Marta Spagnoli: Fantasmata
Installation view: Marta Spagnoli. “Fantasmata,” Galleria Continua San Gimignano 2025 Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Continua Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, Photographer: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
GALLERIA CONTINUA is pleased to host a new solo exhibition by the promising young contemporary artist Marta Spagnoli. Fantasmata, the title of the exhibition, features a cycle of never before seen works created in 2024. These works stem from an in-depth exploration of the image and its potential for movement and transformation.
Building on key themes from her recent research such as the influence of natural and social environments on human beings, dance, and the symbolic presence of organic and animal forms the artist centers her reflections on the concept of Fantasmata.
Marta Spagnoli Algae V 2025 acrylic and oil on canvas 45 x 55 cm 17.71 x 21.65 in Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA Photographer: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
The word Fantasmatabelongs to Western philosophical discourse and is also found in the world of dance. It describes a sudden pause between two consecutive movements, moments that virtually encapsulate the past, present, and future memory of an entire choreographic sequence. The concept of choreography is particularly central to the large-format canvases presented in this exhibition, where the arrangement of elements follows a logic of movement, hierarchy, and interaction between forms.
Simple organic forms, such as algae, are depicted at times with sharp clarity and at other times transformed through continuous layers of paint and markings. These algae float, suspended between potential and realization, contributing to the formation of a sentient landscape. Their collective, swirling motion extends that primordial movement from chaos to order, creating a scene that is not merely natural but also deeply emotional and psychological.
Installation view: Marta Spagnoli. “Fantasmata,” Galleria Continua San Gimignano 2025 Courtesy of the artist and Galleria Continua Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, Photographer: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
In the work Fantasmata II, a grid emerges as a system of lanes. It not only suggests a structural interpretation of the image but also defines a space where movement can be organized and managed, while simultaneously being interrupted or distorted.
Marta Spagnoli Fantasmata I 2024 acrylic and oil on canvas 160 x 230 cm 62.99 x 90.55 in Courtesy: the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA Photographer: Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio
The works never fully submit to order or structure; there is always room for the accidental and the unexpected. Erratic elements such as a yellow devil, clawed creatures, or a milky veil of liquid paint poured onto the canvas act as agents of cohesion or disruption. These elements create an experience that oscillates between form and formlessness, figure and disfiguration. Their sudden and surprising appearances serve as witnesses to the choreography unfolding within the work, revealing the canvas itself as a field of forces, trajectories, movements, and complex relational entanglements.
For more information about this exhibition and others at the Galleria Continua, please visit their site here. The magazine also did an interview with the artist, which can be found here.
