Paola Pivi – I don’t like it, I love it
ABOUT THE EVENT
Global contemporary art sensation Paola Pivi at AGWA.
AGWA is thrilled to announce the upcoming exhibition Paola Pivi – I don’t like it, I love it by globally celebrated artist Paola Pivi. This expansive and vibrant exhibition marks one of the artist’s biggest and most ambitious projects in her almost 30-year career. The installation at AGWA features major commissions created especially for AGWA’s unique architectural spaces, as well as other new works and key selected works from across Pivi’s career.
Italian-born Paola Pivi (b.1971) is one of the world’s most recognisable and loved contemporary artists. Her practice playfully blurs the line between reality and fantasy, often incorporating animals and objects in surreal scenarios—multicoloured feathered polar bears in dynamic poses, zebras in arctic landscapes, or airplanes impossibly tipping and spinning in public plazas. Her works are joyful, disarming, and immediately accessible, yet also deeply thoughtful as they explore themes ranging from consumerism, sustainability, displacement, to the human condition.
Paola Pivi – I don’t like it, I love it will unveil major new commissions developed specifically for AGWA making it one of the largest projects Paola Pivi has ever undertaken. The new artworks include a giant inflatable comic cell that celebrates the power of human creativity paying homage to the comic form which played a vital role in Pivi’s journey from Chemical Engineering student to artist. The inflatable features a vignette by world acclaimed American cartoonist Lincoln Peirce, author of the renowned Big Nate.
Three new feathered polar bears have been created for the AGWA show. Pivi’s iconic bears symbolise a connection between humanity and the natural world and highlight the vulnerability polar bears face with climate change.
A third work will fill AGWA’s Rooftop Gallery with 1000 suspended trays of colourful liquid, bringing together minimalist modernism, evocations of the beauty of stained glass and the entangled connections between the sky, light and the gallery building.
The exhibition will also present iconic works from across Pivi’s career, including large scale wall paintings, photographs, and a hanging sculptural installation. Together, these works offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience that reimagines the possibilities of art in public space.