Elisa Anfuso

Elisa Anfuso was born in Catania (Sicily) in 1982, where she lives and works.

She graduated in painting at the School of Fine Arts in Catania and post-graduated to qualify to teach Painting Disciplines.

In 2010, she was among the winners of the prestigious international award Arte Laguna, finalist at Premio Combat and received a mention at the Premio Celeste.

She exhibits in Miami, New York, Vienna and Prague and several Italian cities. Her works are included in important private collections. She has been working with Liquid art system since 2013.

Solo Exhibition

2015 – As in the sky, so on the earth - Square Gallery, Positano (Na)

2014 – The fall of Eva - Galerie Augustin, Wien

2013 - A thing to play with - Studio Lab, Capri (Na)

2013 - Pondus Animae - Caruso Gallery, Milazzo (Me)

2012 - [Solitudo] - Spazio Arte Duina, Paitone (BS)

2011 – Don’t step on the red line - Galleria dell'Ombra, Brescia

2010 – My shadow is mild - Galleria Gagliardi, San Gimignano

2010 - SOgNO - Artesia Galleria d'Arte, Catania

Selected Group Exibition

2015 - Heterogenesis form. Palazzo Platamone, Catania

2015 – Voyage a l’italienne. Galerie daudet, Toulouse

2015 – Context Art Miami. Liquid Art System | White Room, Miami

2014 - From Figurative to Abstract. Section Portrait - White Room, Capri

2014 - Artexpo New York - Pier 94, NYC

2014 - Aliens, The alienating forms of contemporary - Casa di Ludovico Ariosto, Ferrara

2013 - Wikam - Palais Ferstel & Palais Niederösterreich, Wien

2013 - Locus Animae 8 | Dea Madre - Foyer del Kursaal, Lido di Jesolo (Ve)

2013 - Aliens, The alienating forms of contemporary - E-lite studiogallery, Lecce

2013 - Written on the body - E-Lite Studiogallery, Lecce

2012 - Iconic - RezArte Contemporanea, Reggio Emilia

2012 - Parallel Illusions - Spazio Arte Duina, Paitone (Bs)

2012 - About women - Galleria Conarte - Savona

2012 - No Lands Border - Terrain Vague - Cosenza

2012 - Avantgarde - Avantgarde Gallery, Caserta

2011 - Germinale - Spazio Arte Duina, Paitone - Bs

Marco Izzolino, A thing to play with. 2013

I believe that a careful reflection underlies the work of Elisa Anfuso. As a game, the artist seems to paint; as a game, she seems to portray the reality, although her painting is so refined and so precise in characterizing every single detail on the canvas.

The communication that Elisa Anfuso creates between the figurative level and the “imaginative” level – that she portrays on the background with the lines of a child drawing – underlines the integration between the actual actions made by her characters and their will to carry them out, which often comes from wishes, experiments, memories, encounters, and so on, arising from childhood.

We are aware of a few wishes, a few dreams, during the childhood, and they go along with us for all of our life. Many of our actions, of our behaviours, just support those urges which arise from our childhood experiments... as a game, indeed.

Disguising, imaginary conversations with objects and animals, unusual connections between visual elements which belong to different sensorial spheres or to different contexts seem to be built on Elisa Anfuso's canvases to show the hidden side of our conscience, which nevertheless is always real and go along with us for all of our life.

Marco Izzolino, As in the sky, so on the earth. 2015

The protagonists of his new series of works are mysterious female figures whose delicate and dreamy gaze is outlined by Elisa Anfuso with deep sensitivity.

Also in these new paintings, the artist very accurate in framing the scenes and set the shades and lights, to achieve an overall effect that is quite theatrical. On the background there is a glimpse of an idealized Italian landscape, like in the Renaissance portraits conceived by Leonardo. Nevertheless, Elisa Anfuso replaces the Tuscan landscapes with the landscapes of “her Sicily”, which are more familiar and congenial to her to represent a projection of her inner being.

As always in Elisa Anfuso's work, her protagonists seem to be captured in a moment that catches them as in a snapshot: in fact, the artist intelligently plays with the stop-motion and a light in shades of blue which can enhance the marmoreal paleness of their complexion.

Whether they look for the viewer's gaze, or they indulge in their own emotions, the female figures seem suspended between the reality plane and the “imaginative” one, whose representation is often given by the background, where one can see the lines of a child's drawing or – as in the latest series – a metaphysical landscape; in other cases it is in the objects or animals with which the figure interacts. This innovative merger between reality and imagination highlights the integration between the real gestures made by the figures and their willingness to make them, which often comes from those desires, experiments, memories, encounters, and so on that arise from childhood.

Even when the human figure is absent, disguises, imaginary conversations with objects and animals, unusual relationships between visual elements from different sensory spheres or different environments seem to be built on the canvas in order to disclose that hidden side of consciousness, which is always real and accompany us throughout our life.