Born in Italy in 1971, Paola Pivi’s artistic practice is diverse and enigmatic. Commingling the familiar with the alien, Pivi often works with commonly identifiable objects which are modified to introduce a new scale, material or color, challenging the audience to change their point of view. Animals are often cast as protagonists in Pivi’s world. She draws upon their perceived characteristics and instills them with human mannerisms. In Pivi’s art, polar bears practice yoga, hang from trapezes, and engage with one another. Sprouting multicolored feathers, the artworks are both life-sized and miniaturized as baby bears. Spanning sculpture, video, photography, performance and installation, Pivi’s practice trespasses perceived limits to make possible what before seemed impossible. Zebras frolic in the arctic, goldfish fly on airplanes, and in her 2012 Public Art Fund installation, a Piper Seneca airplane was lifted on its wingtips and installed to constantly rotate forward. 

Pivi has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions including We are the Alaskan Tourists, Arken Museum, Denmark (2020); World Record, MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Italy; Art with a view, The Bass Museum Miami Beach, USA (2018); I did it again, Savannah College of Art and Design, USA (2018); I am tired of eating fish, LaRinascente, Italy (2017); Ma’am, Dallas Contemporary, USA (2016); Tulkus 1880 to 2018, FRAC Bourgogne, France (2014); You started it … I finish it, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia (2014); Share, But It’s Not Fair, Rockbund Art Museum, China (2012); How I roll, Public Art Fund New York, USA (2012); It’s a cocktail party, Portikus, Germany (2008); It just keeps getting better, Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland (2007); My religion is kindness. Thank you, see you in the future, Fondazione Trussardi, Italy (2006). 

Pivi has exhibited internationally at institutions including Palais de Tokyo, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Centre Pompidou, France; Fondazione Prada, Biennale di Venezia, Italy; Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Germany; Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Modern, United Kingdom; Malmö Konsthall, Sweden; MOMA PS1, USA; Yokohama Triennale, Japan.