"What we hold, what we lose", a solo exhibition by Ismaele Nones - Opening On Saturday,14 February 2026 until 4 April
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On Saturday, 14 February 2026, Tommaso Calabro inaugurates What we hold, what
we lose, a solo exhibition by Ismaele Nones (Trento, 1992) at its Venice gallery at Palazzo Donà Brusa, scheduled to run until 4 April 2026.
Since his debut, Ismaele Nones’artistic research has developed in a borderline territory, where art history becomes living material and an operational tool for questioning the present. Having been exposed to art since childhood, by working alongside his father in his iconography business, Nones considers art history to be “a toolbox to draw on” to construct images that connect different times, symbols and imaginaries. His references range from ancient art – in particular 4th Century Byzantine art– to the elaborate languages of the Arte Povera masters, and to some exponents of contemporary British Pop Art.
The exhibition brings together a selection of works created between 2023 and 2026, including Verso l'Alto verso la Terra: Sguardo al Firmamento (Upwards towards theEarth: Gazing at the Firmament), the large mosaic exhibited in Ravenna during the 9th Biennal of Mosaic, accompanied by painting son canvas and wood. The exhibition project recreates a suspended temporal dimension, in which past and present coexist without hierarchy, giving shape to a layered and deeply contemporary narrative.
Nones’works are set in ambiguous spaces, undefined architectures and unstable perspectives, which take the form of mental rather than real places. Within the sescenarios, human figures, animals and plantforms move – or remain motionless – constructing silent narratives, traversed by a latent tension.
The human subjects, often isolated, appear solemn and hypnotic, immersed in anapparent calm that seems to prelude to an imminent transformation. The animal figures refer to medieval bestiaries, reworked by the artist as allegories of humanbeings. The plant subjects, characterised by references to Byzantine art, challenge realism through unexpected colour palettes and formal solutions that accentuate their symbolic value. In this syncretic universe, religious symbols and canonical iconography are transfigured and recoded, not in a nostalgic key, but as activeimages capable of generating new levels of interpretation while maintaining their cultural depth intact.
Ismaele Nones’research is based on a continuous dialogue between the iconographic languages of the past and current issues. In this imaginative space, the traditional barriers between ancient and contemporary dissolve, allowing questions related to the human condition to emerge: conflict and struggle, eros and sexuality, feelings of isolation and loneliness, the desire for conviviality and sharing, and even perceptions of alienation and social inertia. The works do not illustrate, butsuggest, inviting the viewer to an experience of contemplation and reflection, opento personal interpretation.
With this exhibition, Ismaele Nones confirms a mature and conscious practice, capable of moving naturally between historical memory and contemporary vision, restoring to the pictorial image a dilated and layered time, open to the complexity of human experience.
Ismaele Nones (Trento, 1992)
Ismaele Nones lives and works in Turin. He studied painting at the Istituto d’Arte Alessandro Vittoria in Trento and subsequently continued his education at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, where he attended the sculpture course between 2013 and 2018. In 2021, he began presenting his work through a site-specific project: for the Chapel of San Rocco in Mombarcaro, he created the work L’inadeguato, as part of the project Chi illumina la grande notte, curated by Lunetta11.
He hasheld several solo exhibitions: A chi parlo quando parlo, curated by Stefano Riamondi, MAC Lissone (2025); Chiara confusione, Galleria d’Arte Niccoli, Parma (2024); Ismaele Nones, curated by Lunetta 11, ERCO showroom, Milan (2022); Forme ibride, curated by Gabriele Salvaterra, Lasecondaluna, Laives (BZ) and Buona Fortuna Ribelli, Galleria Lunetta 11, Borgata Lunetta.
Among the group exhibitions: Biennale del mosaico contemporaneo, Ravenna(2025); Io sono una forza del passato, curated by Luca Beatrice, Gallerie d’Italia–Miart,Milan (2024); Pittura Italiana Oggi, curated by Damiano Gullì, Triennale Milano(2023); Popolo Nuovo, Lunetta11, ArtVerona (2022).
In 2023, he was a finalist for the Premio Cairo, and in 2021 he received the Premio Casarini Due Torri at Art Verona
OPENING Saturday, 14 February 2026 12 pm - 8 pm
14 February – 04 April 2026
Palazzo Donà Brusà
Campo san Polo 2177, Venice
Tuesday – Saturday/11 am –7 pm
Monday by appointment