ROMA, Gaia

After studying decoration technology at the Brera Fine Arts Academy, this artist from Milan began her career learning how to fashion surfaces.This training was to leave a deep and lasting impression on Gaia’s artworks. Working alongside architects, she designed furniture and decorative panels, before setting out to develop her own method of working.

Composed of many layers of paint combined with various materials (such as gold leaf, metal, resin or even cement) her two-dimensional works demonstrate that much care is given to how the paint is applied to the surface. For this reason the background plays a key role in the composition of the work. Meanwhile the subject completes the whole piece, bringing with it that narrative element which is essential for overall coherence and harmony.

Gaia’s creations plunge the viewer into the world of dreams, more specifically into that fragile, hazy borderland between sleeping and being awake.

The subjects that inhabit and haunt the compositions are mostly taken from commonly known myths and legends or simply drawn from the collective imagination, so that they may resonate with the unconscious mind of every individual.

Inspired by surrealist poetry, the artist has developed a unique visual language. The title chosen for each work forms an integral part of it and this accentuates and emphasises that feeling of floating between reality and the world of dreams.