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Nedda GUIDI (1927-2015) is known as one of Italy’s most important ceramic artists, who challenged the dominant trends of her time. A prominent figure in Rome’s art scene since the 1950s, Guidi experimented with her chosen medium in her words to “retrieve a lost innocence and recover the originality of the material.” Her alchemical investigations into oxidisation processes and pigments appear in her “swatch tables,” which record the chemical formula, cooking process or the place and date of where she found the earth she used: a permanent archive of her research.
Her experimentation further materialises in the colour gradients of her large scale modular geometric sculptures. Invested in opening a space for non-normative bodies in culture, she was part of a group of artists working on the rehabilitation of children affected by down syndrome, and co-founded the iconic feminist collective Cooperativa Beato Angelico in 1976, among multiple other projects.
Selected exhibitions include Galleria Numero, Roma (1964); Galleria Numero Florence (1965); Biennale della Scultura, ceramica, metalli, legno, tessuti e altri materiali - ‘Quindici anni di ricerca in ceramica (1961-1976) di Nedda Guidi', curated by Enrico Crispolti, Gubbio, Palazzo dei Consoli (1976); Galleria de Serpenti, Rome (1989); Galleria Rondanini, Roma (1990); National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome (2015); Repetto Gallery, London (2019); FM Centre for Contemporary Art, Milan (2019); Mendes Wood DM at Villa Era, Piedmont (2021); Richard Saltoun Gallery, Rome (2022).