True to nature | October 2025

Von Buren Contemporary presents

True to nature

featuring the works of

ANASTASIA NORENKO
SOFIA PODESTÀ
VERA ROSSI

Von Buren Contemporary is thrilled to present True to Nature, its first show of the post-summer season showcasing the work of three female artists: young gallery newcomer Anastasia Norenko, award-winning landscape photographer Sofia Podestà and noted Milan-born photographer Vera Rossi.

The three selected artists are linked by their focus on nature, a theme which they have remained ‘true’ to from the outset of their calling. By the same measure, they have also stayed authentic – remaining true to their original character and instincts.

Anastasia Norenko’s landscapes, painted direct from nature in the open air, redirect our attention to a centuries-old tradition. Her canvases resonate not only for the contemporary concern for our threatened habitat but also for the artist’s deliberate eschewal of modern digital or technological resources in a bid to remain as ‘natural’ as possible.

Sofia Podestà, meanwhile, presents two distinct but complementary series of photographs, “Blooming” and “Dissolving”. The first offers warm, close-up shots of wildflowers, buds and twigs which ‘cram’ the picture, while the second quietly captures sparse, autumnal landscapes experienced by the viewer as if a threshold.

The third artist in the trio, Vera Rossi, returns to familiar terrain with a new collection of photographs in which the key element is always a window overlooking a green, untamed garden. Vases of flowers placed in front of the window are another way in which the artist plays with light and transparency, with her research extending to her use of medium, her preferred printing support being plexiglass.

Anastasia Norenko was born in Ukraine in 1994 and graduated in 2024 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, where she now lives and works. Despite her young age, she has taken part in a number of exhibitions both in Italy and abroad, including the group exhibition Chiamata alle arti (Call to the Arts) at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York.

 Sofia Podestà was born in Rome in 1991 and holds a degree in Art History with a specialisation in the work of Italian photographers Luigi Ghirri and Guido Guidi. In 2019, she was named one of the best twelve Italian creative talents under 30 in the field of photography in the so-called Giovani Creativi (Young Creatives) Award, taking part in the subsequent show at Rome’s Palazzo Massimo museum. Her photographs now appear in the public collection of the Italian Culture Ministry.

 Vera Rossi was born in Milan in 1968. She has been photographing nature and still lifes since 1996 and in 2013, her work featured in an installation event at New York’s The Armory Show. Since 2017, she has shown annually at Milan’s MIA Photo Fair while in 2019, she exhibited at the Museo del Paesaggio (Landscape Museum) in Verbania and Nonostante Marras, the art space/atelier of top stylist Antonio Marras in Milan. Her work is to be found in prestigious private collections including that of late influential Italian art critic Germano Celant.

TRUE TO NATURE

True to Nature brings together the works of Anastasia Norenko, Sofia Podestà and Vera Rossi, three artists linked by their observation of the natural world and its elements.

The individual gaze with which each artist filters the outside world immediately emerges. It is not just a matter of different perspectives, but of a profound intimacy that binds these artists to their subjects, with which they seem to weave an inner dialogue destined to continue over time.

The paintings of Anastasia Norenko are created en plein air, combining direct study of place with an inner analysis that establishes a real and tangible connection with the subject matter. Her canvases feature almost photographic frames, enclosing vibrant, bucolic landscapes with bright colours, soft shapes and seemingly carefree strokes.

Through these devices, Norenko actively and explicitly rejects the contemporary hegemony of technology and new media, preferring traditional painting from life, on which she leaves a personal and at times dreamy imprint.

The themes of landscape and travel are central to the work of Sofia Podestà, who collects photographs of the places she has visited, usually with nature as the focal point.

Her interest, both pictorial and analytical, focuses on fairy-tale details, such as an expanse of flowers in the foreground, before moving on to distant views with a dark and disturbing appearance. The difference in planes represents a symbolic component in the two series presented, marking not only a spatial distance but also a mental one.

Nature presents itself in its dual temperament, first taking on the role of a reassuring and enchanted place, then showing its more arid and silent side. Here too, we witness a sort of silent and meditative conversation between space and the individual.

The work of Vera Rossi encompasses years of experimentation related to the construction of a dialogue with nature and its atmospheres. The artist uses photography as a means of relating to the outside world via a different point of view, which allows her to break down the rules of ordinary vision. To do this, she uses techniques such as graininess and soft focus, which allow her mental images to manifest themselves in a concrete way.

A constant feature of Rossi’s shots is the inside/outside motif, often framed by the presence of a window. This element accentuates the evocative power of the images, suggesting an illusory and non-existent boundary that ends up dissolving into the immensity of the possible.

True to Nature is thus an emblematic title, its dual meaning, “true to nature” and “true to oneself”, fully reflecting the course taken over the years by the artists featured in the exhibition. All three work on a series of subjects that recur over time, remaining true to themselves and to nature, which represents an inexhaustible source of inspiration for them.

Anna Gasperini