Upon a Time
Eduardo Secci gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the group show “Upon a Time” curated by Edoardo Monti and featuring works by Bea Bonafini, Carla Giaccio Darias, Daria Dmytrenko, Sahara Longe, Sophie Spedding. The exhibition, inaugurating on Saturday, January 29 (4.00 pm – 8.00 pm) in Florence (Piazza Carlo Goldoni 2, Italy), will be on view until March 12.
“Upon a time tells one and a thousand stories, populated by characters who leap from one painting to another, from a tapestry to a sculpture. Heroines, monsters and mythical animals, magical figures protagonist of a story that never happened “writes Edoardo Monti in his introductory text.
The five artists not only share the common experience of the artistic residency in Palazzo Monti but also a vast imaginary capable of giving life to dreamlike atmospheres, almost fairy at times. Yet, are not all fables those told within “Upon a Time”, like the portraits of Sahara Longe (1994), where settings and subjects – familiar at first glance – correspond to a dry composition in which the silhouettes of new protagonists capable of overturning a entirely Western history of art. Thus the works of Sophie Spedding (1995), giving space to corporeality and its manifestations in a intrusively sincere way, seem to use another reality to explore the persistence of mental representations. Through a painting with intense tones, Daria Dmytrenko (1993) explores the psychological dimension of the individual pausing in the limbo between dream and reality; a field of research similar to that of Carla Giaccio Darias (1998), whose works investigate the processes of memory activation through the recollection of images. The practice of Bea Bonafini (1990), on the other hand, recalls mythology and popular history in an intertwining of hybrid figures that blend with each other, creating collages of shapes with delicate colors, nevertheless capable of effectively transmitting the tenor of the representation. In this way, “Upon Time” is presented as an overturned world, a delicate irony aimed at gently bringing the visitor closer to an apparently enchanted world capable of revealing intimate narratives, collective reflections and spaces for psychological investigation. Edoardo Monti is the founder of Palazzo Monti in Brescia and curator.
Eduardo Secci gallery is pleased to announce the opening of the group show “Upon a Time” curated by Edoardo Monti and featuring works by Bea Bonafini, Carla Giaccio Darias, Daria Dmytrenko, Sahara Longe, Sophie Spedding. The exhibition, inaugurating on Saturday, January 29 (4.00 pm – 8.00 pm) in Florence (Piazza Carlo Goldoni 2, Italy), will be on view until March 12.
“Upon a time tells one and a thousand stories, populated by characters who leap from one painting to another, from a tapestry to a sculpture. Heroines, monsters and mythical animals, magical figures protagonist of a story that never happened “writes Edoardo Monti in his introductory text.
The five artists not only share the common experience of the artistic residency in Palazzo Monti but also a vast imaginary capable of giving life to dreamlike atmospheres, almost fairy at times. Yet, are not all fables those told within “Upon a Time”, like the portraits of Sahara Longe (1994), where settings and subjects – familiar at first glance – correspond to a dry composition in which the silhouettes of new protagonists capable of overturning a entirely Western history of art. Thus the works of Sophie Spedding (1995), giving space to corporeality and its manifestations in a intrusively sincere way, seem to use another reality to explore the persistence of mental representations. Through a painting with intense tones, Daria Dmytrenko (1993) explores the psychological dimension of the individual pausing in the limbo between dream and reality; a field of research similar to that of Carla Giaccio Darias (1998), whose works investigate the processes of memory activation through the recollection of images. The practice of Bea Bonafini (1990), on the other hand, recalls mythology and popular history in an intertwining of hybrid figures that blend with each other, creating collages of shapes with delicate colors, nevertheless capable of effectively transmitting the tenor of the representation. In this way, “Upon Time” is presented as an overturned world, a delicate irony aimed at gently bringing the visitor closer to an apparently enchanted world capable of revealing intimate narratives, collective reflections and spaces for psychological investigation. Edoardo Monti is the founder of Palazzo Monti in Brescia and curator.
Bea Bonafini, Il Trionfo, 2018Pastel on mixed carpet inlay
480 x 265 cm
189 x 104 3/8 in
Bea Bonafini, Leda, 2019Stained porcelain, black clay, sea glass and salted water
25 x 15 cm
9 7/8 x 5 7/8 in
Daria Dmytrenko, Deep Waters, 2021Oil on canvas
155 x 198 cm
61 1/8 x 78 in
Box, 2021Carla Giaccio Darias
Oil on canvas
50 x 60 x 2 cm
19 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 3/4 in
Self Defense, No Wrestling, 2019Oil on canvas
220 x 200 cm
86 5/8 x 78 3/4 in
Urine Blonde, 2020Sophie Spedding
Oil on canvas
210 x 210 cm
82 5/8 x 82 5/8 in
Daria Dmytrenko (1993, Dnipropetrovsk, Ucraina) lives and works in Venice. After her first artistic education in Dnipropetrovsk, she attended painting courses at the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture in Kyiv (2012-15). She is currently proceeding her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Through painting, the artist explores the visual expression of the subconscious, using intuitive impulses as a tool aimed at bringing up the deepest memories to transform them into composition. Among the shows in which her works have been exhibited: Degree Show II, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Extraordinario, Vulcano agency VEGA (Venice, 2020); 103ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Piazza San Marco Gallery (Venice, 2020); Spin Off, Calle Lunga Santa Caterina (Venice, 2019); Speculum mundi, Davide Gallo (Milan, 2018); Upon a Time, Galleria Eduardo Secci (Florence, 2022); Fluuuuuido, Cassina Projects (Milan, 2022).
