ASSUNTA RUOCCO

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→ Assunta and Lou Art Club
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Vertical Studio

Vertical Studio (2011–2018) is a series of freestanding, double-sided paintings made to slot into a second-hand bookcase. The project emerged from the spatial limitations of Ruocco’s domestic environments and explored how a painting practice could be sustained without a studio. Designed to be portable and adaptable, the canvases were constructed to fit snugly into shelving units while drying, and could be transported in two large suitcases. Rather than being treated as discrete, finished works, each painting accumulated layers over time and across contexts. The series operated as a modular structure that could be reconfigured according to curatorial decision-making, foregrounding rule-following, layering, and distributed authorship over formal resolution.

Initiated during a period of working from home, Vertical Studio demonstrated how domestic furnishings could be put to work as both spatial and procedural supports for ongoing artistic production. It remained active throughout periods of transition—from Stockwell Studios to Rogue in Manchester—adapting to the constraints of each furnished space. The work expanded and morphed in response to each exhibition opportunity, shaped by spatial limitations and by the artistic decisions of curators invited to determine its arrangement. Vertical Studio foregrounded rule-following, layering, and distributed authorship, reframing painting as a contingent, cumulative, and context-responsive practice.

Installation views of Vertical Studio as part of the two-person exhibition On Physical Work with Evangelia Spiliopoulou, curated by Sophia Crilly at Bureau, Manchester, 2013

Installation views of Vertical Studio as part of A Record of Unaddressed Activities, solo exhibition at c-o-m-p-o-s-i-t-e, Brussels, 2014

Installation views of Vertical Studio as part of the group exhibition In Conversation
curated by Sophia Crilly at Touchstones Museum, Rochdale, 2014

Group Work in preparation for Heterarchical Archipelago c-o-m-p-o-s-i-t-e, Brussels, 2015. With Olivia Dunbar, Ninar Esber, Hamza Halloubi, Emmanuelle Lainé, Assunta Ruocco, Kato Six, Anna Barham

Installation views: Vertical Studio as part of of Heterarchical Archipelago,
c-o-m-p-o-s-i-t-e booth presentation Art Brussels 2015. With Olivia Dunbar, Ninar Esber, Hamza Halloubi, Emmanuelle Lainé, Assunta Ruocco, Kato Six, Anna Barham

Installation view of Vertical Studio as part of the group exhibition Manchester Pavilion curated by Bureau, North Festival, Warrington, 2015

Installation view of Vertical Studio as part of Co-Working with Things, solo exhibition curated by David Bell at Martin Hall Exhibition Space, Loughborough