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CV
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Beabonafini@gmail.com
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Bea Bonafini approaches her work as a mise-en-scène of objects fluidly passing between mediums and references.
Testing the notion of comfort, her installations operate on the boundary between functionality and the aesthetic, seductively suggesting intimacy and reflection through the production of colourful and sensuous objects and environments. Images and material are extracted from a painterly genre that absolutely embraces décor, while stretching familiar forms to make welcoming spacesuddenly feel uneasy, as if one is being consumed by rich decorative surfaces and layers of history.
Slipping between infusions of domestic and sacred, antiquity and playfulness, softness and conflict, the materiality
jumbles a fragmented Art History into an interior language of dysfunctional calm and familiarity. Comfort that slips
into discomfort. A subtle eroticism andigestion of textures, pattern, design and style. A dense scenery of fragments, pointillist shapes, slotting forms and materials.
EDUCATION
2014 - 2016 Royal College of Art - MA Painting
2010 - 2014 Slade School of Fine Art, UCL - BA Fine Art, 1st Class Honours
2009 - 2010 Chelsea College of Art & Design, UAL - Foundation in Art & Design Diploma
2010 Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art, Austria - Scholarship for Sculpture course
by Italian artist Liliana Moro.
2008 Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art - Painting course by Chinese artist Li Songsong.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
(Upcoming) Renata Fabbri, Milan
Shed Shreds. Lychee One, London
2017
Dovetail’s Nest. Zabludowicz Collection, Zabludowicz Invites, London
A World of One’s Own. Fieldworkds Gallery, London
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018
(Upcoming) FEŸ Rencontres, Art Festival. Burgundy, France.
Memories Arrested in Space, Italian Cultural Institute, London. Curated by ARTUNER
(Two-person) Giotto’s Room, with Aisha Christison. Post_Institute, London. Curated by Lucy Von Goetz
(Two-person) Garageland, with Anne Ryan. The Rectory Projects, London.
Searching for Myself Through Remote Skins. Renata Fabbri, Milan. Curated by Bianca Baroni
Et Refaire Le Monde. Galerie Bessieres, Chatou, Paris. Curated by Bianca Cerrina Feroni
If You Can Stand the Heat. Roaming Projects, London. Curated by Lindsey Mendick and Paloma Proudfoot
2017
40-40-40. Soho House London. Curated by Fenella Brownlee
Ripe. Kingsgate Project Space, London. Curated by Eleanor Davies
Dik Piks. Ladybeck, Leeds UK. Curated by Suzy Babington
La Diablesse. Tramps Gallery, London. Curated by Jerusha West, Sarah Batey and Simone Kennedy-Doig.
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Over Night)? J Hammond Projects, London. Curated by Will Rees and Hamish Pearch
Penelope. Curated by Alix Janta and Lauren Jones. 46 Gallery, London.
2016
Summer Blue. Lychee One Gallery, London. Curated by Jonathan Miles.
Royal College of Art Graduate Show. London.
At Home Salon: Double Acts. Marcelle Joseph Projects, Ascot. Curated by Lana Bountakidou.
Paper, Publication, Performance. Lychee One Gallery, London. Curated by Jonathan Miles.
2015
The Behaviour of Being. Group exhibition from the Beekeeper’s Residency at Cob Gallery, curated by Mia Pfeifer.
Two Hundred Acres. Group exhibition of RCA students. Pump House Gallery,
London. Curated by Anna Clifford.
Rift Banquet. Performance at AYA Peckham, London. Curated by Leo Cohen.
ScreenSaver. Group Video Exhibtion and co-curation. Dyson Gallery, RCA.
RCA Secret. Group Exhibition. Dyson Gallery. Royal College of Art.
15th Cypriot Contemporary Dance Festival. Commissioned the performance of In the Likeness Of… Rialto Theatre, Limassol, Cyprus.
Exposiçao Lar. Group Exhibition curated by Paola De Ramos. Curitiba, Brazil.
Resolutions!2015. The Place Theatre, London. Performance of In the Likeness Of…
2014
Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. E122 Banquet Performance. Cock ‘N’ Bull Gallery, London.
Arts Atrium, Twitter HQ. Group Exhibition organised by the London Sculpture Workshop.
The Scars are Not Just Skin Deep, Group Exhibition curated by Mia Pfeifer. Cob Gallery, London.
Slade School of Fine Art Degree Show. London.
2013
On/Off. Performance Event. Vibe Gallery, London
Slade Print Fair. Group exhibition and performance. Slade Research Centre, London.
Anthropophagi. Two-person exhibition with Paola De Ramos. 26 Greek Street, London.
Tate Modern. Invitation by the Board Director of the UAL Development Council.
St Martins School of Art & Design Degree Show. Collaboration with Cecilia Granara.
Elegy. Guest Project Space. Group exhibition and performance. Curated by Leo Cohen.
Camden Arts Center London. Performance Event organised by the Slade School of Fine Art.
Bodies of Silence. Platform, London. Performance. Curated by Giulia Casalini and Diana Georgiou.
The Strange Impression of Seeing Things. Group exhibition and performance. Mile End Art Pavilion, London.
2012 Camden Arts Centre, London. Performance Art Event organised by the Slade.
Platform 1. Performance Art Event organised by the Slade. Bloomsbury Theatre, London.
AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
2018 Platform Southwark Studio Residency. London
2018 FIBRA Artist Residency, Colombia.
Curated and co-produced with Mia Pfeifer. Participating artists include: Bea Bonafini / Dan Coopey / Maisie Cousins / Alix Janta / Adeline de Monseignat / Laurence Owen / Charlotte Colbert.
2017 Fieldworks Studio Residency. London.
2016 Villa Lena Residency. Tuscany, Italy.
Commendation, West Dean Tapestry Commission
2014-16 Leverhulme Scholarship
2015 The Beekeepers Art Residency. Portugal. In collaboration with curator Mia Pfeifer and Cob Gallery London.
2015 Stapely Trust Grant
2015 O2 Think Big Grant
2014 Slade Prize
2010 Salzburg Academy of Fine Art Scholarship
TEACHING
2018 UPCOMING Artist workshops at October Gallery, London.
2015 Art workshops designed and taught at the Royal College of Art, ReachOut, for two state secondary schools.
2015 The Garden Tapestry. Public workshops at the Pump House Gallery.
2014 The Slade Summer School. Widening Participation Course, UCL.