Elisa Filomena

Elisa Filomena (Turin, 1976) lives and works in Bologna.

Continuous research, production and experimentation focuses, through drawing and painting, on the human figure and nature, both of which are experienced as perennial and delicate forces in contrast and harmony with the transience of existence, capturing in particular the perennial immutability of the human condition.  The work stems from photographs from the turn of the century, which are used as a starting point for the creation of stories and suggestions that form naturally during the creative process. The drawings are made with pastels that are reduced to pigment to be shaped and pressed directly with fingertips onto paper. In painting, there is no preparatory drawing and the brush directly traces the elements and composition of the work with color. The creation of the work comes to form unconsciously, and the paint material guides the creative process and suggests its mysterious faces and landscapes. In 2023, the monograph Elisa Filomena was published. An Act of Creativity, edited by Liletta Fornasari, published by Mainz in Arezzo and the catalog Elisa Filomena – Endeavour edited by Sophie Toulouse published by The Drawer in Paris. Also inaugurated was the site-specific installation La camera delle solitarie at Flashback Habitat in Turin curated by Simone Aleandri. His recent solo exhibitions include Endeavour (2023) at Hyperbien Galerie in Montreuil, Paris, and Eden (2021) at Casa Vuota in Rome. In 2022 she was awarded a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in New York. Group shows include participation in An ego of her own (2021) at Kaufmann Repetto Gallery in NYC. Filomena’s work has been published internationally on the covers and pages of contemporary art magazines. Winner of the Matteo Olivero Painting Prize and the Alida Epremian Scholarship for Young Women Painters, she has been a finalist in several national and international awards including: The Moth Prize, Exibart Prize, O.R.A. Prize and Combat Prize. Residencies include participation in several years in the Painting Symposium at the Lac o Le Mon Foundation in San Cesario di Lecce organized by Luigi Presicce and in Landina en plein air painting experience curated by Lorenza Boisi. Since 1997, his works have been exhibited both in private galleries and in public, cultural and institutional, including internationally (Germany, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and the United States), as well as present in museums, foundations, public and private collections.