Swimmers

Gabriela Bodin Oil, Acrylic and Bitumen on Canvas. 200cm x 200cm Romanian born artist Gabriela Bodin attended the Gheorghe Tatarescu Art College (Focsani, Romania) followed by the Colonna Gatti Professional Institute of Technical Fashion (Nettuno, Italy). Now based in Bergamo, Italy, she has accumulated at a very young age an impressive volume of awards mainly in her adoptive Italy but also in her native Romania. Palazzo Borromeo, Cesano Maderno. 2012; Award Finalist Movimento, Segrete di Bocca (Milano) 2012; First in the Young Artists section Premio Morlotti, (Lecco), 2011; First Prize of Young Artists (Soresina), 2011 ; First in the Premio Biennale di pittura Luigi Brambati, Castiglione d’Adda, 2010; Third in the International competition of Tulcea (Romania), 1999.) Although bold and focused, Bodin’s paintings are far from simple. Her works betray her strong and vibrant personality, at times political, reflective of the life and the personal experiences that make up the complex, ambivalent spirit of the artist. She has a unique artistic ability, choosing unusual and original angles, accentuated by a pallet of cold metallic tones, evoking a contemporary Gothic atmosphere. Although at times unsettling in their unabashed and honest depiction of their subjects, Bodin’s vision is never superficial: she evokes ideas and stories that go beyond mere representation, piercing the soul. There are genuine hints of Lucian Freud in her portraiture but her paintbrush attempts to scratch even deeper. The effect is almost always haunting but equally beautiful.