- Bea Bonafini
Ogni Pensiero Vola
Renata Fabbri is glad to present Ogni Pensiero Vola, Bea Bonafini’s first solo show in Italy.
Rooted in the compositional and iconographic research that defines the artist’s background as painter, Bea Bonafini’s work articulates transversally, moving across heterogeneous media, languages and physicalities. Relying on materials that are intrinsically related to the body and the subject’s intimate sphere, the artist shifts her pictorial register to an environmental level, combining immersive installations with a fauna of chameleonic objects and sculptural configurations.
In her recent productions, she emphasizes the use of textiles, tapestries and other materials able to project the viewer into a comfortable space. A place incarnating the sacrality and the familiarity of the domestic dimension, therefore instigating an encounter with the artwork that is both bodily and spiritual. On the occasion of her first exhibition at the gallery, Bea Bonafini not only investigates the compenetration of art and intimate spaces, it also looks into the movement of elevation and metamorphosis that goes with such intersection. As suggested in the title – which is in turn taken from an inscription found in the famous Gardens of Bomarzo – the project explores the idea of flying as a phenomenon relating to magic, spirituality as well as to the animal world. The artist floods the gallery with colourful figures; intertwined silhouttes on majestic carpets sit next to a multitude of divers, birds and other subjects peeking out of the walls.
In Ogni Pensiero Vola Bea Bonafini opens up the core of her research, bringing forward an osmotic system of symbols and forms which fluidly transform as they circulate from one work to the other. The artist further extends such personal lexicon, gathering personal and collective imaginaries, fantastic and historical narratives within the same explosive visual constellation.
Renata Fabbri is glad to present Ogni Pensiero Vola, Bea Bonafini’s first solo show in Italy.
Rooted in the compositional and iconographic research that defines the artist’s background as painter, Bea Bonafini’s work articulates transversally, moving across heterogeneous media, languages and physicalities. Relying on materials that are intrinsically related to the body and the subject’s intimate sphere, the artist shifts her pictorial register to an environmental level, combining immersive installations with a fauna of chameleonic objects and sculptural configurations.
In her recent productions, she emphasizes the use of textiles, tapestries and other materials able to project the viewer into a comfortable space. A place incarnating the sacrality and the familiarity of the domestic dimension, therefore instigating an encounter with the artwork that is both bodily and spiritual. On the occasion of her first exhibition at the gallery, Bea Bonafini not only investigates the compenetration of art and intimate spaces, it also looks into the movement of elevation and metamorphosis that goes with such intersection. As suggested in the title – which is in turn taken from an inscription found in the famous Gardens of Bomarzo – the project explores the idea of flying as a phenomenon relating to magic, spirituality as well as to the animal world. The artist floods the gallery with colourful figures; intertwined silhouttes on majestic carpets sit next to a multitude of divers, birds and other subjects peeking out of the walls.
In Ogni Pensiero Vola Bea Bonafini opens up the core of her research, bringing forward an osmotic system of symbols and forms which fluidly transform as they circulate from one work to the other. The artist further extends such personal lexicon, gathering personal and collective imaginaries, fantastic and historical narratives within the same explosive visual constellation.
