Rebirth - Issue n.4

REBIRTH

FLORENCE CONTEMPORARY GALLERY July 2021 / Issue n.4

Curatorial statement Since its foundation, Florence Contemporary Gallery has been an artistic dissemination platform that presents a selection of carefully selected contemporary artists, through our initiatives we have built, and continue to increase our community of artists, curators, collectors and art lovers.

I would like to thank all the artists who have applied, works have arrived from all over the world despite the difficult times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, art has not stopped and through this catalog we want to suggest some artists to keep under control.

As with any art form, especially visual art, there are many ways an artist can bring a work to life, in this edition we explore some of these different art forms and hope you admire the various techniques used, also through the pages of this catalog, art in its conglomerate of forms has the power to stop us in our tracks, flood our minds with different emotions and does not push us to achieve the impossible, therefore, savor it with us , absorb the emotion portrayed in the selected works. The definition of the word rebirth is “the process of being reincarnated or born again; a period of new life, growth, or activity, a revival”, this selection of artworks is inspired by this concept. Welcome to Rebirth.

Michele Morelli FCG chief curator

Index

Rickard Linder

6

Thelma Pott

10

Christian Door

14

Nae Zerka

18

Ayuko Dan

22

Logan Schneiderman

26

Agata Flaminika

30

Marilena Ramadori “Zizza”

34

Francesco De Lorenzo

38

Hafele Simon / Psy-Pix

42

Sally de Courcy

46

Pascie

50

Sara SAYU Medea

54

Victor Manuel Hernandez Castillo

58

Susanna Schorr

62

Maria Borg

66

Maija Vanhatapio

70

Vesna Dobricic

74

Dolores Mephistopheles

78

Evgenia Makarova

82

Borbala Eszteri

86

Ivan Puzanov

90

Sebastian Mueller - Soppart

94

Pav Spencer

98

Georgia Karampelou

102

Petra Schott

106

EDO

110

Jerónima

114

Roberto Beragnoli

118

Sara Anderson

122

Nathanael Cox

126

Root Yarden

130

Rickard Linder

I don’t know how i thought I could becom an artist. I set out to experiment with materials and see reactions and exclusion of material.

I challenge myself to depict and discover the world of light and shadow, but I also have a great admiration for the impulsive and unpredictable.

So who am I now and how did I get here?

The anwser is simple, I have no idea. I know I don’t want to keep doing the same thing. I want to see where materials and circumstance will take me.

One of the favorite things before preparing or starting the work for an upcoming show, is to watch the film “Basquiat”. There are couple of scenes that have influenced me over the years and I need to go back to them for inspiration and the belief that I should do what I want.

When JMB is in his studio and all his work is layed out on the floor. He starts pushing a roller around, drenshed in paint.

Or when a couple comes to buy a painting pre-show and complain about the “hospital-green”. Or when JMB is walking to the gallery opening, head phones on with music playing and as he enters the gallery, an unkown ma removes the headphones and the music switches to the murmur of the crowd.

Two things that I take from this. 1, I am greatly inspired by JMB’s work. Strong choices of line and solid color schemes of experimentation. 2, I always show up “late” for my opening nights. I sit somewhere and have a beer or two, maybe a second place if I feel like it. Then I head over to the show and take in the atmosphere.

When preparing for a show I always go through a couple of phases. The preperation phase. The idealist phase. The extacy phase. The paint over phase, and finally, the what-the-hell-am-I-doing phase. I rarely skip a phase but the intensity of each might vary.

I honestly do not know what I am doing half the time. But I remember what I have done.

I love to paint and I never give myself a hard time for not painting, but I should learn how to push myself more, to get better and more productive. Art is within me, I just have to find how to get it out.

Site: linder.site Instagram: riclinder_artist Facebook: Linder – Artist Email: rickard.linder@me.com Tel: +46 (0)707 22 31 09

Uugly key holes Mixed media on unstretched canvas 125x125 cm 2019

6 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Collect dirty thoughts Mixed media on unstretched canvas 140 x 200 cm 2019

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 7

Chris Mixed media on unstretched canvas 105 x 200 cm 2020

8 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

You don’t Mixed media on unstretched raw canvas 85 x 125 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 9

Thelma Pott Born in 1984, she lives and works between London and Porto.

After finishing her studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, she took her MA in Curatorial Studies at the Royal Academy of Arts of the University of Coimbra in Portugal.

In 2013 she won the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Project Grant.

She started exhibiting her work in 2017 has one of the artists from the art coalition HANDS OFF OUR REVOLUTION in the group show Poster! at BlackBall Projects Gallery in New York. Among other exhibitions, in Autumn 2019 her work was exhibited in Cologne, Germany, as she won the Reclaim Award 2019. In 2020 she exhibited at Rossocinabro Gallery in Rome in the group exhibition Co-Existence 7 during April - July. Early this year she exhibited at Pepney Gallery in Ireland at the group show Nude affiliation & Portraiture.

Her most recent show Artists of Today and of Tomorrow was a group show in Rome that premiered on April 2021 curated by Monica Ferrarini.

The catalogue of the exhibition was introduced by the curator at the Italian art tv channel Arte 24.

In October 2021 she will be exhibiting at Florence Biennale in Italy.

In 2018 as well as in 2019 her work was distinguished by the Canadian art magazine: Art Ascent. Her work featured in the artist’s directory at the June/July edition of the British art magazine Aesthetica. She was also published by the British art magazine Inside Artists in their Spring Summer 2020 edition. Her work could be seen in the first edition of the Art Hole Magazine. She features in the March 2021 edition of the British Art Magazine BlueBee: Amaryllis.

Her photographic work can be seen in LensCulture.

Site: www.thelmapott.com Email: thelmapott@gmail.com Instagram: @pottstudiouk

Lotus Flower XXX Oil on canvas 50 x 60 cm 2021

10 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Statement My work is an ongoing investigation about the spatial phenomenon in painting. It’s about how can we explore spaces that function in non-hegemonic conditions and that are simultaneously physical and mental in painting. It is based on Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia. It has to do with spaces that have more layers of meaning and more relationships to other spaces than immediately meets the eye.

It is known that the spatial relations in humans develop on two levels: the perceptual level, that gives us the “sense” of space, and the intelectual level, that gives us the “idea” of space. The first is a product of haptic development and the later is a development of symbolic activity through speech and image. I’m interested in the potential of this fundamental association between the image and the imagination, the invisible contemplated within the visible that is claimed to underpin contemporary understanding of the nature of images.

The questions I’ve been working on are: • How can abstraction open up a mental field all of its own by reorganizing visual and psychological experience?

• How can a type of painting offer an immersive experience to the viewer?

• What does pictorial spatiality consists of?

• What is the pictorial space expressing?

The paintings Lotus Flower I, XVII, XXX and XXXI belong to a series that I started a few years ago entitled Lotus Flowers. I entitled this series “Lotus Flower” as an homage to the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.

“By means of microscopic observation and astronomical projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe and an agent whereby we may perceive Truth.” Yukio Mishima.

