload
Claudia Borgna
About
Claudia Borgna was born in Hamburg, Germany, and raised in Italy. After graduating from Genoa University in foreign literature, she moved to London, although lately has been leading a nomadic life style pursuing her art a bit all over the world. For several years she has attended diverse art courses, both practical and theoretical, which have allowed her to experiment with various disciplines, media and techniques, including ceramics, life drawing and painting, sculpture and printmaking. This led to her completion in 2005 of a second degree in fine art at the London Metropolitan University. Since then she has been exhibiting in shows in London, around the UK, in Berlin, Europe the USA and in Mexico. She has attended fellowship residencies in the USA,Canada,and Europe.She is a recipient of both, the Joan Mitchell and the Pollock - Krasner grant and she was awarded the Royal British Society of Sculptors bursary award. She also was in the final 12 short-listed artists (out of 3000 applicants) for the BBC2 documentary: School of Saatchi. Her work entails the investigation of what she calls the evolution of landscape, a process started and effected by modern life-styles and consumerism. Her installations are the materialization of an ongoing observation and questioning of how the plastic and the natural realms interact with one another and thereby come to create new ephemeral orders. She mainly works with recycled plastic bags.Travelling around the world I have come to realise that we are living in a world that overflows with waste.This was the starting point that led me to investigate the relationship between discarded materials, such as plastic bags, and the environment.In the past years I have been looking at how rubbish and man made objects are very much transforming and creating new landscapes and becoming more and more integrated into nature.This process, which I name the evolution of landscape, and that is generated by our modern lifestyle, (consumption), I find very interesting to observe, because it makes it, from an artistic point of view, a very exciting material to work with and exploit.After working for years with all sorts of discarded materials, waste and rubbish, I decided that for the time being I would focus on working just with plastic bags.I think that plastic bags epitomize the perfect and quintessential discarded object.To me the plastic bag is the symbolic embryo that contains our lifestyle and is the vessel that carries it out in its journey.I find plastic bags interesting because of their remarkable contradictory qualities. Plastic bags are in fact both worthless and useful, disposable and recyclable, flimsy and strong, ephemeral and eternal, but above all they are universal.By putting the plastic bag in an artistic context I would like to elevate it to another dimension that takes it away from the idea of the banal and obvious and for an instant transforms it into a poetic object. In other words it becomes an inspiring muse. A mass-produced muse with forms, lines and colour, that cant help but interact with the surrounding environment.Like in my performances the plastic bags are a human and therefore natural appendix of man. Because one could argue that whatever is man made is natural and that ultimately nature is an unstable and unreliable human construction ruled by social and cultural needs. I have chosen to materialise my ideas trough the form of installation because in this way I find that I can better express the concept of environment, space, time and duration. I like my installation to be large and give a sense of multitude and mass as in mass-production, to be invasive by taking over space to the point of suffocation, and to be in constant evolution and therefore changeable.I want my work to become a virtual lyrical extension of modern life that substitutes the old idealized concept of nature with a romanticised modern one.Despite the fact that my works wants to underline the relationship, or the conflict, between culture and nature, and how they both influence and reflect each other, I also want to build an awareness and make a comment on the way we are living and how it effects the environment.Nevertheless it is a non-judgemental comment since I havent really resolved for myself, and never will, its contradictory nature of beauty and danger. … Read More
- Location
- nomadic but based in london, United Kingdom
- Website
- http://www.claudiaborgna.com
Awards
February 2010
The Pritzker Foundation Endowed Fellowship Award
July 2009
Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Award
August 2008
Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner Grant Award
May 2008
Joan Mitchell Award for the Santa Fe Art Institute
June 2005
Winner of the Rowley Prize Award, London Metropolitan Degree Show, UK
May-July 2003
Winner of the Tower Hill of London Hoarding project
Competitions
December 2010
Short-listed and commended for the British Woman Artist’s Prize 2010
October 2010
The Public Speaks Winner of the Broomhill National Sculpture prize 2010 with special
commendation from the judges.
