The New York Museum Magazzino Italian Art has just opened an exhibition of the works of artist Maria Lai (1919-2013), “The Journey of America,” which represents the first retrospective exhibition of the recently rediscovered artist in the United States. The early impression was strong, and the Brooklyn Railroad made two reviews (Rarity) – the first conclusion was that “her art is more topical than ever before”, while the other stated that the exhibition was “full and spoke to a particular artist and etiquetteist who were in the bond, both bound the culled and Culled and Called Sardinia sardinia ford sardinia fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric fordloric socile social social selector selector history “”. If you find yourself spending some time in Upstate this summer, this is not to be missed. We met with Paola Mura, the artistic director of Magazzino and the show’s curator, to learn more about the matter.
Can you explain what Maria Lai means to readers who may not know?
Maria Lai is one of the most single and resonant voices in 20th century Italian art. Deeply rooted in local Sardinia’s traditions and landscapes, she develops a profound and original artistic language that combines storytelling, symbolism and close ties to memory, identity and place.
Using inconspicuous materials (fine materials, fabric, paper, stone) creates works that go beyond the boundaries between painting, sculpture and poetry. Her art talks about relationships: relationships between individuals, between communities, and between humans and the universe. In 1981, she realized Legarsi Alla Montagna ((Tie yourself to the mountain), widely regarded as the first example of Italian relations art, involves the entire population of her hometown, a poetic act of connection and reconciliation.
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While very localized in references, Lai’s work touches on universal themes: belonging, transformation and the invisible threads that bind us all. Her poetic vision and quiet radicalism have only recently begun to gain the international recognition it deserves. This retrospective not only marks her debut on the U.S. on this scale, but also emphasizes her lasting relevance in today’s conversations about art, community, and care. I think her voice is now both timeless and incredible.
This may be a big question, but can you talk about the symbolism of sewing in her work?
Sewing is the central position in Maria Lai’s artistic language, not only a method, but also a gesture full of meaning. For Lai, stitching is a way of writing without words, a form of tactile and intimate inscription. Threads become a line, a form of painting, and also a way of narrative – combining memory, silence and emotion.
she Libra ((Sew books) is a symbol of this approach: the pages of the fabric are pierced and connected together, traces of these lines marked similar scripts, but without any anatomical text. This keen writing invites viewers to read through language but through intuition, feeling and rhythm. This is a book that draws us into a space of contemplation through absence (by feeling rather than words).
Sewing it in Lai’s hands is both lonely and connective tissue. It’s about repair, relationship and dissemination. She elevates what is traditionally seen as a family or “female” gesture to a tool of philosophical inquiry, breaking the line between craft and art between intimacy and concept.
Ultimately, Rice’s sewing is a metaphor for human connection – because how we bind each other, how we carry memories and always being temporary meanings, are always in the process of sewing together.
The show features approximately 100 pieces from the 1950s to the 2000s. It must be difficult to coordinate! Where did these works come to New York? Private collection? museum?
Yes, it’s a complex and incredibly beneficial process. The exhibition brings together a wide variety of works, reflecting both the richness of Maria Lai’s career and legacy. A large part of the show is derived from the collection of Magazzino’s Italian art itself, which proves the long-term vision of Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu, who began collecting Lai’s work thirty years ago.
We also included a rare set of works that Lai carried with him during his 1968 trip to Canada and New York. Many of these are now part of a private collection in the United States and have been publicly displayed for the first time in decades.
Beyond that, the exhibition is enriched by extraordinary loans from major institutions in Sardinia and across Italy, including the MAN in Nuoro, the Museo di Aggius, the Musei Civici di Cagliari, the MUSMA in Matera, the Fondazione Maria Lai, the Fondazione di Sardegna and, last but not least, the Consiglio Regionale della Sardegna. This is a collaborative effort across the continent, thanks to the generosity and enthusiasm of institutions and collectors that convince them of the importance of sharing LAI’s work with a wider audience.
What outstanding works should tourists make sure to miss?
It is difficult to choose from such a rich and multifaceted piece, but several pieces in the gallery provide key insights into Lai’s evolving practice. From the earliest part, Gregge di Pecore (1959) is particularly important: Here, the flock dissolves into the stone terrain, which is an early example of Lai’s lyrical synthesis of characters and landscapes and her lifelong conversation with Sardinia. Terre Bianche (1968) was for her critical journey to the United States, embodying her transformation into abstraction, blending textures, gestures and cosmic references.