And also for the symbolic connotations of the concept and its connections to both Egyptian and Greek cultures, to Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism beliefs in spiritual rebirth. I painted the first artwork of this series listening to Radiohead’s homonymous song.

Lotus Flower XVII Oil on canvas 54 x 73 cm 2019

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 11

Lotus Flower XXXI Oil on canvas 50 x 60 cm 2021

12 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Lotus Flower I Pastel and Indian Ink on Paper 34,5 x 24,5 cm 2018

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 13

Christian Door Statement Being a digital native, I wanted to investigate some aspects that the digital world commonly offers to the user, such as the modification, customization and combination of pre-established structures, elements, objects within a specific environment or software.

In fact at the base of the project there is the desire to create artworks always starting from the same basic elements which in this case are geometric compositions, shifting the attention from time to time to the creative process, albeit limited by the basic compositions becomes a creative practice that generates different artworks but always referable as if it were a series, the the result that follows are works characterized by fields of geometric color that create abstract figures each time where the title represent a personal view to visualize the subject.

Instagram: christian__door Email: christian_door@yahoo.com

Her Acrylic on canvas 50x70 cm 2021

14 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Dry soul Acrylic on paper 50x70 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 15

Problemi Acrylic on paper 40x70 cm 2021

16 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Origins Acrylic on paper 70x100 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 17

Nae Zerka born 1969, lives and works in Salzburg, Austria.

As a traveler of the analog digital synthesis, talented visual artist Nae Zerka never stops exploring. The artist’s inspiration for his work are from digitalization, along with graphic design and music. Himself he produced electronic music and became a techno DJ in legendary clubs.

His work blends the design element with technology, graphic design with a painterly finish. His dynamic paintings represent opposites, they polarize and therefore they are rich in contrast. Things reflect each other and the composition gives an expansive richness of shapes and forms. Warmth, cool, frantic, quiet, dynamic lines and shapes are combined with colors and forms and finally merge into a overall composition. In his works, Nae creates a transformed atmosphere that should let the viewer feel, sense and discover a new reality. His explosive and dynamic approach create a kaleidoscopic reality.

Statement Since last year, his work and also the approach have changed seriously. He broke away completely from the traditional materials of painting and began to paint purely digitally. A step that was ultimately necessary, however, in order to dive into digital painting with all consistency.

Abstract digital painting, supplemented by fragments of cyberspace and forms of design. His abstract artworks ultimately challenge the viewer, the respective thought building of the viewer counts. In his works, Nae creates a transformed atmosphere that should let the viewer feel, sense and discover a new reality. His and dynamic approach create a kaleidoscopic reality.

With his works he is impressively working on the fact that visual artists are also gaining importance in the digital realm and thus a real change in the perception of collectors can also take place. The Blockchain technology now makes it possible to sign and sell pure digital artworks as unique one offs, he says.

Site: www.naezerka.com Email: info@naezerka.com Instagram: nae.zerka

All the bridges Giclée print on Hahnemühle fine art paper mounted on dibond 120x120 cm 2021

18 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

But Giclée print on Hahnemühle fine art paper mounted on dibond 120x90 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 19

Splitter Giclée print on Hahnemühle fine art paper mounted on dibond 100x100 cm 2021

20 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

With all the fleetness of the northwind Giclée print on Hahnemühle fine art paper mounted on dibond 120x120 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 21

Ayuko Dan Born in 1974 in Japan. Currently , working as a se lf employed transla tor, artist and silversmith.

Statement My works come from deep within me the embodiment of my life, my thoughts and feelings c reation from the subconscious My life has been trial and error. A fter completing BA at age of 22, I began a life long journey to find myself. It wasn’t an easy journey at all and, at age of 27, I developed eating disorder which still controls me in many ways . But what I’ve learnt is that every single problem is an opportunity.

The disorder gave me a n irreplaceable precious chance to restart my life. After a 25 year journey, I’m now here and m y life as an artist /person who express myself has just begun. This is another lifel ong journey to explore the real me Instagram: konst.med.passion

Hope Wire mesh, origami Left: 190.0 x 110.0 x 80.0 mm Right: 195.0 x 100.0 x 80.0 mm 2020

22 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Absolute security - Comfort, softness and warmth which wrap the fetus sleeping inside the womb Silver Mother: 40.0 x 25.0 x 20.0 mm Fetus: 25.0 x 20.0 x 15.0 mm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 23

Small old trunk - Hiding-place of a key for a door leading to tomorrow Copper, brass 50.0 x 35.0 x 30.0 mm 2019

24 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Everything is perfect Clay 130.0 x 100.0 x 70.0 mm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 25

Logan Schneiderman Logan is a self-taught artist located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Although she only recently started painting March 2021, Logan has been making her presence known by participating in various exhibitions internationally, from New York City to Milan, Italy.

Logan named her art studio “hello Fern” as an homage to her family’s childhood cat, Fern, whom Logan believes represents her access point of home, childhood, and creativity. “Having my studio be named after my childhood cat that, most of the time, was incredibly stubborn but the unwilling participant to my imaginary play, reminds me not only of home and the ideas, feelings, and sentiments attached, but also of my creative home and beginnings.”

Logan is pursuing her doctorate degree in clinical psychology and is currently an intern at the C.G Jung Institute of San Francisco.

Statement Inspired by elements of culture, nature, and psyche, I approach my work similar to that of a dream, or state of reverie. There is constant formation or potentiality; a dynamic interplay between subjectivity and intersubjectivity that I like to describe as “capturing that moment before something is realized; before meaning is tied and knotted.” With a purpose of exploring sensorial experiences, and surrendering to how they wish to be expressed, I blend memories, imagery, metaphors, movement, and emotions to form a symphony of texture, color, and shape. My art seeks to embody the essence of being human, while evoking something new, yet familiar.

Site: www.hellofernart.com Instagram: hello.fern.art Tel: 510-326-5595

Remember?

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 61x61 cm 2021 26 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Drift Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 51x51 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 27

Hide and Seek Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 41x51 cm 2021

28 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Fantasia Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 41x51 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 29

Agata Flaminika Artist, alchemist, human. My practice helps me to fulfil my only wish – to be present in the presence that already is; and in this presence to stay and last, without answering to interpretations, stories and illusions.

Currently studying fine art at Falmouth University, UK. This piece challenged me to face many fears – pain, exposure, vulnerability, rejection, aloneness. It also required me to completely surrender in trust. I believe it allowed us to establish a direct energy dialogue that didn’t require any words, and through it, it manifested as a piece of work that celebrates all of the aspects of life – including those we don’t necessarily want to look at.

Statement performance Feeling the gaps is a performative piece documented with photographs; exploring the relationship between the rocks and the human body, acknowledging imprinted emotional difficulties and recognising physical struggle.

Exploring the rugged open space of Cornwall, England, provided the perfect setting for the body of work to take place. All images are unedited, honouring the rawness of the environment the works were undertaken within. The juxtaposition between a supple fragile human body and unwavering brutal form of the granite, promoted a texturally exciting composition and one which took a great deal of rigour from flaminika to navigate and hold positions in challenging spaces.