February 2010
Finalist for the Broomhill National Sculpture Prize 2010,
May 2009
Short-listed for the BBC 2 documentary “School of Saatchi”
Residencies and Fellowships
September-November 2011
Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, California, USA
June-August 2011
Aberystwyth Art Centre, University of Aberystwyth, Wales, UK
December 2010 March 2011
Centraltrak, University of Texas at Dallas, USA
6 August-17 September 2010
Terra Nova National Park artist in residence program, Newfoundland, Canada
January- March 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
26 May-25 June 2009
Djerassi Artist Program, Woodside, California, USA
01 Octcer-31 Nov 2008
Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
27 May -25 August 2008
McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
25April-21May 2008
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, Oregon, USA
30 March -25 April 2008
Vermont Studio Center, Burlington, Vermont, USA
January-March 2008
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
14 November -17 December 2007
I-PARK, Connecticut, USA
19 October -14 November 2007
Klondike Institute for Arts and Culture, Dawson, Canada
10-14 July 2007
The Makers Guild in Wales, Cardiff, UK
30 January -10 March 2007
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California, USA
20 December 2006- 3 January 2007
Heinrich Boell programme, Achill Island, Ireland
5 November -11 December 2006
I-PARK, Connecticut, USA
Solo Shows
29 September - 18 November 2011
Los Gatos Art Museum, Los Gatos, CA, USA
11-25 March 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
12-14 February 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
17 July 2009
Zoho Gallery, Fabrica La Aurora, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
4 September - 13 November 2008
Nerina Wilter, Home from Home Gallery, Munich, Germany
15-22 August 2008
McGill Rose Garden, Charlotte, NC, USA
10-17 July 2007
Craft in the Bay Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, UK
6-25 May 2006
Exposure Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK
Exhibitions
9 November 2011
24th Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille, France
21-23 October 2011
Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Heart of Hawick, Scotland, UK
16 September - 15 October 2011
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts 13th Annual Art Auction and Exhibition, Omaha, NE, USA
8 -10 September 2011
CologneOFF, Waterpieces Contemporary Art & Videoart Festival, Riga, Latvia
31 Aug - 3 September 2011
CologneOFF , Shams, The Sunflower, Beirut, Lebanon
26 June - 30 October 2011
‘A Decade’ Harold Martin Botanic Garden, University of Leicester, UK
19 June - 10 July 2011
Fresh Air 2011, Quenington, England, UK
15 May – 23 June 2011
‘Inside out’, Rhonda Heritage Park, Trehafod, Wales, UK
25 March - 23 April 2011
‘The Botany of Desire’ University of Texas at Dallas, Main Gallery, USA
16 February - 14 March 2011
‘Kids from Commerce” Plush Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA
28 January - 13 February 2011
‘BlankExpression 2011’, BLANKSPACE, Manchester, UK
14 January - 3 February 2011
‘Image to Object’ Red Gate Gallery, London, UK
19 November 2010
‘Flash Flood’ Santa Fe Art Institute, NM, USA
9 September - 9 October 2010
‘A Site of No Interest’ Solihull Arts Complex, Solihull, West Midlands, UK
26 June -17 September 2010
‘Heart, Head and Hands’ Harold Martin Botanic Garden, University of Leicester, UK
June 2010 - February 2011
Broomhill National Sculpture Prize, Barnstaple, Devon, UK
14 May -11 June 2010
“After the End” Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK
April - November 2010
Burghley House Sculpture Garden, Stamford, UK
6 March - 27 March 2010
‘Monotype Marathon’ Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA, USA
27 February - 10 April 2010
‘Climate Change’ Rhyl Library Museum and Art Centre, Rhyl, Wales, UK
19 November 2009 – 11 December 2009
Royal British Society of Sculptors Gallery, London, UK
7 November 2009 - 23 January 2010
‘Afterlife’ Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, Ca, USA
9 October 2009 – 21 November 2009
“Mapping a green future” Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, USA
5 October 2009 – 30 October 2009
‘Vision Shift’ Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
18 September 2009
‘Parking Day’ Berkley, CA, USA. Collaboration with Nina Haft & Dance Company
4 April -3 May 2009
