marytwo proudly presents Gaia Del Santo’s solo exhibition Acme Studios, featuring two new groups of works: black essie series (after Frank Stella) and amor vacui of meaning (2024). The exhibition title links the Stockholm-based fashion house Acne Studios with the fictional Looney Tunes company Acme Corporations, whose acronym ‘A company making everything’ appears as a generic company name in countless cartoons.
black essie series (after Frank Stella) unfolds in fifty individual titles, listed on the floor plan, which read like abstract narratives. Del Santo’s titles for the nail polish bottles – this black shade from Essie is originally called ‘licorice’ – are a combination of fashion magazine jargon and the scripts of late 1970s and 1980s horror films set in shopping malls. In their minimalist gesture, the works recall Frank Stella’s Black Paintings (1958–60), which are charged with emotional meaning only through their titles.
The second series, titled amor vacui of meaning, comprises seven meticulously arranged collages of grey passepartouts, printed almost invisibly with a fine polka-dot pattern. These unconventionally cut passepartouts refer to common fashion magazine layouts and explore the concept of emptiness and airiness as the epitome of luxury. The images, taken from various contemporary issues of Vogue (2023/24), highlight the often-overlooked supporting characters of product marketing used to subliminally convey moods and desires.
Gaia Del Santo completed her Bachelor in Fine Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts in 2022. This will be her second solo exhibition after brb,,,,,,,……,,,,crying at Warenlift in Zurich (2020). Gaia’s work has been exhibited at the Stadtgalerie Baliere (2023), Nairs Lab (2023), Last Tango (2023), Plattform23 at Espace Arlaud (2023), Kunsthaus Glarus (2021), Toxi Space (2021) among others. She received the ZHdK Bachelor Prize and was a participant in the residency programme Lago Mio, Lugano and INSTA X, online. In September Gaia will begin her Masters in Fine Arts at écal in Lausanne.
🍒👜📈📁‼️💬🩷
Click here to access the reader, compiled by Gaia Del Santo for Acme Studios at marytwo❕❕
Click here to read a recent interview with Gaia Del Santo and Endre Cserna for the eidolon journal 🗞️
Exhibition text by Biz Sherbert, floor plan (EN)
Ausstellungstext von Biz Sherbert, Saalplan (DE)
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 1, 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 2, 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 2 (detail), 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 3, 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
«anno design», «for you»
black essie series (after Frank Stella), 2024
50 Essie nail polishes with individual titles
Dimensions variable
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 4, 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 5, 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 5 (detail), 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
«perfume ad thriller», «kerosene», «jane doe», «protocol» + «fear of god», «cosmetic debt»
black essie series (after Frank Stella), 2024
50 Essie nail polishes with individual titles
Dimensions variable
Gaia Del Santo
«think», «immateriality», «basic instinct», «mystery shopper», «surface over source», «influencer lament», «deer in headlights», «creative director», «losing face», «conspiracy», «signifying minimalism», «nothing», «overchoice tragedy», «abyss flirt»
black essie series (after Frank Stella), 2024
50 Essie nail polishes with individual titles
Dimensions variable
Gaia Del Santo
«roland barthes», «oh heart»
black essie series (after Frank Stella), 2024
50 Essie nail polishes with individual titles
Dimensions variable
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 6, 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 7, 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
Gaia Del Santo
amor vacui of meaning 7 (detail), 2024
Magazine cutouts, screen print on passepartout, framed
42 × 29.7cm
