Maddalena Saponara - Castello di Rapallo

Artist Profile – Maddalena Saponara
Mosaic Artist
Maddalena Saponara is a contemporary mosaic artist active on the Italian and international scene. Her research is based on fragmentation and recomposition of form, a personal language that unites material rigor and poetic sensitivity. The technique she uses — a discovery matured independently — fully represents her identity: an intimate, introspective, and concentrated process, in which every fragment becomes part of a larger thought.
Through cardboard, acrylic, and collage, Saponara builds faces, figures, and landscapes that emerge from light and darkness. Each piece of cardboard, cut out and shaped with precision, is a gesture of respect toward time and toward matter: a way to give form to the importance of detail, care, and inner listening. His artistic practice, thus, becomes a place of meditation, where fragmentation is not rupture but a possibility to recompose meaning and enrich it with ever-changing interpretations.
Their work has been recognized by major editorial and institutional entities. They are listed in the Giorgio Mondadori Editorial Catalog of Modern Art (Ed. 56) and in a special issue of ARTE magazine, in addition to a monographic catalog produced by Silvana Editoriale in collaboration with Spirale Milano, Art&Co and MAG Mediolanum Art Gallery. A selection of their works and their artist bio are published on the artecointernational.com site.
They have exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad, among them:
Parma, Art&Co Gallerie – Solo exhibitions (March and November 2019)
• Milan, Spin-off Gallery – Group Show (February 2020)
• Lecce – Collettive (December 2021, October 2023, May 2025)
• Parma – Collettive (December 2020, November 2021, May 2023)
• Dubai, Emirates Art Connection – Group Exhibition (October 2020)
• Innsbruck – Group Exhibition (October 2021)
• Arte Padova – Editions 2019 and 2021 with Art&Co Galleries
Their poetics and their trajectory have been explored in a dedicated article on Il Giornale OFF (May 2021), edited by Federica Paladini.

Artist Statement – Maddalena Saponara
My artistic practice arises from a need for introspection, silence, and listening. I work with material as one works with time: with respect, with patience, with the awareness that every gesture is part of a broader process. The technique I use—an personal discovery developed over the years—has become my identifying language, the space where I recognize myself.
I cut out and shape small fragments of cardboard, one at a time, letting each piece find its place within a thought. It is a meditative gesture, almost ritual, that transforms fragmentation into possibility. Through the overlapping of forms and the search for light among the shadows, I construct faces, figures, and landscapes that do not want to be descriptions, but interpretations. Each work is an invitation to slow down, to observe, to let oneself be carried by ever-changing readings.
In my art I seek a balance between what is seen and what is felt. Matter becomes voice, detail becomes narrative, time becomes space. It is in this silent dialogue that I rediscover my identity and return it to the world through form.