Among Giants

Bea Bonafini spent part of her childhood in the Monte Baldo region of the Northern Italian Alps. From dawn to dusk, she makes a habit of contemplating the landscape, which changes in appearance as the day progresses. The oral tradition of the ancients is still very much alive: this mountain range gives a glimpse of sleeping giants, silhouetted in the early hours of the morning or evening as the sun fades behind the relief.

During her residency in Chamonix, the artist rediscovers the same sensations she experienced as a child in front of the landscape. She perceives mountain ranges as mosaics of textures and colors, soft or vivid, with reliefs that are sometimes steep and angular. Light effects create unexpected hues and the famous silhouettes appear. Beyond the real environment, Bea Bonafini alludes to the inner landscape, specific to each of us, into which we project our imagination. She links this intimate experience to pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon of identifying a familiar form from a stimulus in a landscape.

Through this monumental tapestry, Among Giants, the artist questions our ability to develop and use our personal imagination in a world where the imaginary is often dictated to us.

Bea Bonafini’s work straddles the line between figuration and abstraction. In her work, the artist deploys a repertoire of forms derived from the organic world and the female body. Often described as hybrid, her works have a sensual aspect, oscillating between strength and vulnerability. Her work takes many forms, with a predominant focus on textiles: carnal, delicate, feminine contact.

Solo exhibitions (2017-2024)

Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, USA
Acque Amare, Ala Foundation Prize, Naples, IT
(Under) Black Earth, Wilhelmina Gallery, Hydra, GR
Unearthly, Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Animals of your Lips, Bosse & Baum, London, UK
Il Chiostro Animato, Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Italy
A Monstrous Fruit, Setareh, Berlin, Germany
Where the Primitive One Becomes Two, Eduardo Secci, Art Brussels, Belgium
Ghosts for a Post-Modern Tale, LAAA, Mexico City, Mexico
Full Moon (Empty Stomach), Renata Fabbri, Milan, Italy
Sfiorare Fantasmi, Eduardo Secci, Florence, Italy Art-o-Rama, Bosse & Baum,
Marseille, France
Twin Waves, Operativa, Rome, Italy
Chimère, Chloe Salgado, Paris, France
Talk to the Hand, Bosse & Baum, London, UK
Arte fiera Bologna, Renata Fabbri arte contemporanea, Bologna, Italy
Ogni Pensiero Vola, Renata Fabbri, Milan, Italy
Shed Shreds. Lychee One Gallery, London, UK
Dovetail’s Nest. Zabludowicz Collection Invites, London, UK
A World of One’s Own. Fieldworkds Gallery, London, UK

Group exhibitions (2023)

Italian Painting Today, Triennale Milano. Curated by Damiano Gullì , Italy
Horizon of the Void, Artocène, Chamonix, France
Benaki Museum Auction, Athens, Greece
Art Dusseldorf, Setareh Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
Within+Without, Curated by Ferren Gipson, Unit London, London, UK
Art Dubai, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai, UAE
Incidente Domestico, Societé Interlude, Turin, Italy
Mothers, Badr El Jundi, Madrid, Spain