BIO
Jacopo Pagin (b. 1988, Vicenza, Italy) is an artist based in Brussels. Working primarily through painting, his practice extends across objects, installation and sound. His work considers what images retain, lose and acquire as they move through time.
Recent solo exhibitions include Les Ruines de la Lumière, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, at CEAAC, Strasbourg (2026); Pax Aliena at Long Story Short, New York (2026); Office Illusions at Make Room, Los Angeles (2024); Hidden Place at Public Gallery, London (2024); Psychic Buildings at Linseed Projects, Shanghai (2023); and Strategies Against Time with Pond Society, Singapore (2023). His work has also been presented at K11 Art & Cultural Centre, Hong Kong (2023); MAMO – Centre d’art de la Cité Radieuse, Marseille (2022); Manifesta 13, Marseille (2020); and Fondazione Prada, Venice (2012).
His work is held in the collections of the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Pond Society, Shanghai, and Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu. In 2024, NERO published Jacopo Pagin: The Sniper in the Brain, his first monograph, with a text by Alessandra Franetovich. His practice also encompasses sound and music; in 2026 he founded Zulfur Records in Brussels.
STATEMENT
My work begins with drawing and develops through the convergence of images with different origins, histories and degrees of familiarity. Drawings accumulated privately over time merge with material drawn from a shared visual culture—design, decorative arts, architecture, documentary material, nature and everyday life. No fixed hierarchy governs their selection. Transparency, superimposition and distortion allow these elements to occupy the same pictorial space, permeating and altering one another.
My relationship to history is similarly non-linear. Growing up in Veneto, I absorbed a visual culture in which artifice, devotion, craftsmanship and spectacle coexist, alongside underground cultures, music and popular imagery. I am drawn to forms that have slipped out of the present—forgotten, exhausted or simply out of fashion—and to making them active again without restoring their original meaning. Familiarity and nostalgia become points of entry into situations where the ordinary can acquire the intensity of an icon.
Human figures recur without becoming identifiable characters, moving between portrait and archetype, intimacy and apparition. Bodies, objects, landscapes and abstract gestures permeate the same space until distinctions between them become unstable. I think of these constructions as transparent collages: images built through depth rather than adjacency.
Painting introduces a physical element of risk. Transparent layers preserve the trace of each gesture rather than concealing it, leaving the image open to decisions made throughout its construction. Intuition becomes concrete through these decisions, pushing an image or object beyond its given identity.
Across painting, objects, installation and sound, I follow intuition to the point where it takes form. I work from what already exists to give form to something that did not exist before. Moving between visual territories is a way of resisting the point at which recognition becomes repetition.
CV
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026
Les Ruines de la Lumière, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, at CEAAC, Strasbourg, France
Pax Aliena, Long Story Short, New York, USA
Les Ruines de la Lumière, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, at CEAAC, Strasbourg, France
Pax Aliena, Long Story Short, New York, USA
2025
Venus Genetrix, with Claudio Massini, Cassina Projects, Milan, Italy
Venus Genetrix, with Claudio Massini, Cassina Projects, Milan, Italy
2024
Office Illusions, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
Hidden Place, Public Gallery, London, UK
Something Airy, with touche—touche, 10N, Brussels, Belgium
Office Illusions, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
Hidden Place, Public Gallery, London, UK
Something Airy, with touche—touche, 10N, Brussels, Belgium
2023
Psychic Buildings, Linseed Projects, Shanghai, China
Strategies Against Time, Pond Society, hosted by 39+ Art Space, Singapore
Psychic Buildings, Linseed Projects, Shanghai, China
Strategies Against Time, Pond Society, hosted by 39+ Art Space, Singapore
2022
Roaring Shelters, with Antonia P. Brown, 10N, Brussels, Belgium
I’ll Be Your Mirror, PPP – Painters Painting Paintings, online exhibition, text by Tedd Target
Fata Morgana, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
Roaring Shelters, with Antonia P. Brown, 10N, Brussels, Belgium
I’ll Be Your Mirror, PPP – Painters Painting Paintings, online exhibition, text by Tedd Target
Fata Morgana, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
2021
Les Horizons Perdus, Pavillon Southway, Marseille, France
Crystal Whisper, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Les Horizons Perdus, Pavillon Southway, Marseille, France
Crystal Whisper, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2020
Another Brown World, Edicola Radetzky, Milan, Italy
Another Brown World, Edicola Radetzky, Milan, Italy
2019
Here on Earth, Cunst-Link, Brussels, Belgium
Answers Come In Dreams, 76.4, Brussels, Belgium
Here on Earth, Cunst-Link, Brussels, Belgium
Answers Come In Dreams, 76.4, Brussels, Belgium
2015
Thaumàzein, with Giulio Saverio Rossi, Castello Malaspina, Massa, Italy, curated by Alessandra Franetovich
Thaumàzein, with Giulio Saverio Rossi, Castello Malaspina, Massa, Italy, curated by Alessandra Franetovich
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
2025
I Am a Shell, House of Coit, Los Angeles, USA
Fools for Truth, Pangée, Montreal, Canada
I Am a Shell, House of Coit, Los Angeles, USA
Fools for Truth, Pangée, Montreal, Canada
2024
Unseen Orchestra, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
Prophetic Dreams, Kutlesa, Goldau, Switzerland
Agape, Strouk Gallery, Paris, France
Unseen Orchestra, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
Prophetic Dreams, Kutlesa, Goldau, Switzerland
