Interview with Elise Peroi

Elise Peroi has a careful and meticulous approach which shows her respect for the material and for the environment, revealing a form of ecological thinking. The silk is painted and then cut. The pieces of the different worlds are then woven with each other, erasing the original paintings to rebuild a trembling, tapered painting embracing the breakages and the bonds. The alternation of emptiness and fullness allows a dialogue with the light and brings a certain degree of abstraction. The plant and mineral layers are then not seen so much as guessed, and the superposition of these layers of time with shades of ochre, green, and blue make a braid of unique compositions through which a strong relationship between landscape and memory is forged.

Often the works, displayed on frames, evoke walls, offer a new perimeter of the space and suggest immersive, almost mythological environments, like the impressive fresco of the gardens of Livia, currently preserved at the Museo Massimo in Rome. This uncommon practice of weaving and painting also suggests other interests such as dance, with repeated gestures and rhythmic movements that seem to be the result of choreography. But it is undoubtedly literature that stands out as an inexhaustible source of inspiration, as well as architecture that is reflected both in the motifs of the works and in their structures. Moreover, some of her pieces have their origins in imaginary literary architectures, such as the work ‘Lalage’ which refers to one of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, describing a place punctuated by bell towers and swings allowing the moon to rest.

Courtesy of the artist & The contemporary art collection of the National Bank of Belgium