Bea Bonafini is an Italian Artist born in 1990 in Bonn, Germany. Bonafini did her Foundation course in Art & Design at Chelsea College in London. Furthermore, she holds a First Class Honours Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from the Slade School and a Master’s degree with a distinction from the Royal College of Art in London. Bea Bonafini is a 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. The focus on universal human experiences – birth, death, illness, love - unfolds and proliferates ambiguously, simultaneously graspable and fleeting. Bonafini’s work expands the possibilities and interplay of painting, tapestry and sculpture while reinventing artisanal techniques. Holistic perspectives are developed in close dialogue with architecture, where works are expanded in space to envelop theviewer. Acting as protected spheres, Bonafini’s installations act as openings onto encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly.
Solo exhibitions include (upcoming) Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, West Palm Beach, USA, (2024);Uneartly, Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2022); Animals of your Lips, Bosse & Baum, London, UK (2022); Nosbaum, reding, Luxembourg, LU (2022); II Chiostro Animato, Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Italy (2022); A Monstrous Fruit, Setareh, Berlin, Germany (2022); Where the Primitive One Becomes Two, Eduardo Secci, Art Brussels, Belgium (2022); Ghosts for a Post-Modern Tale, LAAA, Mexico (2022); Full Moon (Empty Stomach), renata fabbri, milan, Italy (2021); Sfiorare Fantasmi, Eduardo Secci, Florence, Italy (2021); Art-o-Rama, Bosse & Baum, Marseille, France (2021); Twin Waves, Operativa, Rome, Italy (2020); Chimère, Chloe Salgado, Paris, France (2019); Talk to the Hand, Bosse & Baum, London, UK (2019); Arte fiera Bologna, Renata Fabbri arte contemporanea, Bologna, Italy (2019); Ogni Pensiero Vola, Renata Fabbri, Milan, Italy (2018); Shed Shreds, Lychee One Gallery, London, UK (2018); Dovetail’s Nest, Zabludowicz Collection Invites, London, UK (2017); A World of One’s Own, Fieldworkds Gallery, London, UK (2017).
Group exhibitions include Artocène, Chamonix, France (2023); Benaki Museum Auction, Athens, Greece (2023); Art Dusseldorf, Setareh Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany (2023); Within+Without, Curated by Ferren Gipson, Unit London, London, UK (2023); Art Dubai, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Galler, Dubai, UAE (2023); Incidente Domestico, Societé Interlude, Turin, Italy (2023); Mothers, Badr El Jundi, Spain (2023); Viaggio in Sicilia 9, Palazzo, Abatellis Museum, Palermi, Italy (2022); L’Origine del Modndo, Fondazione per l’Arte, Rome, Italy (2022); Labyrinth, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2022); The Armory Show, Setareh Gallery, New York, USA (2022); The New Guard, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Paris, France (2022); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alkinois, Greece, Premio Conai, Spazio Taverna, Rome, Italy (2022); Materia Nova, Spazio Y, curated by Massimo Mininni and Benedetta Monti, Galleria Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy (2022); Düsseldorf Art Fair, Setareh Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany (2022); Weeds Won’t Wither, Jari Lager gallery, Cologne, Germany (2022); New Mythologies, Ohsh Projects in collaboration with King & McGaw, London. Upon a Time, Eduardo Secci, Florence, Italy (2022); The Artsy Vanguard Fourth Edition, curated by Erin Jenoa Gilbert, Miami, US Psychic Anemone, Cob Gallery, London, UK (2021); Salto in Altro, curated by Edoardo Monti, Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy (2021); Artissima, Double V gallery, Torino, Italy (2021); June Mostra, British School at Rome, I (2021); Worst Case Scenario, curated by Chloe Bonnie More, Paris, France (2021); Quarantanove non è cinquanta, Vogue Italia, curated by Valentina Ciarallo, Italy (2021); Latence, Boulevard Malesherbes, curated by Chloe Bonnie More, Paris, France (2021); Waves Between Us, Fondazione Sandretto, Palazzo Re Rebaudengo, Guarene, Italy (2020); Curated by Alison Karasyk, Camille Regli, Katie Simpson, YCRP (2020); In Stitches, Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden (2020); Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary, New Jersey, USA (2020); The Thicker the Woods, the Vaster the Vista, Nevven Gallery, Göteborg, Sweden (2020); March Mostra, British School at Rome, Italy (2020);Adieu to Old England the Kids Are Alright, Choi and Lager, Cologne, Germany (2020); Düsseldorf Art Fair, Choi and Lager Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany (2019); December Mostra, British School at Rome, Italy (2019); Premio Cairo, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy (2019); A Seed’s a Star, Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, SE curated by Constance Tenvik (2019); The Italian Open, Galerie Rolando Anselmi, Berlin, Germany (2019); Generation Y, Platform Foundation X, London, UK, curated by Kate Bryan and Sara Terzi (2019); Tender Touches, AMP Gallery, London, UK Role Play, The Orange Garden, Rome, Italy (2019); Subversive Stitch, TJ Boulting, London, UK, curated by Hannah Watson (2019); London Art Fair, Union Gallery, London, UK (2019); FiBRA Residency Group Show, Post_Institute Von Goetz, London, UK, curated by Mia Pfeifer (2019); Premio Lissone, Lissone (2018); Bone Memory, Lychee One, London, UK (2018); FEŸ Rencontres, Art Festival. Burgundy, France (2018); Memories Arrested in Space, Italian Institute of Culture, London, UK, curated by ARTUNER (2018); (Two-person) Giotto’s Room, with Aisha Christison. Post_Institute,London, UK (Two-person) (2018); Garageland, with Anne Ryan. The Rectory Projects, London, UK Searching for Myself (2018); Through Remote Skins. Renata Fabbri, Milan, IT, curated by Bianca Baroni (2018); Sans Titre, Hotel Louisiane, Paris, FR, curated by Marie Madec (2018); Hot Milk, Post Institute, Von Goetz, London, UK (2018) ;Et Refaire Le Monde… Galerie Bessieres, Paris Chatou, France (2018) ;If You Can’t Stand the Heat, Roaming Projects, London, UK, curated by Paloma Proudfoot and Lindsey Mendick (2018); 40-40-40. Soho House, London, UK, curated by Fenella Brownlee (2018); The Ned. 7 female artists to represent the 7 top female CEOs in the UK, curated by Kate Bryan (2017); Ripe. Kingsgate Workshop, London, UK, curated by Eleanor Davies Mise-en-scene (2017); Chelsea Watrside Artspace, London, UK, curated by Yvonne (2017); FengDik Piks (2017); La Diablesse. Tramps Gallery, London, UK (2017); Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight)?, J Hammond Projects, London, UK (2017); Penelope, curated by Alix Janta and Lauren Jones. 46 Gallery, London, UK (2017);Summer Blue. Lychee One Gallery, London, UK, cuaretd by Jonathan Miles Royal College of Art Graduate Show, London, UK (2016); At Home Salon: Double Acts. Marcelle Joseph Projects, Ascot, curated by Lana Bounta-kidou (2016); Paper, Publication, Performance. Lychee One Gallery, London, UK, curated by Jonathan Miles (2016); The Behaviour of Being, Cob Gallery, London, UK, curated by Mia Pfeifer (2015); Two Hundred Acres. Pump House Gallery,London, Uk curated by Anna Clifford (2015); Rift Banquet. Banquet performance at AYA Peckham, London, UK, curated by Leo Cohen (2015); ScreenSaver. Group Video Exhibition and co-curation. Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, UK (2015); RCA Secret. Group Exhibition. Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art, London, UK 15th (2015); Cypriot Contemporary Dance Festival. Performance commission for the Likeness Of… Rialto Theatre, Limassol, Cyprus, GR (2015); Resolutions!2015, The Place Theatre, London, UK (2015);
HighlightsandCollections
Bea Bonafini’s work can be found in various private and public collections such as the Maleki Collection, The Fondazione Monti Collection, Brescia, Italy and The Jonkoping Council Collection, Sweden.
.Bonafini has been selected for the Alkinois art residency, Athens, Greece (2022); The TAC art residency, Tuscany, Italy (2022); Premio Conai finalist, Rome, Italy (2022) and the Platform Southwark Studio Residency, London.
She has been awarded with the ALA Art Prize, First Prize, Naples, Italy (2023); the Pébeo Prize for Painting, Art-o-Rama, Marseille, France (2021-2019); the Abbey Scholarship for Painting, British School at Rome, IT Finalist Talent Prize, Rome, Italy (2021-2020);the Rosa Lee Travel Grant, British School, Rome, Italy; the Finalist Premio Cairo, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy (2019); the La Berlugane-Maleki Residency and Commission, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France (2018);the FIBRA Artist Residency, Columbia, curated and co-produced by Mia Pfeifer. The Fieldworks Studio Residency, London, UK (2017); the Villa Lena Residency. Tuscany, Italy (2016); the Commendation, West Dean Tapestry Commission, UK. Bonafini has been granted with the Leverhulme Scholarship (2014-2016); The Beekeepers Art Residency, Portugal. In collaboration with curator Mia Pfeifer and Cob Gallery London, UK (2015), she has also been awared with the Stapely Trust Grant; the O2 Think Big Grant; the Slade School of Fine Art Prize (2014) and Study Grant at Salzburg Academy of Fine Art, Austria (2010).