‘I'm Blue’, Infantellina Contemporary Gallery, Berlin, Germany
11 July - 23 August 2008
Mc Coll Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC, USA
11 February - 2 March 2008
‘New life visuals’ Wooloo New Life Shop, Berlin, Germany
16 November - 4 Jan 2008
‘Light to spare’ Spaces Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
10 September - 27Oct 2007
‘Disposable Love’ Solihull Arts Complex, Solihull, UK
August 2007
‘Recycling’ Dolcedo, Imperia, Italy
25 May -12 August 2007
‘Extreme Crafts’ Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania
1-3 September 2006
Imperia Biennale, Italy
15 July 2006
‘Conjunction 06’ AirSpace Gallery, Stoke On Trend, UK
12-14 May 2006
‘EcoVandalism’ Lookoutpost, Forest Hill, London, UK
15-25 March 2006
AVA Gallery, University of East London, London, UK
23 February 2006
‘Polarize’ Brazen Dance Theatre, Coventry University Theatre, Coventry, UK
10 February 2006
‘Polarize’ Brazen Dance Theatre, The Place Theatre, London, UK
26-28 January 2005
‘Fresh fest’ South Hill Park , Bracknell, UK
22 December 2005
Hit event, Islington London, UK
12-17 December 2005
‘All the properties of a thing’ Bethnal Green, London, UK
07-10 December 2005
New Art Birmingham 2005, Birmingham, UK
03-31 December 2005
Exposure Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK
November - December 2005
‘Environmental’ House Gallery, Stroud, UK
December 2003 – January 2004
‘Campaigning: Politics & Shopping’ Unit 2 Gallery, London, UK
December 2003 – January 2004
‘Miniature & Mass’ Commercial Road Library, London, UK
Artist Talks
30 September 2011
Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA, USA
29 September 2011
Los Gatos Art Museum, Los Gatos,CA, USA
16 June 2011
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK
8 September 2010
Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, Canada
12 February 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
9 December 2009
Royal British Society of Sculptors Gallery, London, UK
12 November 2009
Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA, USA
11 June 2009
The Palo Alto Art Center, CA, USA
August 2008
McGill Rose Garden, New Contemporaries, Charlotte, NC, USA
07 February 2008
Bemis Contemporary Art Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
01 November 2007
KIAC, Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Dawson city, Canada
15 March 2006
East London University, London, UK
Publications
March 2011
The Overture, USA
March 2011
Modern Dallas, USA
February 2011
Park Magazine, Portugal
February 2011
Mamma green, Italy
January 2011
The Visible trash society, Belgium
October 2010
Edible East Bay, USA
July 2010
Stamford Living, UK
March 2010
Artists Newsletter Magazine, UK
December 2009
Square Cylinder, USA
December 2007
Cleveland.com, USA
Summer 2007
Antennae Magazine, issue 2 “The old Bag Issue”, UK
Commissions
30 September- 30 November 2011
Site-specific installation on the Grounds of Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA, USA
April 2011
North Devon Hospice, Deer Park, Newport, Barnstaple, UK
1-3 October 2010
Set Design for: DEBRIS/flows Dance Performance by Nina Haft & Company, Zaccho Dance
Theatre, San Francisco, CA, USA
10 March 2007
Two prints for the Lautman collection, Berkeley, CA, US.
15 October 2006
Costumes commission for The Irrepressibles, music performance, London, UK
August 2006
“Field” commissioned for the film “Red in White” by director Caroline Bridges; the Film was
then screened at the Portobello Film Festival, London, UK
May 2005
Three sculptures (50cm x 10cm) titled ‘Flower’ for private collector, London, UK
… Read More
Education
2002-2005
John Cass Art, Media & Design, London Metropolitan University, UK
BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree – specialising in sculpture and installation.
2000-2002
Kensington & Chelsea College, London, UK
Pre-Foundation and Foundation in Art & Design + ‘A Level’ in Life Drawing and Painting
1999-2002
Kensington & Chelsea College, London, UK
Three years of Ceramics Workshops
1998-1999
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
Theoretic course on Modern Art
1993-1998
Genoa University (Italy)
BA in Foreign language and Literature (English and German). Specialised in American History. Thesis: ‘Black
Education in the South of the States 1855 - 1950: The Case of South Carolina’. Travelled to the US to
research for three months at Columbia University, South Carolina.
