Bea Bonafini
b. 1990, Italy
Bea Bonafini’s interdisciplinary practice draws from oneiric visions, overlapping personal and ancient mythologies. Her tactile, intimate worlds centre 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 or fall. Bonafini’s work expands the possibilities of painting, tapestry and sculpture and their interrelationships. Holistic perspectives are developed in close dialogue with architecture, where space is approached as an extension to the work to envelop the viewer. Acting as protected spheres, Bonafini’s installations are openings to encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly.
Bea Bonafini is an Italian artist living and working between Rome, London & Paris. Bea is the recipient of the Abbey Scholarship, British School at Rome (BSR), Italy, 2019-2021, which she has recently concluded. In 2016 she graduated from the Royal College Of Art, London, with an MA in Painting (Distinction), and in 2104 she graduation from UCL, Slade School of Fine Art, London, with a BA in Fine Art, (1st class honours). Bea has been the recipient of many awards and residencies including La Berlugane-Maleki Residency and Commission, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France, 2019; FIBRA Artist Residency, Colombia, curated and co-produced with Mia Pfeifer, 2018; the Villa Lena Residency, Tuscany, Italy, 2016, and many others.
Recently, Bea has had the following solo exhibitions: Twin Waves, Operativa Arte, Rome, 2020; Chimère, Chloe Salgado, Paris, 2019; Talk to the Hand, Bosse & Baum, London, 2019; Bologna Art Fair, Renata Fabbri Gallery, Bologna, 2019; Ogni Pensiero Vola, Renata Fabbri Gallery, Milan, 2018; Dovetail’s Nest, Zabludowicz Collection, Invites, London, 2017, amongst others. Bea has had the following duo & group exhibitions: Waves Between Us, Fondazione Sandretto, Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, 2020; In Stitches, Larsen Warner, Stockholm, 2020; Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey. 2020; The Thicker the Woods, the Vaster the Vista, Nevven Gallery, Gothenburg, 2020; Adieu to Old England the Kids Are Alright, Choi and Lager, Cologne, 2019; Tender Touches, AMP Gallery, London, curated by Open Space Contemporary, 2019, amongst many others. Coming up, Bonafini has solo shows at Eduardo Secci, Florence, 2021; Renata Fabbri, Milan, 2021; and a solo show at Setareh, in Berlin, 2022.