Leonardo Devito

This initiative reflects Hauser & Wirth’s longstanding commitment to building a sense of connection in the places where it works, collaborating with artists (or estates) who may benefit from an additional platform, galleries of different scale and writers addressing new audiences, all in support of a sustainable art ecosystem. By hosting fellow artists, galleries and writers in our Paris space, we offer wider visibility of their work and ideas to engage with the city’s vibrant creative community.

Organized with Olivier Renaud-Clement, Hauser & Wirth Invite(s) is hosted on the second floor of our Paris location and complements our ongoing series of exhibitions by gallery artists on the ground and first floors.

"My favourite pastime since discovering Leonardo Devito’s work has been spotting monsters in his art. I was thrilled to find them all there at the Hauser & Wirth exhibition. Devito invites us into spaces populated by characters much like ourselves, alongside imaginary cities and monsters. He weaves together references from the Middle Ages with more modern ones, like these Gotham City-esque urban landscapes. The result is a nebulous, disquieting yet youthful, light-hearted and playful universe.

The exhibition is entitled Scary Monsters. As I look at his night skies, I hear the punky, catchy chords of David Bowie’s album of the same name. All these combinations create contrasts and dualities, which I believe offer the most beautiful way to explore anxiety. Devito manages to paint this childhood fear of monsters, both frightening and yet so like us. Conjured by our minds, they accompany us constantly in varying forms. Paradoxically, this world feels reassuring: in Devito’s work, the frightening is also poetic. We move fearlessly towards these unknown worlds and tame our monsters. An artist (whether painter or musician) remembers the terrifying creatures of their childhood. In doing so, they speak to us of something we know, though we might pretend we’ve forgotten."

—Violette d’Urso