All of the cuts and bleeds have been accepted as a necessary part of the integratory process. As a forgiving act caused by the disturbance of the site, the body, who became an intruder, was begging for mercy; asking the rocks to recognise its fragility and helplessness.

Trying to absorb their unwavering nature, the body has completely surrendered. Sacrificing the comfort to go deeper in between the rocks, where the dark and uncomfortable were awaiting - naked, without anything to hide, the body was fully immersing with the environment, allowing for anything to happen.

The action became a cleansing, rebirthing ritual, in which the body was offered to its natural environment in order to be transformed.

Surrendering to the pain and fear occurred naturally as a part of the process of the ritual, facing the collective trauma, the generational trauma and the personal trauma. By allowing the uncomfortable to occur, the body immersed in stillness, integrating what has been suppressed and opening for transformation.

Disappearing, hiding? Avoiding?

Or reuniting?

Do the gaps need to be filled?

Or do they need to be felt?

Email: agatakowalc@gmail.com Instagram: alchemyoftheprocess

30 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Feeling the Gaps Performance (duration: 1h) Logan’s Rock, Cornwall, UK Photographer: Jester 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 31

Seaside

Cords, floats, nets 71 x 102 cm 2020

32 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 33

Marilena Ramadori “Zizza” Marilena Ramadori, aka Zizza, was born in 1965 in Montegiorgio (FM). After completing her scientific studies, she graduated in Architecture at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and subsequently attended the specialization course in “History of Architectural Design”. In 2003 she obtained a European master in “History of Architecture” at the “Roma Tre” University and completed the studies with an internship at the Superintendence for Architectural Heritage and Landscape of Rome. She collaborated with the publishing house Orienta Edizioni as scientific consultant and commercial curator for the “Constructing” series and for the creation of the volumes “Manual of architectural detail: concrete” and “Forma practical method for architectural design”. In 2011 she published as author the volume entitled “Manual of floors”. In 2014 she approaches painting and at the same time also experiments with sculpture. In 2017 and 2018 she attended the painting courses held by Prof.

Fabrizio dell’Arno at the RUFA (Rome University of Fine Art), which were crucial for continuing her artistic career with greater awareness and knowledge. She participated in various national and international exhibitions of painting and sculpture, obtaining various prizes and awards.

In 2020 she is among the thirty finalists of the 14th Arte Laguna Prize. Lives and works in Velletri.

Statement In her works, the traits of her education emerge, in fact the center of her research is architecture. Buildings have always accompanied humanity and investigating their expressive language becomes a need that the artist does not want to give up on.

Her attention initially focused on important buildings, which have made the history of architecture, and then moved on to observe the city of Rome. Here the artist finds great inspiration in the architectures of the “buildings” that have made an incisive contribution to the urban plan of Rome, transforming it into a modern city. Architecture continues to inspire her art with a new project aimed at researching Italian concrete architecture built at the turn of the 50s and 70s, highlighting its great expressive power capable of giving an unprecedented and original image to the our country.

Her art is a reflection on the human dynamics expressed through the dialectic of architectural forms, with the hope that everyone will walk with their noses turned up in the air looking at the city.

In this very difficult and long period of the pandemic, the balcony has become very often the place where people can socialize and evade the loneliness of the quarantine. This is where my research began, from the important role of inclusiveness that the balcony plays in our new daily routines.

Email: info@zizza-art.com Site: www.zizza-art.it Facebook: zizza.art Instagram: marilenaramadori

Piazza della Libertà Acrylic and oil on canvas 80x80 cm 2019

34 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Grande onda Acrylic and oil on canvas 60x50 cm 2018

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 35

58 Public Housing Acrylic and oil on canvas 70x100 cm 2021

36 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Uffici Snaidero Oil on canvas 100x100 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 37

Francesco De Lorenzo Born in Naples on 27 April 1978 ,I lived up to the age of eighteen in Limpidi, a small village in Calabria, in the province of Vibo Valentia.

Transferred to Tuscany for education reasons, I earned a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Siena and a Master in Web and Multimedia from the University of Florence.

While traveling a path far from that of art, I have never abandoned the passion for drawing and painting that has accompanied me since I was a child. Passion inherited from my mother, who let me grow up among canvases and oil colors and breathe the love for art. The studies I followed allowed me to discover and become passionate about graphics and digital illustrations. I love travelling and, during the most recent trips to European capitals, I got the inspiration for my latest works. I was fascinated by the presence of large installations representing the name of the city.

So I started to create writings, single words that summarize the theme of the work, which I make in cardboard and decorate by painting elements taken from cartoons, comics or videogames. I use to express real concepts, social problems sometimes even very hard ones such as drug addiction, prostitution, migration. I can’t define what I do with a word, also because I find that definitions trap an artist in a stereotype; I consider myself a visionary, who loves surrealism, pop art and tries to convey their ideas and feelings by winking at these artistic currents.

Email: delorenzofra@gmail.com Site: www.delorenzofrancesco.com Facebook: delorenzofra Instagram: delorenzofra

Dreamers Cardboard, decoupage, acrylic 142x33x9 cm 2018

38 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Edu Cardboard, decoupage, acrylic 112x61x16cm 2018

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 39

Clima Cardboard, decoupage, acrylic 121x50x18 cm 2019

40 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Napoli Cardboard, decoupage, acrylic 127x47x15 cm 2019

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 41

Hafele Simon / Psy-Pix Surrounded by the majestic mountains of the Austrian Alps Simon Hafele was born in 1985 in the western part of Tyrol where he found inspiration in the picturesque beauty of the fundamental elements of nature. As a child he couldn’t keep his hands off crayons, a passion which he continued to pursue while attending Elbigenalp, a carving school with a 4 year duration. There he could explore his artistic pathway, causing Simon to seal his own fate—he would follow the calling of his soul and devote his life to art. After having travelled to India, Cambodia, Nepal, Thailand and Laos for longer periods of time, Simon brought back the kind of inspiration, which would turn out to be vital for his evolving. Numerous experiments with different types of colours and light preceded his unique style—a visual language that translates the in-between, the transcendental experience of (yet) unexisting worlds into intriguing paintings with bright and often fluorescent colours, leaving behind an unmistakable trace of recognition.

In 2015 »Vision Scientist« was born, a project dedicated to creating huge ceiling designs for festivals, and soon there were bookings lining up from the most famous Psytrance festivals in the world, like »Antaris Project« in Berlin—Germany or »ReSPect Festival« in Brazil. Simons »Visionary Psychedelic Art« is a practice, where the artist reveals his soul and shares his insights of a nonmundane reality. In Simons paintings the vivid colours reflect the artists desire for colourfulness in all aspects of life, which he then transforms into an invitation for the viewer to access alternate realms and otherworldly dimensions.

The conundrum of his breath-taking work reveals itself by surrendering to feeling: like in life—love, the mother of all emotions— is all spectators need to decode the overwhelming sceneries in Simons paintings. His works consume the viewer, offering a tender relationship between artwork and spectator, where they can lose themselves, wander in multiverses and simultaneously float back to the present moment, only to find more pathways down to the essence of life: truth.

