The Art Newspaper: New York is rich in Arte Povera, from Pier Paolo Calzolari’s Pandemic-era Works to Piero Gilardi’s Nature Inspired Carpets

When Marianne Boesky decided to give Pier Paolo Calzolari his first New York exhibition in 25 years back in 2012, she was determined to reintroduce Arte Povera’s discreet maestro to the other side of the pond with a grand presentation. So much so that Boesky called Pace Gallery’s Marc Glimcher to blow holes in the walls between the two galleries for a sprawling joint exhibition offering an in-depth look at the artist’s material-rich practice in sculpture, painting and film. Boesky has recently opened Calzolari’s first exhibition in New York in five years at her eponymous gallery with a body of work the Lisbon-based Italian started creating right before the pandemic, as well as some historical paintings from his retrospective at Naples’s Madre museum in 2019.