BEA BONAFINI
Bea Bonafini is an interdisciplinary artist working between London and Barcelona. Her practice explores the cross-fertilisation of humanity with other ways of being, and the entanglement of painting with tapestry, ceramics and drawing. Her interest lies in the circularity of material and symbols, the resurrection of mythologies and their contemporary and personal reconfigurations, and the emotional landscape of colour. Bea’s research is also grounded in unearthing Mediterranean mythologies and narratives of collaboration, hybridity and freedom of movement.
Acting like transcendental openings, the works are full of swirling scenarios that are fragmented and multi-layered, optimistic and tender. Becoming protected spheres, the works are receptacles of a lost spirituality. Chthonic beings are resurrected, grief is embraced, new and unexpected combinations are celebrated. The vitality of eroticism is infused in entangled bodies, whose boundaries and identities fuse.
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Bea Bonafini graduated from MA painting from the Royal College of Art in London (2016) and BA Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art in London (2014). She was artist-in-residence at the ArtExplora Mediterranean Project (2024) and the British School at Rome (2020); commissions include site-specific works for ALA Prize, Italy (2023); Palazzo Abatellis, Italy (2022); Meta HQ, UK (2022); La Berlugane-Maleki residence, France; Maison Estelle, UK (2018); and Jonköping Council, Sweden (2018).
Recent solo exhibitions: Acque Amare, ALA Art Foundation (2023); Il Chiostro Animato, Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Rome (2022); A Monstrous Fruit, Setareh, Berlin (2022); Animals Of Your Lips, Bosse & Baum, London (2022); Unearthly, Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg (2022); Ghosts for a Post-Modern Tale, LAAA, Mexico City (2022); Luna Piena (Stomaco Vuoto), Renata Fabbri, Milan (2021); Sfiorare Fantasmi, Eduardo Secci, Florence (2021); Twin Waves, Operativa, Rome (2019); Chimère, Chloe Salgado, Paris (2018); Shed Shreds, Lychee One, London (2018); and Dovetail’s Nest, Zabludowicz Collection, London (2017).
Recent group exhibitions: Diario Notturno, MAXXI, L’Aquila (2023); Italian Painting Today, Triennale Milano (2023); Imagina, Biennale di Gubbio (2023); Horizon of the Void, Artocène, Chamonix (2023); Coppa di Stelle nel Cerchio del Sole, Palazzo Abatellis Museum, Palermo (2022); Fondazione per l’Arte, Rome (2022); Kristen Hjellegjerde, London (2022); The Artsy Vanguard Fourth Edition, Miami (2021); Fondazione Sandretto, Guarene (2020); Premio Cairo, Palazzo Reale Milan (2019); and Memories Arrested in Space, The Italian Cultural Institute, London (2018).
EDUCATION
2016 Royal College of Art - MA Painting
2014 Slade School of Fine Art, UCL - BA Fine Art
2010 Chelsea College of Art & Design, UAL - Foundation in Art & Design Diploma
2010 Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art - with Liliana Moro.
2008 Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art - with Li Songsong.