It is true that everyday songs, the French, American, Neapolitan, and Spanish tunes, with their music and their words, have narrated my joys and sufferings, loves and memories; not Bach, not Mozart, not Rossini, but 'Torna a Surriento,' 'Cuccuruccucu Paloma,' and 'Stand by me'.

(Isabella Ducrot)

With the solo exhibition Opere a ripa 2025, a title that recalls the inception of the collaboration with Galleria T293 (Opere a ripa 2020) and serves as a tribute to the five-year partnership, Isabella Ducrot presents a series of eight works on Japanese paper that share a singular theme: vases, flowers, and leaves that coalesce amidst the horizon of a black-and-white checkered tablecloth, all unified by a repetitive architectural presence, which we might refer to as window frames. The repetitive theme is dear to the artist, and in this instance, it approaches a form of meditation. Free from any concern of possessing ornamental qualities and entirely dismissing principles of “winking” to the extensive iconography of still life, Isabella confidently captures the grace and power of objects: indeed, the vases are undeniably vessels of pure pleasure. The elements are few, yet intense in color and form, and they possess the quality of being light, almost delicately resting upon the edge of the table, openly displayed for anyone who might lift their gaze towards these open windows.

The pigments, rich and vibrant, produce surfaces that are resonant, dazzling, and illuminated by light, which undoubtedly casts its brilliance upon the silhouettes of the floral compositions without obscuring or punishing them with unwelcome shadows. Indeed, Isabella's vases are immersed in a full luminosity without shadows, with the air surrounding them seeming still. The perspective of the compositions is nearly absent; everything is arranged within a few but evident architectural allusions. There are no proportional logics or academic wisdom, but rather a collection of resonant elements that harmonize like musical chords—never dissonant and always decidedly catchy—evoking the radio tunes that prompt us to dance and dream of new horizons of love: the powerful, non-academic music of streets, village festivals, nightclubs, and sleepless nights, the kind that instantly untangles the knots of “what ought to be” and encourages us to sing. For this occasion, in tribute to Paola Guadagnino and her gallery, Isabella Ducrot creates these “vivid” natures steeped in color, gazing imaginatively across the Gulf of Naples: a dedication to the poignant and chaotic beauty of the city where she was born and raised, where she loves to return by merely listening to the voices of Roberto Murolo, Beppe Barra, or Maria Nazionale.

Therefore, the gallery, with these eight vases, dons an ensemble that transforms its occasionally austere character, marked by the black lines of metal and devoid of external openings, for Isabella carries with her the entirely Neapolitan sentiment of present joy: “Neapolitans live as if they were to die” the artist reflects, a Neapolitan increasingly anchored to her roots as a girl raised in Monte di Dio. The sense of time in these works is also devoid of the melancholy of the past and the anticipation of the future; it unfolds through an intense perception of the aesthetic force of today: the only possible happiness is the contemplation of the present, as if alongside the nostalgia for past loves and lived dreams, the pure strength of beauty prevails, akin to the notes of certain poignant and caressing songs that can be heard and sung openly from wide-open windows, perhaps overlooking a maritime horizon.

(Nora Iosia, June 2025)