“I would first define Irene by saying that basically and above all she writes poetry, haiku in the form of installations and actions. Behind each work lies an extreme and refined search for concept and formalization. In her actions, Irene becomes an iconic presence, a figure without time or space“.
Olga Gambari, from Autofocus catalogue. 2014

“In the arc drawn between the verse, understood as a braying/yell/animal vocalization, and the verse, understood as a metric unit, the artist’s research and poetics are placed: just like the verse-metric unit, Irene Pittatore’s works articulate, from a rhythmic and visual point of view, a representation that presents itself as the result of a creative (poetic) action, which springs from an individual, primordial and repressed force: a brutal and feral force that our society anaesthetises, unable to withstand the impact of its collective plurality, and pushes towards the margins of that technicolour narrative produced by the cultural industry”.
Roberto Mastroianni, from the text accompanying Eros Absconditus, a solo show in cooperation with Playboy Italia, Galleria Opere Scelte, Turin. 2016

“Irene Pittatore’s research is part of an articulated framework, but in Italy still little investigated, that concerns the formal and sense directions of much contemporary artistic production by women; in particular in the research lines of artists such as Carol Rama who, starting from the 1930s, began to paint her Appassionate: constrained women, symbols of fear and coercion, existential states described by the critic Lea Vergine as “pruned, fertilized, exasperated, recklessly pampered fears”. The Turinese artist’s work also compares with Marisa Merz’s refined “Trame” produced as early as the 1960s, alongside the heavy sculpture of the Arte Povera artists and obtained by weaving copper wires that compose elementary geometries. In addition, the photographic documentation of “an action” in which the artist is the sole protagonist also recalls some images by Gina Pane or Ana Mendieta”.
Lisa Parola, from the text accompanying Coazioni, a solo show at Palazzo dell’Arsenale in Turin, on the occasion of the XX FAI Spring Day. 2012

“What struck us most about the work was the way in which the right to speak was exercised, starting from its sophisticated articulation as the condensation of a reflection on certain themes which, starting from an explicit critique of the current art system, opened up to a broader context, raising urgent questions about the responsibility of the artist, his relationship with the public, and the meaning of work immersed in a historical framework marked by increasingly evident and profound changes and conflicts”.
Luisa Perlo and Lisa Parola, from Proposte XXII catalogue. 2008