Born in 1952 in Geneva, Switzerland Patricia Jacomella Bonola made in 1974 a Master in Fashion Design at the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, Italy and later the Master of Fine Arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti Brera, also in Milan. Afterwards, she participated in the After-Degree Program at the Istituto Statale d’Arte in Urbino and the research program of the Istituto Internazionale di Grafica in Venice.
From 1991 to 2011 Patricia formed the artist duo J & W Management Consulting with Maria Walther. The name was an ironic comment on the capitalisation of the art market. Correspondingly, the two artists wanted to advance new intercultural forms of trade and investment with their interventions. Performances and installations pointed at the inequality of artistic outcome at the art-market, depending on the region of production. However, the actions not only increased the awareness of the problem, but supported artists in the third world or immigrants from there. Moreover, they questioned the value of artworks and phenomena of the society.
Also in her solo carrier, Patricia deals with social-critical themes such as environmental pollution, economic mismatches, migration, globalisation and parallel realities. Hereby, she explores different materials and media to create installations, performances and participative art events. Her video installation “Au Coucher du soleil” (2018) implies a romantic sunset at the sea, which could be watched while sitting in a sun lounger under a parasol. Though the video of the same name – our artwork of the month May 2020 – only shows the sunset perceptible by the light change, because containers cover the panoramic view. Moreover, the engine sound of the container ship disturb the idyll.
During her long artistic practise, Patricia had numerous solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows, mainly in Switzerland, but also in Germany, Italy, Albania and United States. Her artworks are part of public and private collections. She was jury member for the Apexart’s Open Call NYC Exhibition (2019) and of the Professional association of visual arts Switzerland (2003-2014), for which she was before in charge for the resort Info-Pool and Communication. At the same time, she was member of the editorial staff of the art magazine “Schweizer Kunst” (Swiss Art). Besides some prizes, she was awarded with working grants and had residencies in New York and Cairo. A sojourn in the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris is scheduled for 2020. The artist’s most recent exhibition reflects her experiences in Egypt: “Is-maA – The Sound of Cairo” (March 2020) in the Shedhalle Zug. Here she exposed new works reflecting on the history, production and use of papyrus and paper. For November 2020 the show “Kunst-Stoff Plastik is planned at the Hans Erni Museum in Luzern.
Patricia lives and works in Zug, Switzerland.