Statement My art should captivate the viewer so that he can get lost in the vast horizons of the present. The emotions I want to pass on with my paintings are also the only trigger behind them, why people might identify with my paintings. Truth is what I want to spread and is what people should feel or encounter when decoding my works. I will not let myself, nor my art, down on the spectrum of political or elite thoughts.

The layers I aim at are way above that and deal with conciousness and the highest off all. LOVE. Email: psy_pix@yahoo.de Site: www.psypixart.com Facebook: psypixart Intagram: simon_psypix

Organized Mess Acrylic on canvas 100x60 cm 2020

42 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Viscosity Acrylic on canvas 180x170 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 43

Dissolving Sphere Acrylic on canvas 180x170 cm 2020

44 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

God Particle Acrylic on canvas 220cm x 190cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 45

Sally de Courcy My work aims at challenging our perception of ourselves, our fragility and strength. My sculptures evolve by manipulating multiple cast objects so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Using repetition as emphasis, the outcome has a decorative geometry and kinetic unity that expresses are shared human experiences and conditions.

In my earlier medical career, whilst working in the developing world, I was exposed to the suffering of refugees from a genocidal regime.

Much of my work revisits these experiences as a witness of human suffering. My work is not autobiographical in the figurative sense, but like many artists explores the liminal space between conscious representation and unconscious influence.

Using varied materials, I cast repeated contextually linked objects that when perceived are re-assembled to reveal a hidden narrative.

My work is frequently decorative but hiding darker and often sinister subjects that when revealed create dissonance.

The sum is like an optical puzzle, oscillating between beauty and nightmare.

I am a member of IAVA, International Association of Visual Artists and Continuum. I have been published, most recently in Flux Review Magazine and Artist Talk Magazine. I have exhibited throughout the UK and internationally, recently at the Borders Exhibition in Venice, Espacio Gallery London, the Ty Pawb, Wrexham Wales and currently at the D31 gallery, Doncaster and Canvas Art Fair, The Forge, London E14 3AE. I have future exhibitions planned during 2021 at the London and in the UK. I live near London, UK. Statement for Colour of Mourning The Colour of Mourning uses contextual cast objects to reflect the hazardous movement of refugees crossing the English Channel in escalating numbers to seek asylum in the UK after fleeing from war and persecution.

It is not possible to apply for asylum outside the UK. In 2020 the closure of air and lorry routes to the UK during the pandemic increased four-fold the numbers crossing in small boats, one of the most dangerous shipping channels in the world. At least 8,400 people crossed in 2020, 10% of whom were children. Since 1999 three hundred asylum seekers have died including 36 children.

The cast objects are arranged in an ironic mandala, representing the circle of life. The circle reflects the movement of wheels and journeys made, cogs functioning because of actions by others.

The precarious Channel crossing attempts are symbolised by a sardonic life buoy and the shocking reality of cast dinghies and symbolic paddles. Guns and grenades represent the violence of war and persecution and adult and child bones, reflect mortality and vulnerability.

Children are represented by Teddy bears which are often left where children have met a tragic end. Tiny velcro trainers acknowledge the iconic photo in 2015 of Aylan Kurdi that made global headlines and a subsequent international response to the refugee crisis in Europe.

Finally cast driftwood with faces are emblematic of the waves of refugees arriving on English beaches.

These desperate people that include children deserve humanity and respect not a terrible death in the English Channel.

Site: www.sallydecourcy.co.uk Email: sadec@hotmail.co.uk Instagram. decourcysally

46 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Colour of Mourning Cast objects in jesmonite.

300cm diameter 20cm height 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 47

Colour of Mourning (Detail) Cast objects in jesmonite.

300cm diameter 20cm height 2021

48 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 49

Pascie

Pascie is an abstract painter. Originally from Amsterdam and currently based in Antwerp. Pascie is a risk-taker, not hindered by much, craving for creation, and always going the extra mile. He enjoys inviting the unknown and the unexpected, moving from chaos into harmony and back. Interested in the relationships between chaos and harmony, music and painting, as well as spirit and color.

He creates experimental, colorful, and bold artwork, often communicating a deeper message with the intent to alleviate the “human project”. He stands for wildlife protection and respect for animal life in general, environmental activism, and fair distribution of capital. Pascie is constantly collecting experiences in an inner world, associating them with what he perceives in the natural and human world, being concerned about the spiritual development of human beings. He strives for a high level of abstraction, through somewhat familiar natural shapes, coming from an insatiable need to explore, to experience, to find ourselves, and to go further.

Site: www.pascieart.com Instagram: pascieart

Human Acrylic on canvas 90x90 cm 2021

50 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Cow Heaven Acrylic on canvas 70x90 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 51

Neapolitan Wall Acrylic on canvas 205x195 cm 2021

52 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Formations 01 Acrylic on canvas 80x100 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 53

Sara SAYU Medea Sara SAYU Medea, International artist from Italy - Venice - her artworks are a dive in a selfknowledge, in her most rewards in 2020 can find collective exhibition in United Arab Emirates (UAE), International art Fair in Innsbruk 2021 and pubblication on UK Magazine.

“Wave as mechanic of movement” From Venice, Sara Medea in art “Sayu” mainly develop biomechanic theme, present in her artworks as mechanic of movement, on space-marine setting. Sayu artworks are a dive in a sef-knowledge the search for the soul after deliverance from earthly life. Open new prospective on a new dimension.

Email: 0sayu.010@gmail.com Site: 0sayu010.wixsite.com/wixshop-000sayu Instagram: ooosayu Facebook: 0sayu.010

Nami Acrylic on canvas 50x70 cm 2019

54 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Relieve Acrylic on board 60x120 cm 2019

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 55

Harmony Acrylic on board 81x37 cm 2016

56 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

WindSteel Acrylic on board 60x120 cm 2019

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 57

Victor Manuel Hernandez Castillo Víctor Manuel Hernández Castillo (1963), is a figurative graphic artist from Mexico City, specialized in linocut and etching, and distinguished for revaluing the importance of traditional techniques with the aesthetics of the grotesque and the human condition as the central axis of his work. Visual arts bachelor graduate in 1985 at the National School of Plastic Arts, National Autonomous University of Mexico; 1991 Magister Studies at the Academy of Fines Art of Cracow Poland, and at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris France as an invited artist.

He had solo exhibitions in Mexico, Canada and Poland, and participated in a number of printmaking biennials and triennials (Japan, Korea, Canada, Poland, Russia, Germany, Serbia).

He won several national and international awards: 2005 Special Prize “Presse-Papier”, in the International Biennial of Contemporary Print, Trois Rivieres, Quebec, Canada). 2006 Winner of the First International Salon of Miniprint, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 2011 Winner the First International Triennial of Print, Belgrade, Serbia. 2019 Equal Prize in the 20 th. International Print Biennial Varna, Varna, Bulgaria. 2019 Nomination to Prize in the VIII International Triennial of Graphic Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria. 2020 Grand Prix in the Fourth International Printmaking Biennial, Cakac, Serbia. 2021 Best Award in the International Art Exhibition/Competition, organized by the Kalaratnam Foundation of Art Society , India.