Awards
February 2010
The Pritzker Foundation Endowed Fellowship Award
July 2009
Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Award
August 2008
Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner Grant Award
May 2008
Joan Mitchell Award for the Santa Fe Art Institute
June 2005
Winner of the Rowley Prize Award, London Metropolitan Degree Show, UK
May-July 2003
Winner of the Tower Hill of London Hoarding project
Competitions
December 2010
Short-listed and commended for the British Woman Artist’s Prize 2010
October 2010
The Public Speaks Winner of the Broomhill National Sculpture prize 2010 with special commendation from the
judges.
February 2010
Finalist for the Broomhill National Sculpture Prize 2010,
May 2009
Short-listed for the BBC 2 documentary “School of Saatchi”
Residencies and Fellowships
September-Decenber 2011
Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, California, USA
June-August 2011
Aberystwyth Art Centre, University of Aberystwyth, Wales, UK
December 2010 March 2011
Centraltrak, University of Texas at Dallas, USA
6 August-17 September 2010
Terra Nova National Park artist in residence program, Newfoundland, Canada
January- March 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
26 May-25 June 2009
Djerassi Artist Program, Woodside, California, USA
01 Octcer-31 Nov 2008
Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
27 May -25 August 2008
McColl Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
25April-21May 2008
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, Oregon, USA
30 March -25 April 2008
Vermont Studio Center, Burlington, Vermont, USA
January-March 2008
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
14 November -17 December 2007
I-PARK, Connecticut, USA
19 October -14 November 2007
Klondike Institute for Arts and Culture, Dawson, Canada
10-14 July 2007
The Makers Guild in Wales, Cardiff, UK
30 January -10 March 2007
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, California, USA
20 December 2006- 3 January 2007
Heinrich Boell programme, Achill Island, Ireland
5 November -11 December 2006
I-PARK, Connecticut, USA
Solo Shows
29 September - October 2011
Los Gatos Museum, Los Gatos, California, USA
11-25 March 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
12-14 February 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
17 July 2009
Zoho Gallery, Fabrica La Aurora, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico
4 September - 13 November 2008
Nerina Wilter, Home from Home Gallery, Munich, Germany
15-22 August 2008
McGill Rose Garden, Charlotte, NC, USA
10-17 July 2007
Craft in the Bay Gallery, Cardiff, Wales, UK
6-25 May 2006
Exposure Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK
Exhibitions
9 November 2011
24th Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille, France
8 -10 September 2011
CologneOFF, Waterpieces Contemporary Art & Videoart Festival, Riga, Latvia
31 Aug - 3 September 2011
CologneOFF , Shams, The Sunflower, Beirut, Lebanon
26 June - 30 October 2011
‘A Decade’ Harold Martin Botanic Garden, University of Leicester, UK
19 June - 10 July 2011
Fresh Air 2011, Quenington, England, UK
15 May – 23 June 2011
‘Inside out’, Rhonda Heritage Park, Trehafod, Wales, UK
25 March - 23 April 2011
‘The Botany of Desire’ University of Texas at Dallas, Main Gallery, USA
16 February - 14 March 2011
‘Kids from Commerce” Plush Gallery, Dallas, Texas, USA
28 January - 13 February 2011
‘BlankExpression 2011’, BLANKSPACE, Manchester, UK
14 January - 3 February 2011
‘Image to Object’ Red Gate Gallery, London, UK
19 November 2010
‘Flash Flood’ Santa Fe Art Institute, NM, USA
9 September - 9 October 2010
‘A Site of No Interest’ Solihull Arts Complex, Solihull, West Midlands, UK
26 June -17 September 2010
‘Heart, Head and Hands’ Harold Martin Botanic Garden, University of Leicester, UK
June 2010 - February 2011
Broomhill National Sculpture Prize, Barnstaple, Devon, UK
14 May -11 June 2010
“After the End” Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK
April - November 2010
Burghley House Sculpture Garden, Stamford, UK
6 March - 27 March 2010
