Biography

Raffaella della Olga was born in Villasola (Cisano Bergamasco), a small village near Bergamo (IT). She lives and works between Paris and Haute-Isle (FR).

For more than a decade she has chosen to work with modified typewriters to make unique books, finding in this tool a way to write and draw her own path toward abstraction. What began as a concept — to be an analog artist in a digital age, to seek freedom through mechanical gestures — has become an ongoing exploration of the space of the page.

Expanding her field of abstraction, della Olga also works with geometric, patterned fabrics, which she incises at regular intervals. Draped over a neon tube, these fabrics acquire dimensionality, much as her books transform the flatness of the page.

In 2022 she began working in painting — her “vertical adventure” — with a series of pieces based on the grid, conceived as a wall, typed on monochrome backgrounds. From this point, a wide field of experimentation opened, ranging from purely black-and-white graphics to painterly effects achieved entirely with the typewriter.

Education

  • 1997: Law degree
  • 2003: Graduated at Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera, Milano

Solo shows

  • 2022: Typed Paintings, Three Star Books, Paris
  • 2020: LINE UP, Three Star Books, Paris
  • 2019: Criss Cross, with Sébastien de Ganay, Silvia Steinek galerie, Wien
  • 2019: Pagi-Nazioni, Galerie Florence Loewy-Books, Paris
  • 2018: Dépliements, Galerie Dilecta, Paris
  • 2018: ALINEA, Galerie Laurent Godin, Paris
  • 2017: Stoffe, curator Caroline Hancock, Galerie Dilecta, Paris
  • 2011: MetaOdisseo, Treignac Projet – Sam Basu, Treignac (FR)
  • 2010: Un Coup de Dés jamais n’abolira le Hasard–Constellation, text Raimundas Malašauskas, N.O. Gallery Milano
  • 2007: D102D, text Franco Raggi, N.O. Gallery, Milano

Group Exhibitions

2025: Homesick for Another World, Madragoa Gallery, Lisboa, (PT)
2023: Souvenir nouveau, Curator Anne Bonnin, Le Gran Café - Saint Nazaire (FR)
2023: THE TASTE OF OTHERS by Three Star Books, CFAlive, Milano
2023: OFFSET by Claude Closky, Le Centre Des Livres D’artistes Le CDLA
2022: AOULIOULE, Curators Sylvie Fanchon and Camila Oliviera Fairclough, Musée régional d’art contemporaine Occitanie
2021: Children of Compost, Curator Joana P.R.Neves, Frac Picardie and Drawing Lab Paris
2021: Forsythia, Lilac and Geranium, with Camila Oliveira Fairclough, Elsa Werth and Mary Ellen Solt, Cabinet du Livre d’artistes, Rennes
2020: Your Friends and Neighbors, High Art, Paris
2019: ShipShape A parallel curating by Tomas Cunha Ferreira, Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art -Anozero’ 19, Coimbra
2019: TOIO – The Other Is Oneself, Curator Fiona Liewehr, Wien
2019: Street Art, a project by Camila Oliveira Fairclough and Elsa Werth, Paris
2019: Aplats et Plages Colorés, curated by Aurélie Noury, Cabinet du Livre d’Artiste, Rennes
2019: i_n_t_o_t_o, Kunstverein am Rosa -Luxemburg, Berlin
2019: Poetic Boom Boom, an exhibition about Visual Poetry, curator Mattia Solari, Fondazione Imago Mundi, Treviso
2018: Make it yourself, group exhibition, curator Yves Chatap and Pascale Obolo, Dakar
2018: Synonymie ambiante, group show at Frac Paca Marseille, a project by Jérôme Mauche
2017: The plates of the present, so far, curated by Thomas Fougeirol and Jo-ey Tang, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris
2015: Pliure [Prologue – La part du feu], Curator, Paulo Pires do Vales. Fondation Gulbenkian, Paris [More]
2015: Aladdin Game Un Nouveau Festival/Air de jeu, Centre Georges Pompidou
2015: Dust: the plates of the present, Curator Sonel Breslav, Baxeter St Camera Club of New York, New York
2014: Black Coffee, Paris, organised by Camila Oliveira Fairclough
2013: An exbition happening everywhere, at all times, with everyone, curator Mathieu Copeland, MoMA, New York
2013: A Spoken Word Exhibition, Suite for Exhibition(s) and Publication(s), first movement. Satellite 6, Jeu de Paume, Paris. A proposal by Mathieu Copeland
2013: Transmission, Galerie Karima Celestin, Marseille. A proposal by Caroline Hancock
2013: The plates of the present, photogram projet organised by ThomasFougeirol et Jo-ey-Tang
2013: A world in a box (a bittersweet salon) , The Matchroom Social Club, Margate, Kent. Curator Peter Fillingham and Andy Barratt
2013: Abstraction manifeste, Le Quartier Centre d’art contemporain, Quimper, curator, Keren Detton
2012: Marrakech Press, Halles de Porrentruy – Suisse, curators Mathieu Copeland, Philippe Decrauzat
2012: incipit, with Camila O. Fairclough, an invitation of C. Marcasciano, La Permanence, Clermont Ferrand
2011: Le choix du texte est un faux problème, trame en 3 actes by Samon Takahashi, Cneai, Paris
2010: Trasforming State, The WhyNotPlace, Connaught Place, New Delhi. Text by Paola Cabal
2009: Art-O-Rama. A project with David Adamo and Davide Bertocchi. N.O. Gallery, La Belle de Mai, Marseille

