Introduction
Bea Bonafini
Bea Bonafini is a Rome and London based artist whose 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 and 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.
Torre al Cerro, residency, Italy
Biography
Bea Bonafini
Born in 1990 in Bonn. Lives and works between Rome and London.
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
Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art, Austria
2008
Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art – Painting course by Chinese Artist Li Songsong
Residences
2019
La Berlugane-Maleki Residency and Commision, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France
2018
Platform Southwark Studio Residency, London, UK
FIBRA Artist Residency, Colombia
2017
Fieldworks Studio Residency, London, Uk
2016
Villa Lena Residency, Tuscany, Italy
2015
The Beekeepers Art Residency, Portugal
Awards and Grants
2021
Pébeo Prize for Painting, Art-o-Rama, Marseille, France
2020
Finalist Talent Prize, Rome
Rosa Lee Travel Grant
2019
Abbey Scholarship, British School at Rome
Finalist Premio Cairo, Palazzo Reale, Milan
Premio Lissone (Official invitation-only selection)
2014-2018
Leverhulme Scholarship, Royal College of Art
2015
Stapely Trust Grant
02 Think Big Grant
2014
Slade Prize
2010
Salzburg Academy of Fine Art Scholarship
Solo/Duo Exhibitions
2022
Solo at the Nosbaum Reding Gallery, Luxembourg
A Monstruous Fruit, Setareh, Berlin, Germany
Ghosts for a Post-modern Tale, LAAA, Mexico City, Mexico
2021
Luna Piena (Stomaco Vuoto), Renata Fabbri, Milan, Italy
Sfiorare Fantasmi, Eduardo Secci, Florence, Italy
2020
Twin Waves, Operativa, Rome, Italy
2019
Chimère, Chloe Salgado, Paris, France
Talk to the Hand, Bosse & Baum, London, United Kingdom
Bologna Art Fair (Solo Booth), Renata Fabbri, Bologna
2018
Ogni Pensiero Vola, Renata Fabbri Gallery, Milan, Italy
Giotto's Room, (with Aisha Christison), Post_Institute Von Goetz, London. Curated by Lucy von Goetz
Garageland, (with Anne Ryan), The Rectory Projects, London, Uk
Shed Schreds, Lychee One Gallery, London, UK
2017
Dovetail's Nest, Zabludowicz Collection, Invites, London, UK
A World of One's Own, Fieldworks Gallery, London, UK
2013
Anthropophagi, duo with Paola De Ramos, 26 Greek Street, London, UK
Group Exhibitions
2022
Materia Nova & Spazio, curated by Massimo Mininni and Benedetta Monti, Galleria Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
Weeds Won't Wither, Jari Lager Gallery, Cologne, Germany
New Mythologies, Ohsh Projects in collaboration with King & McGaw, London, UK
Upon a Time, Eduardo Secci, Florence, Italy
2021
The Artsy Vanguard Fourth Edition, curated by Erin Jenoa Gilbert, Miami, US
Psychic Anemone, Cob Gallery, London, UK
Salto in Altro, curated by Edoardo Monti, Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy
Artissima, Double V Gallery, Torino, Italy
June Mostra, British School at Rome, Italy
Worst Case Scenario, curated by Chloe Bonnie More, Paris, France
Quarantanove non è cinquanta, Vogue Italia, curated by Valentina Ciarallo, Italy
Latence, Boulevard Malesherbes, curated by Chloe Bonnie More, Paris, Italy
2020
Waves Between Us, Fondazione Sandretto, Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, curated by Alison Karaszk, Camille Regli, Katie Simpson – Young Curators Residency Programme
In Stitches, Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden
Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey, USA
The Thicker the Woods, the Vaster the Vista, Nevven Gallery, Gothenburg, Sweden
March Mostra, British School at Rome, Italy
2019
Adieu to Old England the Kids Are Alright, Choi and Lager, Cologne, Germany
Düsseldorf Art Fair, Choi and Lager Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
December Mostra, British School at Rome
Premio Cairo, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
A Seed's Star, the Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
The Italian Open, Galerie Rolando Anselmi, Berlin, Germany
Generation Y, Platform Foundation X, London
Tender Touches, AMP Gallery, London, UK
Subversive Stitch, TJ Boulting, London, United Kingdom
London Art Fair, Union Gallery, London United Kingdom
FIBRA, Post_Institute von Goetz, London, United Kingdom
2018
Premio Lissone, Lissone, Italy
Bone Memory, Lychee One, London, United Kingdom
FEŸ Rencontres, Art Festival, Burgundy, France
Memories Arrested in Space, Italian Cultural Institute, London
Searching for Myself Through Remote Skins, Renata Fabbri, Milan
Et refaire le monde, Galerie Bessieres, Chatou, Paris, France
If You Can Stand the Heat, Romaing Projects, London, UK
2017
40-40-40, Soho House London, UK
Ripe, Kingsgate Project Space, London, UK
Dik Piks, Ladybeck, Leeds, UK
Le Diablesse, Tramps Gallery, London
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On the Bedpost Over Night?), J Hammond Projects, London, UK
Penelope, 46 Gallery, London, UK
2016
Summer Blue, Lychee One Gallery, London, UK
Royal College of Art Graduate Show, London, UK
At Home Salon : Double Acts, Marcelle Joseph Projects, Ascot, UK
Paper, Publication, Performance, Lychee One Gallery, London, UK
2015
The Behaviour of Being, group exhibition from the Beekeeper's Residency, Cob Gallery, London, UK
Two Hundred Acres, group exhibition of RCA students, Pump House Gallery, London, UK
Rift Banquet, performance at AYA Peckham, London, UK
ScreenSaver, group video exhibition and co-curation, Dyson Gallery, RCA, London, Uk
RCA Secret, group exhibition, Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, Uk
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, UK
Arts Atrium, Twitter HQ, group exhibition organised by the London Sculpture Workshop, London, UK
The Scars are Not Just Skin Deep, group exhibition, Cob Gallery, London, UK
Slade School of Fine Art Degree Show, London, UK
2013
On/Off, performance event, Vibe Gallery, London, UK
Slade Print Fair, exhibition and performance, Slade Research Centre, London, UK
Tate Modern, Invitation by the Board Director of the UAL Development Council, London UK
St Martins School of Art & Design Degree Show, London, UK
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, London, UK
Bodies of Silence, Platform, London, UK (Performance)
The Strange Impression of Seeing Things, Group exhibition and performance, Mile End Art Pavilion, London, UK
2012
Camden Arts Centre, Performance Art Event organised by the Slade, London, UK
Platform 1, Performance Art Event organised by the Slade, Bloomsbury Theatre, London, UK