Anna-Bella Papp / Alina Vergnano

Alina Vergnano (Turin, 1989), lives and works in Götheborg, Sweden. The abstraction of her work starts from a well-balanced interlocking of informal textures and graphic layers to reach an emotional essentiality; her media, which range from unprimed linen and cotton canvases to semi-transparent fabrics, are populated by faces, bodies and smooth lines which tell about oneiric worlds suspended in neutral backgrounds, often left raw. The surfaces of her works feature marks of acrylic, oil pastel and charcoal, sometimes leaving the stretcher visible, therefore giving a sculptural value to the two-dimensional nature of the work.

She has a bachelor’s degree in illustration and animation from the European Institute of Design (IED) in Turin, Italy.  She is now based between Bergen, Norway and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Some of her solo exhibitions include: Freedom Men Gallery, Taichung, Taiwan (2015); Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg, SE; Stene Projects, Stockholm SE; at Galleri Cora Hillebrand SE (2021). Her work has been exposed in many group exhibitions such as: The Others Art Fair, Turin, Italy (2013); Spazio Cabinet, Milan (2018); Renata Fabbri, Milan IT (2019); NEVVEN, Gothenburg SE (2020); MA1 at Bergen Kjøtt, Bergen; exhibition and residency at Dåmgardsveien 229, Laksevåg, Bergen (2022).

Anna-Bella Papp (Chisineu-Cris, Romania, 1988) lives and works in Amsterdam (Netherlands). She uses small raw clay plates on which the essentiality of the impressed gesture draws attention to the purity of the material surface itself; faces, bodies, landscapes and architectural details in bas-relief alternate with aniconic geometric signs such as curves, grooves and drops reminiscent of Carlo Scarpa’s aesthetic, creating a linguistic inventory of minimalist and timeless taste. Small constructive actions of addition, disjunction and subtraction, combined with chiaroscuro interventions mark the monochromatic tiles and present the artwork as an open object, on which the artist quickly impresses the fragility of one thought.

She graduated at University of Art and Design in 2010, then she attended De Ateliers in Amsterdam from 2011 to 2013. She then graduated at Sandberg Instituut of Amsterdam in 2021.

Some of her solo exhibitions include: Modern Art, London (2013); Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway (2015); Spazio Cabinet, Milan (2016); Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milan (2017). She took part in some group exhibitions at: Galeria Plan-B, Cluj, Romania (2011); De Ateliers, Amsterdam, Netherlands(2013); Casey Kaplan, New York, NY, USA; Fondazione Memmo, Palazzo Ruspoli Stables, Rome, Italy (2015); Modern Art, London (2016); The Met Breuer, New York, NY, USA; Ben Hunter Gallery, London, UK; Renata Fabbri, Milan (2019);  Modern Art, London; Sāo Paulo Biennal, Brazil (2021).