July’s chapter is dedicated to artists Ilaria Franza, Giorgia Guaglianone, Ludovica Misciattelli and Giulia Coda.
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Looking for Art’s attention is focused on four women artists this month. The Milan-based gallery is promoting these young artists’ work.
In April-May 2022, the gallery hosted an exhibition which already gave importance to the ‘feminine touch’ with works by Ilaria Franza, Giulia Coda, Alice Capelli e Giorgia Guaglianone. The strong selection of works represented the galleries take on the variety and richness of women’s contribution in contemporary art.
Today we are looking for art by incredible artists, recognizing the importance of female positions and the themes explored in their works.
Ilaria Franza
Ilaria Franza is born in the 80’s in Cantù, in the province of Como – in Italy. She graduates form the Accademia di Belle Arti of Brera. After this, she dives into artistic research. At the same time, she works in the field of interior design. This has an inevitable influence on her work, shaping an interest in colour.
Her works require us to admire ‘unexplored landscapes’ and ‘new paths’. They invite us to get lost in the contemplation of inner thoughts and deep emotions. Delicately, she applies water and colour, directing them to flow and mix on paper. These elements organically shape these landscapes.
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Her artworks, featured on many international magazines, carry the universal importance of water, natural elements, the beauty and wonder that sublime landscapes carry, and the effect they have on us.
Looking at her mixed media works, we recognize a landscape. However, the image is abstract. The gradual colours invite us to get lost in the horizon.
“I conceal a take on life in my work. We set ourselves goals, then something happens. It takes us away from the initial idea. Maybe something goes wrong. This happens in my work as well. On a blank canvas I imagine the work. I begin. It goes smoothly at first, but then the unexpected happens: the colours start sliding, uncontrollably. This is the moment in which I reveal my true nature. In the face of unexpected difficulties, I must mediate, finding a balance between will and reality. That is the work itself. The unexpected causes change – the opportunity of discovering a new path.” (Ilaria Franza, on Looking for Art)
Giorgia Guaglianone
Giorgia Guaglianone (aka Goldfinch), born and raised in a tiny village in Calabria, also focuses on nature in her work. Greatly self-taught at the start of her career, she then completes a degree at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Brera. The places she grew up in allowed for her to cultivate a strong fascination with the natural world, and in her work – like in that of Ilaria Franza – water is also an irreplaceable element. Indeed, watercolours and oil paints are the protagonists in her works.
“I have always considered the bond between man and nature to be fundamental, contemporarily sublime, and destructive. I am firmly convinced that through it, it is possible to exist and live fully. I think of a world of shadows, appearances, utopias, reflection, and tears. A world of melodies and silences, created by the whisper of an impending storm. My task is to narrate these facets through art. Indeed, art can show all these sides – everything and nothing at the same time.” (Goldfinch, on Looking for Art)
Ludovica Misciattelli
Ludovica Misciattelli is born in Milan, 1992. She graduates in Fashion Styling, then completes a Master in Surface & Textile Design. Her background in fashion lead her to become closer to artistic designs and pictorial techniques. In her works she mixes a visual aesthetic which takes colors, shapes and forms from fashion and design, developing the textures and patterns in paint.
“Balance represents my connection with the art world. Captivating me at first, this connection now drives my creative process. My works are extremely material. I mix ground powders, raw and organic materials, and sand to create a primitive sensation where the subjects come to life through totem like figures. I experiment with organic tones – colours which come directly from natural materials. In my works I see naïve souls, light and women with fluid forms peacefully reconnecting to nature – the mother earth.” (Ludovica Misciattelli, on Looking for Art)
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Giulia Coda
Giulia Coda, born in Novi Ligure in 1994, attends the Art School C. Carrà in Valenza, and then the Accademia di Belle Arti of Venice, graduating in Painting and Performing Arts in 2018. In 2020, she obtains her MA. Her works are abstract. They allude to scenes and memories with vivid colours, grasping viewers.
“Isn’t art something which refuses to be any other experience? Isn’t it art a pure active presence? My works represent, or try to represent, reality. This is my idea of reality, which encompasses all its facets. A research which focuses on the landscape. A real representation, through reality, memories, and an interpretation of stories of the past.” (Giulia Coda, on Looking for Art)
Cover image: Ilaria Franza, UN.limited, Courtesy of Looking for Art.
Written by Zoë Rivas Zanello
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