Tela Cucita (1975) is a landmark work in which Lai reconcepts the loom as symbols and structures with a sewn fabric strip. From TELAI series, Telaio, the only mare (1971), reminiscent of Mondrian and Rauschenberg, reflects her involvement in the language of space Latore (1971-2002) Created in particular based on the events of September 11, it is a profound meditation on fragility and resilience with a wider historical and emotional resonance.
Later works, such as Fili di vela spaziale (2007) distilled her interest in the universe into pure threads and velvet, and letter (2008), composed of the signature motif in thread-linked, is a self-portrait and final message, a close conclusion to Lai’s lifelong exploration of memory, language and interconnection.
at last, Mano Obla, a literati in Tiannan (1987) is a deeply poetic stitched fairy tale: a meditation on human ability to embrace the shadow self and invites to spread the world in empathy and introspective ways.
Of course, this choice reflects only a small fraction of what is observed and inevitably is shaped by personal affinity. However, it is nice to emphasize these special works, especially given the many opportunities to bring so many people together in New York.
Ryin is known for bringing relationship aesthetics to Italy. Why is this important?
Maria Lai’s Legarsi Alla Montagna (1981) is now widely regarded as the first works of Italian relations aesthetics – not only for the sake of timing, but also for the redefinition of the relationship between artists, audiences and places. Ray did not produce an autonomous object, but planned a collective action involving the entire Ulassai village, tying their houses (itself) to the hill with blue ribbons. The results are not only symbolic. This is an active gesture of community and collective rituals reconnected through art.
This is very important in the Italian context, especially in a period when many contemporary art is still concentrated on object or institutional criticism. Lai proposes a different model: a poem rooted in empathy, sharing authorship identity and daily life. She anticipated that this would become the core purpose of social participation practice in decades.
Her contribution is not only theoretical. Legarsi Alla Montagna Continue to shape how artists, curators and institutions think about the role of art in civic life. This is a turning point that shows that aesthetic experiences can be embedded in local memory, social spaces, and community imagination.
Lai is not part of the Arte Povera movement, but it is related to it. The art seems to be a fashion, with a recent performance at Bourse de Commerce and the Nobel Peace Prize by Michelangelo Pistoletto. Why do you think this art resonates with people at the moment?
While Maria Lai has never officially become part of Arte Povera, her affinity for this movement (through the use of modest materials and anti-time-consuming sensitivity) is evident. What makes her unique, perhaps makes her work so resonate today, is the profound intimacy and narrative quality she brings to these materials.
I think there is a renewed focus on Arte Povera now, because it provides a language that resists too much, wonders and offensives. In an era of ecological crisis and social fragmentation, the idea of making art can be made from what already exists at hand – construction waste, stone, thread, not only sustainable, but also morally rooted. These works illustrate vulnerability and resilience to an equal degree.
In Lai’s case, this resonates even more powerfully, as her “bad material” was never personal. They are sewn, tied, processed-full of memory, myth and care. Her works, like Kounellis, remind us that art is fundamentally simple and profound human. They help us imagine forms of connection and creativity that are both ancient and much needed now. Her art provides a quiet but powerful reminder that transformation does not always require grand gestures. Sometimes it starts with a stitch.
Can you talk about how she merged Italian craft traditions with trends like Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly pioneered the trend?
Maria Lai’s practice is compelling to the way it bridges two worlds: the deep tradition of Sardinian and Italian craftsmanship and the avant-garde trends that shape post-war art internationally.
Although artists like Rauschenberg and Twombly expand the vocabulary of painting through assemblies, manufacturing and writing, Lai conducts similar formal experiments through a very different entry point, which is not only academic but more personalized touch and based on a millennium tradition.
She was an excellent painter and sculptor, but since the 1960s, Lai “draws” with paint or pencil (Lai) instead of sewing rather than writing, she turned fabrics into narrative spaces. Her sewn books and looms are in conjunction with Twombly’s gesture abstraction or Rauschenberg’s material poetic dialogue, but their language is undoubtedly her own, which is due to the rhythm of weaving, the oral storytelling of Sardinian women and the focus of hand-crafting.
The fundamental thing about Lai is how she internalized the conceptual innovations of her own time, but expressed them through textiles, myths and silence rather than wonders or theory. Her work challenges hierarchy – a challenge between art and craft, text and image, between men and women, and adheres to a slow and embodied knowledge that feels increasingly urgent today. She not only adopted avant-garde visual habit. She translated them into a new language.
