Biography

After graduating in painting from the Istituto d’Arte in Siena, training at the International School of Illustration, Sarmede enabled Ilaria Finetti to develop an in-depth familiarity with the theme of dreams and fantasy, which have directed her towards the “loci of the imagination” that remain the focus of her artistic quest today. The genre of illustration has resulted in her ability to trace a coherent path from one work to another, like chapters in a single story developing from one image to another, their common thread the language of colour with its varying densities, gloss and transparency. It is a creative process constantly suspended between control and randomness. This is also courtesy of her adoption of the watercolour technique, which lends itself to an unexpected effect and to the magic of a form generated by the interaction between water and colour and their interaction on paper. “I always draw inspiration from water, which I use to transfer my thoughts and emotions onto paper”, says the artist. As well as its expressiveness, watercolours also play a part in the meaning of the work. Water can be thought of as a microcosm in which the artist
ideally immerses themselves to trace the origins of life. In such a “wonderland”, Ilaria encounters primitive creatures, wrapped or linked together by floating filaments, distributed to form complex structures, naturalistic insights and imaginary horizons. Painted with a stroke that brings together the creative imagination of illustration with scientific accuracy, these forms reveal a profound interest in the world of microbiotics, seen as a metaphor for a world invisible to the human eye. In science, the microscope may open up this hidden reality, but in the work of Ilaria Finetti, the chemistry of the elements – colour and water – joins fantasy to tell the stories of this secret, silent life that flows under the surface and takes on a macroscopic format here. An unknown, fascinating dimension explored by the artist in search of a primordial and unspoilt beauty.

Daniela Pronestì

The transparency of Ilaria Finetti’s watercolours move through paper space in constant development, fluctuating between dreams and abstraction. Colour is the star of the show. Her choice of technique, watercolour, is no coincidence. In this medium, the pigment is pure, free of dregs. The brushstroke is not matter, it is sign. The background is not a screen, but a filter. Painting is a voluntary transgression of visual limits where colour casts a veil over light and is expressed in tones like a musical harmony. Morphemes and semblances unfold in the picture as if overlapping links of a chain, giving a voice to the surrounding space, whirling freely, not constrained by gravity or physical substance. Ilaria’s art is deliberately devoid of conceptualism. It flows directly from the soul, to solicit the emotions of the observer. Painting is a world born of the artist’s intentions vis-à-vis their medium, determined and created partly by chance and the mysterious play of extraneous forces such as the unpredictability of how watercolours intermingle. It transcends the abstract to create a universe of meta-abstraction, where every formal reference loses its iconographic purpose to represent a range of emotions, in a purely visual sense. The pure experience of pictorial forms and immersion in unexplored depths with a joyful momentum makes Ilaria’s work boldly crystal clear. Her watercolours almost let us glimpse emotions, memories and images, through the clarity of the artist’s eye. The voids are the breathing of the soul, the paper left blank giving us a sense of depth in a space featuring suspended colourful larvae. Ilaria’s paintings create spiritual links with the
viewer. Colour is entrusted with the task of exerting this influence by communicating beyond the intellect.

Rita Petti

Ilaria Finetti is an artist with determination in her simplicity: in watercolour on paper, she allows her hand to move drawing inspiration from everyday life, her work and the magic of human creation. Watercolour is a delicate, light and undeniable technique. Its complexity lies in its application and masterful use, yet Finetti fully manages to convey character and determination in her tones – dark but not too much so, well-defined and precise. We witness the precision of her brushstroke and the conceptuality of every creation, from embryos that embody birth to the plants that are gracefully revealed. We thus seem to be in the midst of a fabulous world among Finetti’s strokes, in which we can feel free, naturally guided by the curved lines of a simple spirit who knows how to make a difference in the contemporary artistic landscape.

Anna Soricaro

Her work is pervaded by a seemingly surreal atmosphere, yet linked to something much more tangible: life, organic and natural forms, microcosm and every element in relation to biology; in particular, we can sense a link with the process of creation, more specifically in relation to fertility.  Every element projected within the white space is not only painted, but “communicated” and felt; these are the borders of her veritable design for life. 
For Ilaria, watercolour is the only medium in which she can express her transparency, lightness and fluidity, the life within one spot, whether human, animal or related to the origin of something much greater than ourselves.
As she paints, she enters a state of peace and liberation, to create stories that can run in parallel. 
The artist overlaps multiple layers and colours, as stories that intersect without ever getting mixed up, as creatures that build important links one to another. All her representations are the result of a tangible idea, subsequently developed in a dream world. There is nothing false or fake, there is only one complex imagery; her imagination is solely the result of complex preparation. In her works, the forms are always gentle and sail in usually multi-coloured waters. In her early work, she mainly experimented with colder colours often linked to water. To give greater transparency to her thought processes, she now uses warmer hues, bringing herself closer to a less abstract and more passionate vision. In Liberare le forme – settembre [Liberating forms – September] (2018), warmer colours dominate their colder counterparts and the figures become more confused. The concept of “form” no longer stands, replaced by the concept of “layers”, whether of colours or a profound imagination.
 All her work has a dualistic value: freedom and protection, the latter “freeing” its subjects and never seen as any kind of oppression. One particularly striking work: Giocare nei giardini segreti dei sei fiori morti [Playing in the secret gardens of the six dead flowers] (2018), where certain parallels can be drawn with Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights.
 Here, the artist’s intention is to tell stories that occurred in a garden, the theme a link to creation and therefore also to death. And as in the garden of earthly delights: “To bring light to the Earth, we need to imagine a twist in the tale, where an almost bare and lifeless representation suddenly gives birth to an infinity of creatures, ready to bring other stories to life.”
In this garden, as in her other works, a spherical form (or circle) appears very frequently, as a never-ending concept of “origin”. The circle represents perfection, completeness, union, the unbroken. It has no beginning and no end, two extremities that come together to cancel each other out. This is the circularity that pervades Ilaria’s work. The circle has a dual symbolism, both magical and celestial, representing the spiritual dimension as does Heaven. All of Ilaria’s work is linked to primordial substance, as intangible and transparent as it is homogeneous and distinct. Everything is in harmony, with no sides, neither above nor below.
 There is only one story that brings together so many dreamlike tales.

Benedetta Spagnuolo

The dynamism of the circular, elliptical form and the simplicity of watercolour deliver a fascinating and lively vision in the intoxicating colours of human history. In its “spheres”, “bubbles” and “globes”, water and earth form the foundations of creation, as containers, protective casing, almost “wombs” reaching a social state in search of immunity from external peril, for time immemorial.

Licia Oddo