Studio Ponis: The Crystal and the Flame — Conversation, 20 June 2025 @ 18.30

Friday 20 June 2025
18.30 – 20.00
Doors open at 18.15
8 Smart’s Place, London, WC2B 5LW

I sometimes paint and draw subjects which are not architecture so I have the pleasure of drawing something which has the combination of geometric and informal lines. What Italo Calvino calls the crystal and the flame—the straight line and the free one—the combination of these two elements in the Sardinian landscape is very frequent. The rocks and vegetation are very informal, extravagant, imaginative and then there are the straight lines of the horizon over the sea, and of the building lines.—Alberto Ponis 

On Friday 20 June, we are pleased to be welcoming to the archive Annarita Zalaffi, Alex Pillen, Jonathan Sergison and Irina Davidovici for a conversation about the work of Studio Ponis in Sardinia and Alberto Ponis and Annarita Zalaffi’s working relationship. 

A pin-up of drawings from the collection for two early projects, the Yacht Club Path (1965) and Casa Scalesciani (1977), including new material that Drawing Matter has not yet published, will be on display during the evening. We will also be showing two short films by Team Shichai, originally made for the exhibition ‘Drawing Landscape’ at Tongji University (2023). 

The pin-up will be open to the public on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June.

Purchase tickets for the conversation here.