Agape, Strouk Gallery, Paris, France
2023
The Descendants, K11 Foundation, Hong Kong, China
The Last Train After the Last Train, Public Gallery, London, UK
A History of Fantasy: Part II, Cob Gallery, London, UK
Evening Shadow, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
Prospect, Parallel Circuit / Dastan Gallery, Tehran, Iran
The Descendants, K11 Foundation, Hong Kong, China
The Last Train After the Last Train, Public Gallery, London, UK
A History of Fantasy: Part II, Cob Gallery, London, UK
Evening Shadow, Make Room, Los Angeles, USA
Prospect, Parallel Circuit / Dastan Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2022
Uncanny Depths, Centre d’art de la Cité Radieuse (MAMO), Marseille, France
Machines of Desire, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK
I Dwell in Possibility, Spurs Gallery, Beijing, China
The Views, Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles, USA
Uncanny Depths, Centre d’art de la Cité Radieuse (MAMO), Marseille, France
Machines of Desire, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK
I Dwell in Possibility, Spurs Gallery, Beijing, China
The Views, Moskowitz Bayse, Los Angeles, USA
2021
Urban Whispers, WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Manta Rei, Materia Gallery, Rome, Italy
Tarot Editions: 78 Tarot Cards by 78 Artists, 019, Ghent, Belgium
Publiek Park, Ghent, Belgium
Alternating Currents, Parallel Circuit / Dastan Gallery, Tehran, Iran
A History of Fantasy, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Urban Whispers, WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong, China
Manta Rei, Materia Gallery, Rome, Italy
Tarot Editions: 78 Tarot Cards by 78 Artists, 019, Ghent, Belgium
Publiek Park, Ghent, Belgium
Alternating Currents, Parallel Circuit / Dastan Gallery, Tehran, Iran
A History of Fantasy, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2020
Anima Mundi, Manifesta 13, Abbaye de Saint-Victor, Marseille, France
Pavillon Southway: exposition d’automne, Pavillon Southway / Southway Studio, Marseille, France, curated by Emmanuelle Luciani
Narcissus?, Base-Alpha Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
Anima Mundi, Manifesta 13, Abbaye de Saint-Victor, Marseille, France
Pavillon Southway: exposition d’automne, Pavillon Southway / Southway Studio, Marseille, France, curated by Emmanuelle Luciani
Narcissus?, Base-Alpha Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium
2019
Savage, Galleria Otto Zoo, Milan, Italy
The Good, the Purple and the Weird, HVW8 Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Waterworlds and Liquid Fun, Chalton Gallery, London, UK
Savage, Galleria Otto Zoo, Milan, Italy
The Good, the Purple and the Weird, HVW8 Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Waterworlds and Liquid Fun, Chalton Gallery, London, UK
2018
Meeting Old Friends, W139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
LUX, Cas-co, Leuven, Belgium
Meeting Old Friends, W139, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
LUX, Cas-co, Leuven, Belgium
COLLECTIONS
Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, France
Pond Society, Shanghai, China
Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu, China
Pond Society, Shanghai, China
Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu, China
SELECTED PRINTED PUBLICATIONS
2025
Passé Présent Futur: The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès Artists’ Residencies, Loose Joints Publishing / Fondation d’entreprise Hermès
Passé Présent Futur: The Fondation d’entreprise Hermès Artists’ Residencies, Loose Joints Publishing / Fondation d’entreprise Hermès
2024
The Drawer #23: Portraits
The Drawer #23: Portraits
Jacopo Pagin: The Sniper in the Brain, text by Alessandra Franetovich, NERO Editions, Rome
Bagarres 03: La Pièce Montée
2022/23
Art Gamechangers, selected by Darius Sanai, Editor-in-Chief, LUX, Autumn/Winter 2022/23
Art Gamechangers, selected by Darius Sanai, Editor-in-Chief, LUX, Autumn/Winter 2022/23
2022
Jacopo Pagin, interview, ALEÏ Journal, Issue 10
Jacopo Pagin, interview, ALEÏ Journal, Issue 10
2021
Publiek Park: Wandelgids / Walking Guide: Citadelpark 2021, Vrienden van het S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium
RESIDENCIES
2025
Fondation d’entreprise Hermès Artists’ Residency, Cristallerie Saint-Louis, Saint-Louis-lès-Bitche, France, artistic direction by Emmanuelle Luciani
Fondation d’entreprise Hermès Artists’ Residency, Cristallerie Saint-Louis, Saint-Louis-lès-Bitche, France, artistic direction by Emmanuelle Luciani
2019
Southway Studio Residency, Marseille, France
Southway Studio Residency, Marseille, France
SELECTED ART FAIRS AND PRESENTATIONS
2026
Frieze Seoul, with Make Room, Seoul, South Korea
Frieze Seoul, with Make Room, Seoul, South Korea
2025
Dallas Art Fair, with Make Room, Dallas, USA
Dallas Art Fair, with Make Room, Dallas, USA
2024
ART021 Shanghai, with Make Room, Shanghai, China
ART021 Shanghai, with Make Room, Shanghai, China
2023
ART021 Shanghai, with Make Room, Shanghai, China
Art SG, with Make Room, Singapore
ART021 Shanghai, with Make Room, Shanghai, China
Art SG, with Make Room, Singapore
2022
Art Brussels, two-person presentation with Guimi You, Make Room, Brussels, Belgium
Art Brussels, two-person presentation with Guimi You, Make Room, Brussels, Belgium
2021
Future Fair, with New Discretions, New York, USA
Future Fair, with New Discretions, New York, USA
MUSIC AND SOUND
Zulfur Records, founded in Brussels in 2026, artist-run record label and platform for experimental music and collaborative projects
EDUCATION
2018
Master of Fine Arts, LUCA School of Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Master of Fine Arts, LUCA School of Arts, Brussels, Belgium
2013
Master in Decoration, Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Master in Decoration, Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, Venice, Italy
2011
Bachelor in Painting, Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, Venice, Italy
Bachelor in Painting, Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, Venice, Italy