Instagram: vmhernan_12 Facebook: Víctor Manuel Hernández Castillo Email: : vhernandez@fad.unam.mx Telephone: 55 29 02 64 15

Arando Huellas Linocut on cotton paper 80x120 cm 2020

58 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

La meta de la desfortuna Linocut on cotton paper 80x120 cm 2019

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 59

El teatro de los bultos Linocut on cotton paper 80x120 cm 2020

60 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Pulsares y quasares Linocut on cotton paper 80x120 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 61

Susanna Schorr Intuition is the language of feeling and the whisper of soul.

Born 1973 and grew up in Bavaria, Germany.

My artistic path started in an unexpected way. During my sabbatical year which was a break from my occupation as teacher for mathematic and chemistry, I had the first experience with painting during a trip.

There, the feeling of the brush and colors in my hands released the love for painting. My creations are diverse and inspired by the harmony of colors, the beauty of nature, the charm of animals and the painting flow itself.

My aim when I start a new painting is to convey positive emotions and energies. The drawing process itself doesn’t follow any rules, I rely on my intuition by using colors and various utensils and technics.

While painting I am fascinated and full of joy that I usually forget time and space. This is how the results come to life from modern abstract to representational.

Art expresses my sensitivity and spirituality. I believe that art in any form, is a wonderful gift to bring good vibes into the world and I am happy that I can also contribute to that as well.

My artworks have been exhibited in Milano, Genua and UK. Instagram: susanna_art_and_design Email: susanna.schorr@gmx.de Site: fineartamerica.com/profiles/susanna-schorr

Calm Acrylic on canvas 46 x 61 cm 2021

62 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Blue Acrylic on canvas 51 x 51 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 63

Enjoyment of life Acrylic on canvas 56 x 71cm 2021

64 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Infinity Acrylic on canvas 56 x 71cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 65

Maria Borg Maria Borg (b. 1993) is a Maltese visual artist working primarily in figurative oil painting. She gives a lot of importance to the studio practice; the act of exploration, through which one fails, succeeds, and learns.

For her, being a painter means spending a lot of time indoors, looking at things through an obsessive, almost surgical lens. She applies this obsession with texture and form onto domestic, often mundane objects. Her work encourages people to look at these objects with a painterly eye; the shape and its irregularity, the texture, and the invitation to touch. Her latest work combines this exploration and obsession with texture, with text.

Maria Borg graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine art in 2014. She has taken part in local collective exhibitions and has attended a residency in Newburgh, Scotland. Her first solo exhibition ‘homebody’ has taken place at MUZA - The Malta National Community Art Museum in January 2021.

Maria lives and works in Malta, spreading her time between teaching art and her studio practice.

Email: mariaborg93@gmail.com Instagram: @iljunfantroza Facebook: Maria Borg Art Site: mariaborgart.com

Touch Me Oil on Canvas 90x120 cm 2019

66 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Pink and White Stripes Oil on Canvas 80x80 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 67

Je pense a toi Oil on Canvas 140x100 cm 2020

68 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Please Don’t Go Oil on Canvas 100x140 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 69

Maija Vanhatapio Maija Vanhatapio was born in Helsinki, lives and works in Kajaani, in the Eastern part of Finland. She was graduated as a graphic designer, and also studied visual arts in the University of Lapland. She is a member of Oulu Artists Association which is a professional art association in the Oulu region.

Vanhatapio’s work hails from personal and emotional experiences in the wild, interpreting the complex and multi-dimensional levels it presents to the voyager. Vanhatapio studies and experiments textures, colours and lights of the Nordic landscape through different media. She pulls apart everything she sees into bitesize pieces, picks out what is vital and thought provoking. Vanhatapio digests and rebuilds an abstract story that she presents to the viewer in a new form as a bespoke nature experience.

Site: maijavanhatapio.fi/ Instagram: maija_vanhatapio Email: mvanhat@gmail.com Tel: +358 400 512500

Arrivederci Acrylic on linen 68x68x2 cm 2021

70 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Toccata Acrylic on canvas 73x60x2 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 71

Womanhood-21 Ink/acrylic on canvas 100x75x2 cm 2021

72 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Rosette Acrylic on canvas 70x70x2 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 73

Vesna Dobricic Vesna Dobricic was born in 1997 in Belgrade. She graduated from the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade. Currently, she is a Master’s student in Photography. She exhibited her works in various group exhibitions and Biennials in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, South Korea, and online.

Statement Since the beginning of my photographic journey, I was experimenting with different materials, combining digital and analogue elements. My photographs resemble a visual diary, and an emotional response to things I experience in my life. The two most important elements of my work are colour and shape. Since the beginning of 2020, I have been using the cross-polarization applied to plastic materials in my photographs. Since then, I have used one roll of cellophane and one roll of sellotape to create over 100 compositions. I consider this my way of minimizing the use of plastic in my art practise. What intrigues me the most about the technique itself is the relationship between coincidence and control that intertwine all the time. The moment I seemingly gain control of the composition, something unexpected happens that brings me back to the beginning and makes me think. In that process, I could define elements by cutting pieces of cellophane in desired shapes.

After that, I could arrange them as many times as I want. Each time I do that, I get different results.

Email: dobricic216mail.com Instagram: simple_as_vesna Behance: vesnadobricic

Connected 1 Photo object 60x30 cm 2021 74 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Connected 2 Photo object 45x30cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 75

Connected 3 Photo object 50x30 cm 2021

76 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Connected 4 Photo object 50x30 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 77

Dolores Mephistopheles Statement I combine energy work with painting, where for some paintings, in order to express, release or transform energies, I use my whole body as a tool. The mission of my paintings is to connect viewers with parts of themselves they might not be connected to. My paintings are done on paper with only four colours: red, blue, black and white. These colours helped me identify and express myself on my journey of looking for freedom from limitations, found primarily in Berlin techno scene. Although they are free for interpretation, to me the combination of these colours represent the union of my feminine and masculine energy, together with light spirit and dark necessities. I currently paint on a paper that is in theory not meant for painting and thus, symbolises vulnerability in pieces. In order to see things clearly or from another perspective, it is sometimes needed to see them from the dark. Therefore, some paintings can be observed under black light.

Site: www.doloresmephistopheles.com Instagram: @dolores_mephistopheles Email: contact@doloresmephistopheles.com

Power to go alone Acrylics on paper 138 x 98 cm 2020

78 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Toxic Confusion Acrylics on paper 135 x 98 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 79

Jealousy for attention Under black light

80 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Jealousy for attention Acrylics on paper 131,5 x 98 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 81

Evgenia Makarova Evgenia Makarova was born in 1984 in the city of Syktyvkar, Russia. She received a graduate degree as a Graphic Designer. Following, she worked in the field of branding and identity. Currently, Makarova has completed her career as a designer and devotes all her energies to evolving herself as an artist. She lives and works in Moscow.

Statement The suppression of the emotional sphere of a person, mental health, the influence of sensuality as a set of affects, emotions and desires on consciousness and behavior, is the subject of Evgenia Makarova’s research.