Daria Dmytrenko (1993, Dnipropetrovsk, Ucraina) lives and works in Venice. After her first artistic education in Dnipropetrovsk, she attended painting courses at the National Academy of Visual Arts and Architecture in Kyiv (2012-15). She is currently proceeding her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Through painting, the artist explores the visual expression of the subconscious, using intuitive impulses as a tool aimed at bringing up the deepest memories to transform them into composition. Among the shows in which her works have been exhibited: Degree Show II, Palazzo Monti (Brescia, 2021); Extraordinario, Vulcano agency VEGA (Venice, 2020); 103ma Collettiva Giovani Artisti, Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Piazza San Marco Gallery (Venice, 2020); Spin Off, Calle Lunga Santa Caterina (Venice, 2019); Speculum mundi, Davide Gallo (Milan, 2018); Upon a Time, Galleria Eduardo Secci (Florence, 2022); Fluuuuuido, Cassina Projects (Milan, 2022).
Bea Bonafini (1990, Bonn, Germania) lives and works in London. She studied at the Royal College of Art and at the Slade School of Fine Art of London. Bonafini is an interdisciplinary artist, whose work draws from oneiric visions, overlapping personal and ancient mythologies. Her practice explore the possibilities and interplay of painting, tapestry and sculpture. Holistic perspectives are developed in close dialogue with architecture, where works are expanded in space to envelop the viewer. Acting as protected spheres, Bonafini’s installations act as openings onto encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly. Her works have been exhibited at Villa Berlugane, Beaulieu- sur-Mer (2020); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene (2020); Operativa, Rome (2020); Chloe Salgado, Paris (2019); Bosse & Baum, London (2019); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2018).
Bea Bonafini (1990, Bonn, Germania) lives and works in London. She studied at the Royal College of Art and at the Slade School of Fine Art of London. Bonafini is an interdisciplinary artist, whose work draws from oneiric visions, overlapping personal and ancient mythologies. Her practice explore the possibilities and interplay of painting, tapestry and sculpture. Holistic perspectives are developed in close dialogue with architecture, where works are expanded in space to envelop the viewer. Acting as protected spheres, Bonafini’s installations act as openings onto encounters between the earthly and the otherworldly. Her works have been exhibited at Villa Berlugane, Beaulieu- sur-Mer (2020); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Guarene (2020); Operativa, Rome (2020); Chloe Salgado, Paris (2019); Bosse & Baum, London (2019); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2018).
Sophie Spedding (London, 1995) graduated in 2019 with their BA from The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL in London where they currently live and work. Their practice draws from the use of intersections of systems to structure bodies of work. Fundamental structures are reliant on the duality of using contextual systems, and intrusively sincere visualisations. They are interested in this intersection that encompasses dismissal and abjection through the amount of care imposed on the border of subject and self. They believe that there is space for reconciliation, of balancing low-fi references, whilst synthesising the tenderness of others’ pararealties. They are occupied with the idea of the defining of desires through abjection and what it is to be absorbed into someone’s mirrored self. Using posthuman figuration as a form of genderless carnivorous attachment to an idea of human memory, they invest in the viewer as a potential body and self. Their work has been featured in a number of exhibitions, among these: Hétérotopie, Bubble’n’Squeak (Brussels, 2020); Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary (NJ, 2020) and Palazzo Monti Residency (Brescia, 2019).
Sophie Spedding (London, 1995) graduated in 2019 with their BA from The Slade School of Fine Art, UCL in London where they currently live and work. Their practice draws from the use of intersections of systems to structure bodies of work. Fundamental structures are reliant on the duality of using contextual systems, and intrusively sincere visualisations. They are interested in this intersection that encompasses dismissal and abjection through the amount of care imposed on the border of subject and self. They believe that there is space for reconciliation, of balancing low-fi references, whilst synthesising the tenderness of others’ pararealties. They are occupied with the idea of the defining of desires through abjection and what it is to be absorbed into someone’s mirrored self. Using posthuman figuration as a form of genderless carnivorous attachment to an idea of human memory, they invest in the viewer as a potential body and self. Their work has been featured in a number of exhibitions, among these: Hétérotopie, Bubble’n’Squeak (Brussels, 2020); Transatlantico, Mana Contemporary (NJ, 2020) and Palazzo Monti Residency (Brescia, 2019).
- Mateusz Choróbski
