Adelaide Cioni (1976, Bologna, Italy) works in a variety of media, and the slippage between language, visual referents, and their sources is always present. These necessarily include the interconnection of layers of time — historical and present — suggesting an implicit inclusion of duration within the work.
Transcultural imagery and patterns across millennia repeat and echo in artifacts and architecture. The universality of these patterns holds fascination for Cioni. These forms are either organic — drawn from nature — or part of geometric systems. The motifs are a resource, and they come from ancient sites, museums, and botanical gardens.

Ab Ovo is a Latin expression that literally means “from the egg,” and indicates the beginning — the origin. This is understood as primordial, the source of all history, and traces the evolution of language. The egg referred to is, in particular, the one from which Helen of Troy was born — laid by Leda after her union with Zeus, who had taken the form of a swan.
In 2021, Adelaide Cioni was among the artists featured in the exhibition Painting Stone at Villa Lontana.

Installation view, Ab Ovo - Songs, Adelaide Cioni, commissioned in 2022 for Villa Lontana Records studio