The mind is inextricably linked to our perception of the world and our experience. Our actions based on this perception continue to shape the world. Our thoughts and emotions create a sense of well-being or lack of it, but we do not fully understand the biological, psychological, or social foundations of our intellectual being.

Painting and sculpture are combined in Evgenia’s artistic method. She experiments with textures, shapes, and introduces new mediums into her practice.

In the latest project “Abnormal”, Makarova develops the topic of the problems of personality anomalies and the influence of the limitations of the emotional sphere on the human consciousness. Starting with the application of colorful layers on the stretched fabric, Evgenia proceeds to partially fill the surface with plastic of various textures and shades. The artist tries to achieve complex effects in creating art objects in a variety of ways and technological experiments to expand and improve the opportunities for the implementation of her ideas.

In her sculptural works, Evgenia tries to get variations of surfaces, flowing forms, and unexpected combinations of colors. Anthropomorphic and bright with whimsical textural forms, they express emotions frozen in the moment, the smoothness and fluidity of thoughts, the layering of one emotional state on another.

Site: www.evgeniamakarova.net Instagram: evgeniamakarova.art Email: artzhenyam@gmail.com

Abnormal Acrylic on linen, plastic 30 x 25 cm 2021

82 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Abnormal 2 Acrylic on linen, plastic 30 x 26 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 83

Abnormal 3 Acrylic, plastic 32 x 32 x 29 cm 2021

84 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Abnormal 4 Acrylic, plastic 31 x 31 x 25 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 85

Borbala Eszteri Born in Pécs, Hungary in the early 1990’s, Borbala Eszteri attended the Forrai Art School in Budapest where she studied Fashion and Design. After graduation, Eszteri moved to Basel, Switzerland, where she currently resides. She is most known for her loosely abstracted figurative works, which include the use of oil paint, oil pastels, acrylic, watercolor, and ink. The combination of mediums allows Eszteri to experiment with intense and highly customized colors and effects, bringing to life her personal experiences and sentiments.

Statement In my life, I have moved from place to place many times. Part of why I turned to art in the first place was to find a sense of permanence within myself; to cope with the unfamiliarity of each new place I resided. For me, creating art is a way of finding my inner safe space. As long as I am surrounded by my paintings, I feel at home. At the same time, I’m motivated by the deep connections all people have in common.

While we are individualized beings with our own thoughts and desires, I believe strongly in the things we share. My work explores these links between us while leaving room for interpretation through abstraction.

Instagram: borbalaes Email : eszteriborbala@gmail.com

The Wise Soul; doesn’t look, but sees Oil, Oil Pastel, and Acrylic on Canvas 55 cm x 35 cm 2021

86 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Glory comes Sunday Oil and acrylic on canvas 30x30 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 87

Power of Feminine Acrylic, oil and oil pastells on canvas 70 x 50 cm

88 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Rainy Day I Acrylic and Oil on canvas 35 x 50 cm

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 89

Ivan Puzanov Puzanov Ivan is a contemporary artist living in Moscow, Russia. When he was three years old, he began to paint in oil picturing a space, how he imagined it. He seriously started to practise painting, when he was 16 years old, during his family trip to Uruguay. Then he entered the academy of arts (Belarus State Academy of Arts) in Minsk, where he got a specialty “easel painting”. Ivan does oil paintings on the canvas using multilayers method based on methods applied by the old artists in their work. He realized that the theme of parallel words expressed interest for him during his education in the academy, when he became involved in studying mythology. His paintings show places from ancient and Indian myths as well as the boundaries between material and mental world reflected.

Statement Other worlds are the main theme of my work. I believe that the material world is a small part of the universe and another reality is very close to it which we cannot see. This idea inspires me to look for ways leading to it. One of these ways is the art. We may strongly say that my art is a way to remember past lives of mine in other worlds. I present them through my paintings like through the window, and aim is to share this experience with a viewer.

I inspire a viewer with a help of my paintings not to focus on material values but expand his sensate perception of universe. Focusing on casualties a person fully loses contact with the universe. So it is important to remember: there is something more than what surrounds us. There is something that is beyond the boundaries of everyday life. I study this is very field of unknown in my works.

Ancient Indian mythology inspires me for creating the story for my paintings. The way, as mental world is intertwined with a material world in it, is very close to me and resonated in my soul. So pictures I created always referred to the Indian mythological language, where stories, which are similar to my memories, are integrated into the universe perception system.

I apply traditional method of art: oil paintings and canvas. Great capabilities of using oil and material are important to me: it allows to paint transparently, like water color, or to apply think strokes as well as create complicated textures and factures.

I admire landscape painters of the Baroque era among the painters. Such painters like Joos de Momper and Frans Francken have a real impact on me. They create life in every painting, telling with a help of not only colors and images, but their story details. The details help me to lean into dip into their worlds making them close and clear. Their stylistic devices also make an impression on me. Reflecting images of objects world they remove all unneeded, filling with the most impressive lines and details. I think that painting should be not real but lifelike.

Site: puzanov.pb.gallery Instagram: rassvet__art

Morning of the New Era Oil on canvas 40x80 cm 2021

90 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Patala gardens Oil on canvas 30x50 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 91

Patala Oil on canvas 20x40 cm 2021

92 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Dreaming About the Garden of Eden Oil on canvas 35x60 cm 2018

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 93

Sebastian Mueller - Soppart Sebastian is a former advertising executive who held global creative director positions in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Germany. With a nagging desire to leave the corporate world in 2018, he started calling himself artist and hasn’t looked back since. Sebastian studied visual communication in Paris, has won his obligatory Lion in Cannes, and now lives between Chicago and Düsseldorf.

Statement I SEE BEAUTY I see it in most everything. Mundane details, hidden in plain sight, that escape most people. The thought that “If you’re not seeing something interesting, you are walking too fast.” is a notion I hold dear and a poignant reminder of our fast-paced, digitally-hijacked existences. BUT, not everything is beautiful. Some stuff we decorate our walls with is just mass manufactured garbage and its only way of avoiding landfill is by giving it a second chance though an artistic evolution of sorts. In the paintings I upcycle, I primarily look for genuine craft that holds up while concealing the sections that pain my eyes.

Needless to say, the work has an intentional criticism towards the impact we, as humans, have on the planet, our generation’s out-of-control consumerism, and the shared concern of how effective recycling really is.

But how much weight does an artist’s interpretation of their own work really hold? It’s more about the audience’s take-away, which has been diverse and imaginative.

Email: smuellersoppart@gmail.com Instagram: soppart Portfolio: marcel.pt/soppart

50K#7 Spray paint over oil on canvas 69x78 cm 2020

94 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Bright Spot Spray paint over oil on board 67x78 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 95

Whitewashed Spray paint over oil on canvas 47x41 cm 2020

96 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Invasive Species Spray paint over oil on canvas 87x102 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 97

Pav Spencer “A release of complexity, resolve, confusion, mixed with contentment, fun, happiness and colour”.

Pav’s art is fun, colourful and impromptu. She has a passion for art and design and is fundamentally driven by a love for all things creative.

