At the Gallerie d'Italia in Vicenza, the exhibition-tribute to Elena Xausa, illustrator recently deceased

From April 15 to Sept. 10, 2023, the Gallerie d’Italia, in their Vicenza location, will host the exhibition EX - Illustri x Elena Xausa, dedicated to Elena Xausa (1984-2022), an internationally renowned Italian illustrator and artist who recently passed away last November at only thirty-eight years of age. The title EX originates from the way she signed her works but also from the etymological meaning of the word: EX as motion from place, as starting point and as cause. In fact, this project is conceived not only as a tribute to the artist and his career, but also as a worksite in motion, drawing on Xausa’s energy to engage a broad creative community.

The exhibition is the heart of a creative workshop that will involve illustration enthusiasts at the Vicenza museum venue for five months. The initiative, sponsored by the Municipality of Vicenza, is promoted and curated by Intesa Sanpaolo and Associazione Illustri, curator of the biennial international event “Illustri Festival,” in which the Bank has participated since 2015 by hosting the “Illustrissimo” section at Palazzo Leoni Montanari, featuring important names such as Pablo Lobato, Noma Bar, Malika Favre and Christoph Niemann. With the exhibition dedicated to Elena Xausa, the Vicenza museum thus kicks off an annual event dedicated tointernational contemporary illustration.

On display are two hundred of the artist’s works: the first room EXperimenti, the most intimate of Elena Xausa’s creative journey, is entirely dedicated to the behind-the-scenes of her works and her personal research. A significant part of her sketchbooks, on public display for the first time, but also her ceramics and sculptures.

The EXpo section is dedicated to the artistic production from 2009 to 2019, which saw Elena leave the borders of Italy, first to Europe and then to New York where she settled for a few years. Libraries, cafes, shared studios, trains and steamboats, airplanes and cars, friends’ living rooms, flowery meadows, Norwegian cliffs and American glades are just some of the settings that have seen her illustrations come to life. EXpo continues with the most important collaborations and publications of Elena’s ten-year career, from the best-known international newspapers to the trendiest companies on the European and international scene.

EXnovo is the space of the itinerary dedicated to witnessing how Elena Xausa’s energy continues its journey thanks to the works of one hundred illustrators, designers and artists invited to narrate the artist’s creativity through as many unpublished tributes: prints, originals, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, installations, videos and other works, which will be available to raise funds for AIRC - Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro. Artists include Matteo Cibic, Ale Giorgini, Luca Zamoc, Guido Scarabottolo, Giorgia Lupi, Mauro Gatti, Koes, Manuele Fior, Basik, Sarah Mazzetti, Emiliano Ponzi, Lorenzo Fonda, Lavinia Xausa, Luca Font, Massimo Giacon, and Riccardo Guasco.

The exhibition concludes with EXcursus, a space where each visitor can experience the most intimate and profound sense of the creative spark, pausing and using space and time to transfer to paper the inspiration received in the exhibition itinerary. Embellishing the place is a mural by Luca Zamoc, a street-artist who will create his work dedicated to Elena between April 12 and 14.

Also planned during the months when the exhibition is open is EXtra, a rich program of creative days, with workshops, talks, meetings and experiences related to the world of illustration and beyond.

At the Gallerie d'Italia in Vicenza, the exhibition-tribute to Elena Xausa, illustrator recently deceased

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