Installation view, “Paola Pivi: We are the baby gang.” Artwork © Paola Pivi. Photo ©Attilio Maranzano, courtesy Perrotin New York.

Paola Pivi’s 70 baby polar bears frolic, fight, nap and explore the top floor of an art gallery in New York, wearing sprouted fluorescent feathers instead of fur. The point? The polar ice caps are melting and to survive a changing climate, they needed to adapt. The solo show by the Italian multimedia artist is called We are the Baby Gang. 

Paola Pivi originally began making full scale multicolored feather-covered bears while she lived in India. The country’s vibrant visual culture and kaleidoscopic color palette manifest in this work. She previously lived in Alaska – exhibition notes, Perrotin New York.

Paola Pivi “We are the baby gang” Photo © Attilio Maranzano Courtesy Perrotin New York

Each bear has a nicknames dreamed up by Pivi’s husband, Karma Lama, a composer of Tibetan music. The artist pairs the potential phrases with specific works; two tussling bears, for instance, are titled We Like to Fight, while an embracing duo is christened Long Time No See.

Paola Pivi, You drive me crazy (2019). Photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli, courtesy of the artist & Perrotin.

A feature from ArtNet, here.

Perrotin Gallery, here. (exhibition runs through June 8, 2019)