She is an avid inspirational and imaginative experimenter, and loves nothing better than getting her hands dirty in her studio.

She studied visual art and became a graphic designer. However her true passion is painting. “Art simply makes me happier” she says, ”I have always expressed myself better in art than in word”. That is reflected in her artistic style, bold, unapologetic and playful. diverse and imaginative.

Email: pavsencerart@gmail.com Site: pavspencer.com Instagram: @pavspencer_art Facebook: @pavspencerart Tel: (+61) 0414 536 494

Party Tank Acrylic and Ink on canvas 205cm x 85cm 2021

98 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Pink Moon Acrylic, Ink & oil pastel on cotton canvas 80 x 100cm

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 99

Blue Monday Acrylic & oil pastel on cotton canvas 175 x 135cm

100 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Saffron Dreams II Acrylic, ink & oil pastel on cotton canvas 175 x 130cm

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 101

Georgia Karampelou Georgia Karampelou discovered painting whilst working as a public servant and was taught by well-known artists. She then studied at the School of Fine Arts in Tinos, Greece, learning how to carve and express her ideas in marble. Individual and group exhibitions complement her intense activity in Greece and abroad. In her most recent work entitled «ἐπὶ ξυροῦ ἀκμῆς», according to the ancient Greek phrase (“on a Razor’s Edge”), she studied human entanglement in critical situations and extreme conditions and searches for ways out to freedom. In order to materialize her ideas she applies colour through instinctive action painting, using a monochromatic red palette with shocking sharpness, to make us react mentally and physically, thus managing to bring closer the subtle and elusive aspect of her subject matter.

Statement In my artwork “COVID-19”, ink on paper, 50X70cm, 2020, I attempt to depict the common world feeling of the struggle of the human soul to face the danger of the covid-19 pandemic. Human tries to maintain his balance under a whirlwind of emotions with the predominant ones of anger and the fear of the death.

Email: ginakarampelou@yahoo.gr Instagram: georgia_karampelou Site: www.georgiakarampelou.com fb: Georgia Karampelou visual art Mobile: +306948535555

COVID-19 Ink on paper 50x70 cm 2020

102 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

ALEA JACTA EST I Ink on paper 24x32 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 103

ALEA JACTA EST II Ink on paper 29x21 cm 2021

104 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

REQUIEM Ink on paper, 42 artworks 10x15 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 105

Petra Schott I was born in Germany in 1953, studied Fine Arts in Kassel/Germany and started taking part in exhibitions nationally and internationally as of 1993. I am part of the national association of professional artists (BBK) and of the national association of professional female artists (GEDOK).

My works revolves around visions, ideas and emotions in past and presence in a figurative-abstract way. The inspiration for my paintings often stems from human figures or nature, but I use them in an abstract manner trying to convey the emotional reflection within me.

This means I take up my visual inspiration in parts, fragmented or only colourwise. Often I paint with lively brush strokes so that the lovely texture of the oil colours remains visible. In my pictorial presentation I search for freedom, lightness, liveliness and intensity. I also like working with lines, sometimes charged with meaning as in drawings or scribbling which I use as a sort of compass and structuring element.

Site: www.petra-schott.de Instagram: petra.schott.art Email: petra.schott@gmx.net Tel: 004916097722911

Sweet turmoil Oil on canvas 100x70x2 cm 2021

106 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Sweet turmoil II Oil on canvas 100x100x3 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 107

Light flow over water Oil on canvas 100x80x2 cm 2021

108 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Fly with the angels Oil on canvas 70x70 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 109

EDO

Statement In the West, “the user experiences no need to invest himself in his writing... A good domination of the utensil, but no hallucination of the stroke, of the tool; thrust back into pure applications, writing is never understood as the interplay of a pulsion.”

In the East, “the stroke excludes erasure or repetition [the eraser doesn’t exist]... Everything in the instrumentation, is directed toward the paradox of an irreversible and fragile writing, which is simultaneously, contradictorily, incision and glissade...” Roland Barthes, Empire of Signs Edo has no gender, no time, no rules. Edo is a flow from left to right and then from right to left, from the completed interweaving to its expansion, free and delicate like a pulsion, a wave, an ineluctable and perpetual motion. It happens. The lines intersect, flow, are interrupted and resume, leaving fields unresolved, open to the user’s interpretation. Writing is not taught, the narrative arises spontaneously, “a game of juxtapositions where we ourselves combine the individual elements through operations of division and withdrawal. The meaning seems to stop or rather to be suspended. They [the signs] are ultimately empty, because they do not refer to an ultimate signified (...) there is no supreme signifier to anchor the chain of signs, there is no keystone, which permits signs to flourish with great subtlety and freedom.” (Roland Barthes) Edo’s works are ink on cotton paper, the strokes are bold and sure, leaving a trace of their passage, bearing witness to a path. The drop expands where it falls, inevitably certain, creating movement that catches us like a breath. The paper is alive with a dynamic sequence, a language, a vocabulary suggested to us by its author.

A passionate vision that turns us into participants and authors at the same time. A reference to a dialogue in ending or liberating, intuiting or defining that infinite field of possibilities that become our choices. The circle, and then, again, the spiral, perpetual motion of the expanding universe, the lattices and stratifications, sedimentations of time, the fulfillment of a precise and knowledgeable interweaving.

More marked, decisive lines, like wounds or cuts, alternate with languid flows on which drops, one by one, inevitably find a place, punctuating this personal and intimate revelation.

Site: www.edo-ink.com Email: info@edo-ink.com

Untitleds China ink on cotton paper 31x41 cm 2021

110 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Untitleds China ink on cotton paper 31x41 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 111

Untitleds China ink on cotton paper 31x41 cm 2021

112 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Untitleds China ink on cotton paper 31x41 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 113

Jerónima Jerónima is a Spanish artist born in 1997 in Mallorca.

In 2019 she graduated as a Space Designer at Elisava, the School of Design and Engineering in Barcelona.

Afterward, she settles in Madrid where she studied a Master in Management at IE Business School. From the age of 16 she developed in the plastic arts, looking into the disciplines of photography and painting. During the years in which she worked on photography in a more intense way, she won several awards in the city of Palma. At the age of 21, she traveled to London to study a Contemporary Fine Arts curse at the University of The Arts of London, an experience that allowed her to experiment with photography and connect with painting.

Jerónima held her first painting exhibition, Arenes, in Pollença in 2016. Arenes is a series of twenty-one artworks inspired by the shapes, materials and colors of the coasts of the island of Mallorca and the Mediterranean. This work becomes the starting point of Jerónima’s trajectory and her relationship with painting. Most of Jerónima’s artistic practice is abstract and suggestive, and is characterized by the combination of texture and a particular chromatic range. The artist works from an experimental perspective, elaborating artworks where raw materials, such as concrete, plaster or sand, are the main character to generate volumes evoking manipulated natural morphologies.

Jerónima likes to approach her work as a constant experimentation to translate into a plastic and abstract language the feelings and emotions of concrete circumstances of the artist’s life. The concern for the visual beauty, the physical, tension, falling in love, energy or the human being are some of the concepts she has worked on. I try to converge a feeling into a concept, which I translate through textures and colors. The intention is to connect with the worked concept and awaken an emotion in the viewer. Creating a link that links him with a lived experience. The work is no longer personal, but shared; a constant reinterpretation of my work.