Bea Bonafini, Il Trionfo, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, 480×265 cm
Bea Bonafini, Tomb Diver I, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 250×60 cm
Bea Bonafini, Let It All Out, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, 200×265 cm
Bea Bonafini, Tomb Diver II, 2018Pastel on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 210x70 cm
Bea Bonafini, Tomb Diver III, 2018Pastel on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 250x70 cm
Bea Bonafini, Tomb Diver III, 2018Pastel on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 250x70 cm
Bea Bonafini, Tomb Diver IV, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 200×100 cm
Bea Bonafini, Tomb Diver IV, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 200×100 cm
Bea Bonafini, Floating Corpse, 2018Pastel on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 140x35 cm
Bea Bonafini, Bodyless, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 55×45 cm
Bea Bonafini, Bodyless, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 55×45 cm
Bea Bonafini, Sinking Sleeper II, 2018Pastel on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 50x40 cm
Bea Bonafini, Sinking Sleeper, 2018Pastels on mixed carpet inlay, wood, 55×45 cm
Bea Bonafini (Bonn, 1990) lives and works between London and Rome. She received a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 2014, and a MA in Painting form the Royal College of Art, London, in 2016. She works across painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, tapestry and textiles, expanding their corresponding formal interrelationships. Bonafini’s interdisciplinary practice draws from oneiric visions, overlapping personal and ancient mythologies. Her tactile, intimate worlds center around sensuality, vulnerability and fantasy, forming swirling scenarios that are fragmented and multi-layered. Figures are evanescent and transcendental, referencing spiritual imagery where fluid bodies collide, disperse, swim, fly and fall, openings to encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly. Holistic perspectives are developed in close dialogue with architecture, where space is approached as an extension to the work to envelop the viewer. Bonafini’s solo exhibitions include Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg (2022); Bosse & Baum, London (2022 and 2019); Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Rome (2022); Setareh Gallery, Berlin (2022); LAAA (Laboratorio de Arte, Arquitectura y Arqueología), Mexico City (2022); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2021 and 2018); Eduardo Secci, Florence (2021); Operativa, Rome (2020); Chloe Salgado, Paris (2019); Lychee One Gallery, London (2018); Zabludowicz Collection, London (2017); and Fieldworkds Gallery, London (2017). She has participated in group exhibitions at JARILAGER Gallery, Cologne (2022); Cob Gallery, London (2021); Larsen Warner, Stockholm (2020); Rolando Anselmi, Berlin (2019); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2018), amongst others. Residencies include: Palazzo Monti, Brescia (2021); Rosa Lee Travel Grant, British School at Rome (2020); Abbey Scholarship, British School at Rome (2019–20); La Berlugane-Maleki Residency and Commission Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France (2019); Platform Southwark Studio Residency, London (2018), Fibra Residency, Colombia (2018); Fieldworks Studio Residency, London (2017); Villa Lena, Toiano, Italy (2016); and The Beekeepers Residency, Castro Marim, Portugal (2015).
Bea Bonafini (Bonn, 1990) lives and works between London and Rome. She received a BA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 2014, and a MA in Painting form the Royal College of Art, London, in 2016. She works across painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, tapestry and textiles, expanding their corresponding formal interrelationships. Bonafini’s interdisciplinary practice draws from oneiric visions, overlapping personal and ancient mythologies. Her tactile, intimate worlds center around sensuality, vulnerability and fantasy, forming swirling scenarios that are fragmented and multi-layered. Figures are evanescent and transcendental, referencing spiritual imagery where fluid bodies collide, disperse, swim, fly and fall, openings to encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly. Holistic perspectives are developed in close dialogue with architecture, where space is approached as an extension to the work to envelop the viewer. Bonafini’s solo exhibitions include Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg (2022); Bosse & Baum, London (2022 and 2019); Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Rome (2022); Setareh Gallery, Berlin (2022); LAAA (Laboratorio de Arte, Arquitectura y Arqueología), Mexico City (2022); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2021 and 2018); Eduardo Secci, Florence (2021); Operativa, Rome (2020); Chloe Salgado, Paris (2019); Lychee One Gallery, London (2018); Zabludowicz Collection, London (2017); and Fieldworkds Gallery, London (2017). She has participated in group exhibitions at JARILAGER Gallery, Cologne (2022); Cob Gallery, London (2021); Larsen Warner, Stockholm (2020); Rolando Anselmi, Berlin (2019); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2018), amongst others. Residencies include: Palazzo Monti, Brescia (2021); Rosa Lee Travel Grant, British School at Rome (2020); Abbey Scholarship, British School at Rome (2019–20); La Berlugane-Maleki Residency and Commission Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France (2019); Platform Southwark Studio Residency, London (2018), Fibra Residency, Colombia (2018); Fieldworks Studio Residency, London (2017); Villa Lena, Toiano, Italy (2016); and The Beekeepers Residency, Castro Marim, Portugal (2015).
- Bea Bonafini
- Bea Bonafini,
- Andrea Martinucci,
- Serena Vestrucci
Oct 14 – 16, 2022
Main Section
Pav. 12 – Booth H7
- Bea Bonafini
Feb 1-4, 2019
Main Section
Pav. 25 – Booth A57
- Ana Cardoso,
- Athanasios Argianas
Apr 14-16, 2023
VIP Preview Apr 13th
Established
Pav.3 – Booth 7
- Serena Vestrucci
Palazzo Merulana, Rome
Mar 25 – May 21, 2023
Curated by Joanna De Vos and Melania Rossi
