The Shape of Possibility. A Restrospective

Two sides of the Atlantic, two cultural realms, a dialogue that spans centuries and is renewed through the language of contemporary art. This is the narrative thread that runs through The Shape of Possibility. A Restrospective, the solo exhibition by Italian-Swedish artist Camilla Ancilotto, scheduled at Alessandro Berni Gallery in the heart of Chelsea, New York, on view from the 18th to the 25th of November 2026, with an opening reception on Thursday, November 19th, 6-8 pm. The exhibition presents a collection of Ancilotto’s pictorial-sculptural works that characterize the artist's creative process, created from prism-shaped blocks mounted on steel frames that can be rotated to reveal multiple, interactive images. So for example, her painting of the ancient Greek sculpture of the goddess Iris, on 25 rotating panels, can be transformed by the viewer’s touch into a painting of a zebra, or a heron, or something in between, depending on how many panels are turned. Hers is an original artistic language in which images are disassembled and reassembled. In this way, the pictorial surface loses its static quality and is transformed into a dynamic visual device, enabling the viewer to engage in an experience of discovery and interpretation. Among the works on display, Symphony of the Wild stands out. It was presented at Art Miami during Miami Art Week in 2025. The work draws inspiration from the painting Les Volupteux (1889) by French painter Victor Prouvé housed at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nancy, France. The exhibition traces the connection between the classical roots of Mediterranean culture—evoked by the Elgin Marbles, the golden Reclining Venus, and the famous Torsos from the Hellenistic period—with Italian painting tradition, drawing on Titian's Saint Sebastian and an anonymous Caravaggesque artist. These images are complemented by jeweled portraits of Marilyn Monroe that evoke the world of Pop Art and Andy Warhol’s famous interpretations. The result is a dialogue between two distinct artistic traditions: on the one hand, the European tradition, guardian of a millennia-old artistic heritage, and, on the other, the American imagination, capable of transforming faces and images from popular culture into contemporary icons. Ancilotto reworks these references through a refined, academically grounded style of painting, demonstrating how the legacy of the past can become a living source of experimentation and innovation. For the artist, the retrospective also represents a symbolic return to her formative roots: in 1999 she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree at the New York Academy of Art—a connection that lends the exhibition special significance and strengthens the dialogue between her artistic identity and the American cultural context. With The Shape of Possibility. A Restrospective, Camilla Ancilotto builds an ideal bridge where Italian and Mediterranean artistic tradition meets the energy of the American imaginary. It is a fertile dialogue between tradition and innovation in which the forms of the past are renewed and become an expression of a contemporary and international vision.