Artist in conversation: Francesca Brivio

Francesca Brivio, from Italy, learned how to paint at 8 years old, focusing in oil painting on canvas. She graduated at artistic high school and then studied fashion design specialising in menswear. After a period in London, as well as a few other experiences in the fashion industry, She began working in a new field that allowed her to travel. 
Currently, She paints almost every evening. She is drawn to subjects such as portraits, the human bodies, animals, magical creatures, water and untouched landscapes.

Francesca Brivio

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- Interestingly enough, you have a background in fashion with studies in prestige institutions such as the Central Saint Martins in London and the Istituto Marangoni in Milano. 

What made you transition to painting and how does your background influence your work?

Painting and drawing have faithfully accompanied me since I was a child. My deep interest in people, expressions, imperfections, the particularities between various cultures and customs have always been at the center of my attention.

Crossing my path with fashion, not only gave me the confidence and the skills to develop the structure of a garment or experiment with the stylization of a figure, it especially reinforced my idea of ​​subjectivity as an important communication vehicle. 

I had the great opportunity to creatively explore what appearance is, what the last layer for us and the first layer for the others means, the barrier that separates the two cohabiting worlds. The powerful shell made of fabrics and forms that almost anyone can choose, and that is positioned over our intimate shell of self, unique and essential and that of which is made of skin, hair, freckles and scars.

- There is a wide range of influences in terms of themes in your three submitted works for our Persona exhibition. What inspired your works "Linfa”, "Danza Di Soli" and "Risveglio”?

Usually, my artistic research goes hand in hand with personal research, that’s why It’s likely still in my subconscious at the time of the painting’s realization.

Regarding the selected works, I can find the following words:

LINFA (lymph)

Oil on canvas

100 x 80 cm

A trusting embrace is sealed over time in a tangle of intense emotions, which have now become firm and solid. The body is now imprisoned and immobilized in its world made of pleasant and comforting memories. A familiar and fragrant world that became a sweet addiction and life force. The woman doesn’t have an age anymore and she doesn’t want to free herself from this potent bond, even at the high cost of withering. 

RISVEGLIO (Awakeness)

Oil on canvas

100 x 80 cm

The girl, through her gaze, tries to share her intimate inner tension.

She finds herself in the moment that precedes a swift change of direction, pervaded in doubt and fear.

Once more the composure and the physical staticity prevails, but a new and lively energy, represented here as a little bird, persuades her with all its strengths and calls her to awaken.

Danza di Soli (Dance of Suns/Solitudes)

Oil on canvas

150 x 100 cm

A group of dynamic and colorful women live everyday life, carrying their burdens and efforts with extreme naturalness. From the water, their reflection vibrates and shines in a dance in which each of them floats with joy and lightness together with their own luminous dream of energy and hope. One of them looks at us, inviting us to dance.

- When you are not working on new projects, do you miss something?

Working on new stimulating projects is something that makes me challenge myself, in order to evolve.

Whenever I’m not doing that I do feel that something’s missing, there is this energy that builds up and it needs to get out, it needs to be expressed.

Painting has a great therapeutical function for me, it is an intimate investigation and dialogue which brings questions and peace to myself. Faces, characters, bodies and animals have always been attractive to me.

Everything starts from kind of a dream: images are blurry, they are more or less consciously stolen from life, interiorized, mixed, filtered and then, translated on canvas. Sometimes I have references or I need to study a composition on a piece of paper, otherwise I directly sketch on the white canvas. The developing process is driven by an irresistible energy. Even when the project is well planned, the result is always a surprise.

- Any excited projects or exhibitions that you are part of and you want to share with us?

If possible, between April and May, I will be able to participate in interesting exhibitions!

A female group exhibition is planned in Bari: I am happy to participate with 4 canvases with themes of female figures. Subsequently, the Bari Biennale curated by Miguel Gomez is scheduled which will include 2 canvases that I am still completing.

A group exhibition in Rome includes 4 of my works in which I have chosen to focus on the theme of embrace. An exhibition in Fabrizio Serafini’s Gallery in Abruzzo, on the other hand, will host 5 works in which I face the emotional aspects communicated through male personalities of mythological inspiration. Finally, in Venice I will participate in a collective exhibition on Dante's Divine Comedy.

In recent months I have been very happy to keep in contact with the artist and my mentor Massimo Bollani, and to 

collaborate virtually with Florence Contemporary art gallery, with the Amedeo Modigliani Foundation, and new projects curated by the critic Giorgio Grasso and above all with Marvelous Art Gallery which, in addition to having printed its first popular book of artists shared through Amazon, they create great online exhibitions, content, and interviews.

- How do you find our exhibition “Persona” and the concept of exhibiting online?

I think that, other than putting great attention to details, this exhibition produces a new and alternative vison that very well fits in this time of lockdowns and allows art to communicate through alternate means.

Although this different way of doing an exhibition does not communicate the same kind of emotions a physical painting can give, it broadens its audience and diminishes the distance. It is a great opportunity to interact with numerous new artists and people and I can see a positive outlook for the future alongside with the traditional way of exhibiting.  

- I guess this presents even more opportunities for artists with a background in what is 3D dimensional work like a sculpture. I particularly liked Jon Rafman's digital sculptures and, although very different in their aesthetics, I can see similarities when looking at your work.