Image: Richard Saltoun Gallery, London
Richard Saltoun Gallery is presenting Silvia Giambrone’s first solo exhibition at its Rome venue, bringing together a new body of work that examines lying as both an ontological condition and a political structure of the present. Titled ‘I Lie’, the exhibition is on view from 22 May through 24 September 2026 at Richard Saltoun Gallery, Via Margutta 48a–48b, Rome.
Curated by Paola Ugolini, the exhibition continues Giambrone’s sustained investigation into abuse and violence. According to the gallery, her practice approaches contemporary life through an analysis of its “shadow zones,” with particular attention to the ways power operates through domestic space, social expectations and systems of control. The exhibition’s central subject—lying—extends that inquiry from individual experience to the structures that preserve and legitimise forms of domination.
Giambrone’s treatment of the domestic rejects the idea of the home as an uncomplicated refuge. Instead, household space becomes a site where bodies and relationships are shaped by invisible rules, coercion and what the exhibition describes as “silent submission.” Familiar objects, including silverware, flower vases, clocks, chairs and pillows, are detached from their ordinary functions. They become witnesses to domestic violence or instruments through which coercion is made difficult to see.
Several new series develop this argument through transformations of materials and symbols. In ‘Apocalyps’, family silverware—associated with status, continuity and memory—is broken down into fragments described by the gallery as “luxury rubble.” The works expose the instability of the symbolic structures supporting power and accepted versions of truth. ‘Dura lex sed lex’ turns to the juridical sphere, using marble engravings to consider how lies can acquire the appearance of legal permanence. ‘Authenticity certificate’ addresses the bureaucratisation of intimacy and desire.
The exhibition also extends Giambrone’s investigation beyond domestic and legal settings. In ‘Il cielo stellato’, dodecahedrons traditionally associated with harmony and perfection are rendered in raw iron, converting an image of universal order into one of tension and violence. The neon work ‘I LIE’ gives the exhibition its title and frames lying as a collective condition, linking the failure of trust in language with a wider collapse in the idea of truth.
The presentation includes works such as ‘Untitled with thorns’ (2017), as well as new pieces including ‘APOCALYPS 1’, ‘APOCALYPS 4’ and ‘Cage #3’, all dated 2026. ‘Cage #1’ and ‘Cage #2’ were produced for the exhibition ‘Sub Rosa’ at Palazzo Doria Pamphilj and are courtesy of Galleria Stefania Miscetti. Richard Saltoun Gallery, which also has spaces in London and New York, has scheduled an accompanying conversation with Giambrone, Giovanna Melandri and Ugolini in Rome from 6 to 8pm on 23 September, one day before the exhibition closes.