‘Monotype Marathon’ Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA, USA
27 February - 10 April 2010
‘Climate Change’ Rhyl Library Museum and Art Centre, Rhyl, Wales, UK
19 November 2009 – 11 December 2009
Royal British Society of Sculptors Gallery, London, UK
7 November 2009 - 23 January 2010
‘Afterlife’ Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, Ca, USA
9 October 2009 – 21 November 2009
“Mapping a green future” Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM, USA
5 October 2009 – 30 October 2009
‘Vision Shift’ Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
18 September 2009
‘Parking Day’ Berkley, CA, USA. Collaboration with Nina Haft & Dance Company
4 April -3 May 2009
‘I'm Blue’, Infantellina Contemporary Gallery, Berlin, Germany
11 July - 23 August 2008
Mc Coll Center for Visual Art, Charlotte, NC, USA
11 February - 2 March 2008
‘New life visuals’ Wooloo New Life Shop, Berlin, Germany
16 November - 4 Jan 2008
‘Light to spare’ Spaces Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
10 September - 27Oct 2007
‘Disposable Love’ Solihull Arts Complex, Solihull, UK
August 2007
‘Recycling’ Dolcedo, Imperia, Italy
25 May -12 August 2007
‘Extreme Crafts’ Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania
1-3 September 2006
Imperia Biennale, Italy
15 July 2006
‘Conjunction 06’ AirSpace Gallery, Stoke On Trend, UK
12-14 May 2006
‘EcoVandalism’ Lookoutpost, Forest Hill, London, UK
15-25 March 2006
AVA Gallery, University of East London, London, UK
23 February 2006
‘Polarize’ Brazen Dance Theatre, Coventry University Theatre, Coventry, UK
10 February 2006
‘Polarize’ Brazen Dance Theatre, The Place Theatre, London, UK
26-28 January 2005
‘Fresh fest’ South Hill Park , Bracknell, UK
22 December 2005
Hit event, Islington London, UK
12-17 December 2005
‘All the properties of a thing’ Bethnal Green, London, UK
07-10 December 2005
New Art Birmingham 2005, Birmingham, UK
03-31 December 2005
Exposure Gallery, Swansea, Wales, UK
November - December 2005
‘Environmental’ House Gallery, Stroud, UK
December 2003 – January 2004
‘Campaigning: Politics & Shopping’ Unit 2 Gallery, London, UK
December 2003 – January 2004
‘Miniature & Mass’ Commercial Road Library, London, UK
Artist Talks
29 September 2011
Los Gatos Art Museum, California, USA
16 June 2011
Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK
8 September 2010
Terra Nova National Park, Newfoundland, Canada
12 February 2010
The Rea Garden, Birmingham, UK
9 December 2009
Royal British Society of Sculptors Gallery, London, UK
12 November 2009
Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA, USA
11 June 2009
The Palo Alto Art Center, CA, USA
August 2008
McGill Rose Garden, New Contemporaries, Charlotte, NC, USA
07 February 2008
Bemis Contemporary Art Center, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
01 November 2007
KIAC, Klondike Institute of Art and Culture, Dawson city, Canada
15 March 2006
East London University, London, UK
Publications
March 2011
The Overture, USA
March 2011
Modern Dallas, USA
February 2011
Park Magazine, Portugal
February 2011
Mamma green, Italy
January 2011
The Visible trash society, Belgium
October 2010
Edible East Bay, USA
July 2010
Stamford Living, UK
March 2010
Artists Newsletter Magazine, UK
December 2009
Square Cylinder, USA
October 2009
Abqjournal.com, USA
December 2007
Cleveland.com, USA
Summer 2007
Antennae Magazine, issue 2 “The old Bag Issue”, UK
Commissions
April 2011
North Devon Hospice, Deer Park, Newport, Barnstaple, UK
1-3 October 2010
Set Design for: DEBRIS/flows Dance Performance by Nina Haft & Company, Zaccho Dance Theatre, San
Francisco, CA, USA
10 March 2007
Two prints for the Lautman collection, Berkeley, CA, US.
15 October 2006
Costumes commission for The Irrepressibles, music performance, London, UK
August 2006
“Field” commissioned for the film “Red in White” by director Caroline Bridges; the Film was then screened at
the Portobello Film Festival, London, UK
May 2005
Three sculptures (50cm x 10cm) titled ‘Flower’ for private collector, London, UK
… Read More
Friends
View All
Art
