Selvatico

Ncontemporary is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Davide Monaldi (Italy, 1983), entitled ‘Selvatico’, with a text written by Massimo Giorgetti. The exhibition space hosts a new series of artworks, made in the artist’s mainly used medium: ceramics. Thanks to this material, he can shape intimate, ironic and often provocative scenarios, creating new narrative universes.
Through his artistic creation, Monaldi focuses his attention on the creation of a language able to play with daily life and its reassuring habits, inevitably touched by little inconveniences. Moved by a careful observation of the reality, he builds micro-narratives and shows the aim of playing with the real world, with a funny and biting humour which characterizes him. Common objects and apparently ordinary scenarios are translated into dreamy and imaginary sculptures, oscillating between exasperation and the need of melancholy, play and comfort. In this way, these creations generate a dialogue between the domestic and the surreal dimension.
What Monaldi creates in ‘Selvatico’ are bizarre characters, presences with zoomorphic and primordial features, as it could be noticed in Bancarella (2025). This last-mentioned resumes years of research and imagination, as it is a counter full of animals, aliens and emblematic figures animating the wild and subversive Monaldi’s world. This funny and controversial forest makes the viewer reflect on his way of inhabiting reality and the perception he has on it. The centre of the exhibition is represented by Saint Francis (2025), a large ceramic sculpture depicting the saint in perfect harmony with the holy creation, as he is surrounded by a wide variety of animals. Here, the figure of the Saint takes over the role of a silent guide, though an emotional bestiary, a set of presences referring not only to the usual iconography of Saint Francis from Assisi, but also to the artist’s personal imagination, made of positive aspects, like empathy, ambivalence and delicate narratives. In ‘Selvatico’, Monaldi’s main aim is to explore what usually gets out of control: instinct, tenderness, vulnerability and the primordial force inhabiting living beings, making them spontaneous and able to overcome rules. His artworks are an invitation to a direct encounter with what is alive and authentic, proposing an immersion in a universe full of imperfect sensibilities, unpredictable situations and forms that always show a bit of sarcasm. It is this little irony the medium used by the artist to connect the real world to his personal and intimate perception, creating a situation where the dialogue is useful to create a sense of amazement and novelty in everyday life.

Davide Monaldi (Italy, 1983) lives and works in Milan.
His artworks are hosted in relevant both private and public, national and international collections, such as: La Gaia collection, Busca (Cuneo); CIAC-Colecciòn Isabel y Agustin Coppel, Mexico City; Palazzo Ducale di Urbino, Urbino; Farnesina Collection, Rome; Giuseppe Iannaccone Collection, Milan. Among the most recent exhibitions could be mentioned: Da Cindy Sherman a Francesco Vezzoli, 80 artisti contemporanei, Palazzo Reale, Milan (2025); Trovatelli, Ncontemporary gallery, Venice (2025); BAGARRE, Studio SALES of Norberto Ruggeri, Rome (2023); Panorama L’Aquila – ITALICS, curated by Cristiana Perrella, L’Aquila (2023).