Performances/Readings

  • 2014: 1 2 3 4 x 24 SLW permutations, Pavillon Vêndome, Center of Contemporary Art Clichy, curator Manuel Segade, On the Roof. (performance)
  • 2014: I care You care We all care for Icarus, OuUnPo (collective performance), European Night of the Museum, Gibellina – Sicily, in collaboration with Fondatione Orestiadi
  • 2013: Reading of “ Une Exposition à être lue, Volume 4 (1-2-1) Jeu de Paume, Paris
  • 2013: Fear-Hope Fear-Hope, « Godzilla and the Phoenix » OuUnPoJapan, Embassy of Sweden, Tokyo
  • 2013: The heaven inside the mountain, « Godzilla and the Phoenix » OuUnPoJapan, Zou-No-Hana,Yokohama
  • 2013: So What Do I Do With My Money ? MNAC Bucharest in collaboration with SambataSonora (performance) Curator Ruxandra Balaci
  • 2012: OuUnPo Beirut, curators Fatos Üstek and Sara Giannini. Text by Marco Pasi (reading/performance)
  • 2012: Recreative Temporary Orbit, OuUnPo Vision Forum, collectives performances in Porto
  • 2012: Réduire l’asymétrie du champ de bataille, with L. Cepeda, Inc Livros, Porto
  • 2012: Réduire l’asymétrie du champ de bataille #1, « incipit »with Camila Oliveira Fairclough. An invitation by Colombe Marcasciano, La Permanence, Clermont Ferrand
  • 2012: Down the Stairs Climb a Mountain. Sauf Lundi, Florence Diemer, Paris (reading/performance)
  • 2010: Impossible Speakers’ Corner – Lodhi Garden, New Delhi (performance)

Public collection

  • Clark Art institute- Williamstown, Massachusetts (USA)
  • M+ Hong Kong (CN)
  • MET Museum, Thomas J. Watson Library – New York (USA)
  • Getty Research Institute, L.A. (USA)
  • CCS Bard- Marieluise Hessel Collection of Contemporary Art (USA)
  • NY Public Library (USA)
  • Haas Arts Library of Yale (USA)
  • CNAP, Centre national des arts plastiques (France)
  • University of Applied Arts Vienna (Austria)

Publications/Press

  • 2020: gestes d’écriture, artpress dossier by Sally Bonn
  • 2019: Publication The Other is Oneself, by Salon Fur Kunst Buch Wien
  • 2019: Portfolio at Mouvement Magazine 07/2019
  • 2016: Contribution at La Revue Initiales 09 Pierre Klossowski
  • 2015: Pliure. Prologue ( la part du feu). Editions Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian – Délégation en France
  • 2015: Dust: The plates of the present, Editor Sonel Breslav, with essays and contributions by Robin Cameron, Thomas Fougeirol, Mara Hoberman, Flora Katz, Brett Littman, and Jo-ey Tang [More]
  • 2015: A Perimeter Issue 1: Welcome Charliemoon [More]
  • Nod Magazine (University of Calgary) Issue #17: Welcome Charliemoon
  • 2013: OuUnPo(RTO) Ouvroir dʼUnivers Potentiels Vol.9 – Book and Audio CD. Graphic Design Abâke
  • 2013: Une exposition à être lu/An exhibition to hear read – Volume 4 (1-2-1). Graphic Design Mathieu Copeland
  • 2010: The Transforming State, Religare arts initiative Ltd, texte Paola Cabal.
  • 2008: CAREOF: da un archivio di archivi, tre progetti impossibili, Chiara Agnello, COMBO/3

Residencies

  • 2010: The WhyNotPlace residency, Connaught Place, New Delhi.
  • 2009: CAMAC, Art_ Science_Technology, Marnay sur Seine, France.