Jerónima currently works full time as an artist in her studio in Llucmajor, Mallorca.

Instagram: jeronima___ Email: jeronimaart@gmail.com Telephone: +34 647 979 723

Hot Heaven Mixed media on glass support 200x50 cm 2020

114 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Cave Mixed media on canvas 80x50 cm 2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 115

El Lazo (Serie Cànon) Mixed media on wool support 112x66 cm 2021

116 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

La Espalda (Serie Cànon) Mixed media on wood support 122x183 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 117

Roberto Beragnoli Roberto Beragnoli was born in Florence in 1990. From a very young age he has been involved in illustration and painting through personal research focused on satire and figurative art. In his early years he was influenced in his creative growth by a direct relationship with various artists, such as the cartoonist Lele Vianello, historical collaborator of Hugo Pratt, who provided him with theoretical foundations of drawing and coloring. After completing his studies in Computer Science and graduating in Philosophy (Università degli Studi di Firenze), he began working in the field of design and artificial intelligence. During these years he started collaborating with WASP (3D printers) and with PNAT, a spin-off of the University of Florence, directed by prof. Stefano Mancuso. This last experience culminated with the exhibition of the Jellyfish Barge project (a floating, technological and self-sustainable greenhouse) during EXPO 2015 in Milan.

In this project he was involved in the design of the monitoring system of the data collected inside the environment. In the same year he founded a design, technology and digital art studio. From that moment his creativity progressively intertwines with the profession of analyst and designer.

Statement Artificial intelligence and algorithms are the main tools with which Roberto Beragnoli realizes his ideas, maintaining a strong contact with the art created through the manipulation of materials and spaces using traditional techniques. In fact, his works often connect physical mediums, sculpted or painted, with the digital world. Although rich in technological elements, his works often aim to dialogue with previous artists and with the history of art in general, highlighting the continuity and, where possible, the fractures.

Today his research is focused on several fundamental fronts: - The study of languages and ​​ their performative acts through new technologies; - Art that generates other art through automatic learning (Deep learning and artificial intelligence); - The concepts of space / time and their manipulation: thanks to art and technology, a limited physical point can become a path, a two-dimensional surface can become a space, a place can unfold its temporal dimension; Telephone: +39 349 19 29 499 Email: roberto.beragnoli@gmail.com Site: www.robertoberagnoli.com Facebook: artisnowillegal Instagram: robertoberagnoli

AlexNet - Conv2d_6 - channel-22 - Visualize What AI Learns Digital image on metallic paper 60x60 cm 2021

118 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Inception V3 - Mixed_6d-concat - channel-12 - Visualize What AI Learns Digital image on metallic paper 60x60 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 119

Poems - Human in the Loop One-board computer, wifi module, batteries, Eink screen, artificial intelligence 30x20x4.5 cm 2021

120 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

ResNet 50 V2 - block2-unit_3 - Visualize What AI Learns Digital image on metallic paper 60x60 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 121

Sara Anderson Sara Anderson is an artist, painter and writer based in Canada. Working mostly with acrylics, canvas and storytelling. Inspired by nature and the magic of the ordinary and peculiar ways of being. Through abstract visual art she uncovers the mysteries, emotions and connections to the body, mind and spirit. The many ways we relate and meet ourselves, each other, and our non human kin.

Sara is also an expressive arts therapist. Which influences and guides her creative process. Combining inquiry and intuition with the work of free movement and expression through colour. The guidance of expressive arts informs and aids in her work; it becomes a deeply playful emotional dialogue and connection to what is beyond where language can reach.

Statement My art combines inquiry and nature with the work of silence, free movement and expression of an abstract and playful dance between colour, shape, lines, layers and the feeling body. Sometimes there is an emergence of form and other times remains formless. The creative process and guidance of expressive arts informs and aids my work; it becomes a deeply playful emotional dialogue and connection to what is beyond where language can reach.

I am continually decentering and connecting with nature while growing my capacity to hold the heavy and deep as well as the playful and joyful. Curious about the many ways of being and how I show up in the world. My intuition, not always what I can explain but feel.

In this curious engagement, unique impression and strange interaction the art comes to life and tells an ongoing story to whoever comes to listen.

Email: sara.expressivearts@gmail.com Instagram: saraland.9 Site: www.makeitartful.com

Saturday Love Acrylic , Pastel on canvas 16 W x 20 H (inches) 2021

122 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Thursday Freedom Acrylic , Pastel on canvas 16 W x 20 H (inches) 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 123

Wednesday Community Oil on canvas 100x80x2 cm 2021

124 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Friday Play & Creativity Oil on canvas 70x70 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 125

Nathanael Cox Nathanael Cox is a New Jersey based photographer. He originally learned 35mm photography in the late 2000s when dark rooms were still prevalent and digital photography hadn’t yet completely dominated the landscape. After a taking a long break, and a few detours, he started to learn digital photography and resumed exploring the world through his lens. Nathanael lists Stephen Wilkes and Peter Lik as major influences/inspirations. His style leans towards breathless landscapes and sprawling cityscapes.

Statement Man has a natural inclination to explore. Whether it be pushing the boundaries of our technical limitations or seeking to map out the world and the galaxy, exploration is a staple of the human experience. As a classically trained engineer, I can attest to this statement. Through my photography, I seek to merge the technicality of digital photography and the beauty of nature in order to inspire the viewer to travel and expand one’s horizons.

Site: www.natecphotography.com Instagram: natec.photos Email: natec.photos@gmail.com

Cotton Candy Photography On Acrylic 24” x 36” x .75” 2019

126 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Blue Freedom Photography On Acrylic 24” x 36” x .75”2020

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 127

Iceland Lighthouse Photography On Acrylic 20” x 30” x .75” 2017

128 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Bamboo Path Photography On Acrylic 24” x 36” x .75” 2018

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 129

Root Yarden Root Yarden was born in 1958. Live and work in Upper Galilee. Began her artistic life as a dancer, performing theater dance all over Israel.

Then became a drama therapist, from here she has found her words as a poet with 3 books. From 2020 she developed her way as a video artist and using her photography as words in poetry.

Statement my journey to the world of photography began on March 2019 when the world stopped I have found myself alone and very much alive close to myself in my own skin close to nature - mother earth’ Rivers’ the ocean.

That was my first photo- laying naked on the roots of a big old tree- close to the water, to the river letting go of all what i knew, or did before just stop. just breath. just BE I WORK AT NATURE. IT IS ALWAYS A MIRACLE I NEVER PLAN. I JUST GO OUT, I TRUST THE PROCESS IT IS GOING OUT THEN GOING IN THEN GOING OUT AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN IT IS LIKE PRAYING

130 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Light Stills from “flying ever since” 30x25 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 131

132 | Florence Contemporary Gallery

Light Stills from “flying ever since” 30x25 cm 2021

Florence Contemporary Gallery | 133

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