FRANCA SONNINO. THE THINKING HANDS

From June 19 to November 8, the Gramma_Epsilon Gallery in Athens – Agathonos 6 – will host the exhibition Franca Sonnino: The Thinking Hands, curated by Paolo Cortese and Francesco Romano Petillo.

Three years after the major retrospective held in collaboration with MUACC in Cagliari, this exhibition, curated by Paolo Cortese and Francesco Romano Petillo, offers the Athenian public a curated selection of works spanning from the early 1970s to the present. The works on display provide a clear insight into the artistic journey of the Roman artist, rightly regarded as one of the mothers of Italian Fiber Art.

In her early career, Franca Sonnino created large canvases, using acrylic and tempera totrace lines – continuous, dashed, or dotted – that intersected and overlapped, forming a dense web of patterns and grids. A few years later, she began to experiment with materials from the domestic realm most frequently  associated with the feminine world, such as thread, sequins, lace, and fabric. Over time, she moved away from canvas as a medium and thread took the place of the brush. In the very early 1980s, Franca Sonnino invented the solid thread – a cotton thread reinforced with wire – through which she began to draw her universe in three dimensions.

Important cycles emerged in Sonnino’s work, including Landscapes: cultivated fields, rooftops and villages, Mosaics: large-scale modular surfaces, and Transparencies: where overlapping frames create a rhythmic interplay of impressions. However, books – whether individual, in small groups or as large installations – are undoubtedly among the artist’s most cherished  subjects.

Another key aspect of Sonnino’s work is the use of shadow. Through a dynamic interplay of voids and solids, the artist creates architectural forms that invade the surrounding space and interact with it through the shadows cast by their profiles.

The title of the exhibition is inspired by  an epithet coined by Marcello Venturoli in 1980 and seeks to capture the essence of  Franca Sonnino’s creative process, which has remained consistent over more than five decades. While the work begins with an idea – and therefore has a mental and conceptual origin – it is then carried forward by the hands, guided solely by the heart. As the artist explains: “When I start a work, I don’t really know in which direction it will develop or especially when it will be finished. I don’t ask myself questions; it’s a natural process, not governed by the mind but rather by the heart!”

The exhibition is accompanied by a publication with a text by Franca Zoccoli, the second in the Portfolio series dedicated to the gallery’s female artists.

Franca Coen Sonnino was born in 1932 in Rome, where she lives and works. Holding a degree in Literature she embarked on her artistic journey after meeting Maria Lai, who encouraged her to “use your hands to make useless objects, not useful things.”

Her early works were primarily paintings made of lines and dense grids. Over time, thread became her preferred medium, and replaced the brush leading to creations that combine both gestural and spatial elements in a distinctive synthesis.

Since 1972, Franca Sonnino has held nearly thirty solo exhibitions and participated in approximately two hundred group shows in museums and galleries around the world.

In 2019, the Textile Museum of Busto Arsizio hosted the exhibition Maria Lai e Franca Sonnino: Capolavori di fiber art italiana. That same year, she exhibited in London in Threading Spaces – Nedda Guidi, Elisabetta Gut, Maria Lai, Franca Sonnino, curated by Paolo Cortese. In 2021, the artist was showcased at Frieze Masters in London and in Athens in the group show Histoire d’E Part 2: Between Language and Object at Gramma_Epsilon Gallery.

This was followed by the comprehensive retrospective Thread, Sign, Space at MUACC in Cagliari and concurrently at Gramma_Epsilon in Athens. She also participated  in the Mdna Biennale, and a solo show at Jochum Rodgers Gallery in Berlin. In 2024, she took part in the project The Different Revolution, presented at Artissima in Turin and later at Gramma_Epsilon Gallery in Athens.