Silvia Gallini

Artist Statement:

I have two quite different styles: the first one is studio painting, always based on a live female model, expressionistic and whimsical yet somewhat figurative. The second one is what I called "The Perplexed Animals Series": a series, in fact, of exuberant, magical and anthropomorphic creatures that I also reproduce on cards, art prints, and fabric. What they have in common is my struggle and desire to give these creatures (human and non-human) an identity that resides mainly in their eyes, and that never belonged to them in the first place but is a combination of me, them, and the mystery that evoked them. It is my joy and my intention to create worlds that have a foot in a recognizable reality, and the other in an intriguing and inspiring unknown one.

I was born in Varese, Italy on June 7, 1979.

I attended the European School of Varese where I learned English, french and Spanish; in 2002 I graduated in History of Theatre at the Catholic University in Milan where I also got a Masters' Degree in Writing and Producing for TV in 2003.

I spent 2004 reading and analyzing feature scripts in Rome, and enjoying the sweet life.

When I moved to LA in 2005 to study film at UCLA and UCLA Extension, I met art teacher Joe Blaustein who became my mentor and told me I was an artist. I have been drawing and painting in his classes for 10 years now. He is 91 years old.

Along with intense painting I did an MFA in Film Directing from the American Film Institute, graduating in 2010.

I am currently wrapping post-production with my first full-length documentary "The Dog and the Duck", a film about art and mentorship, and finding your own voice.

I belong to several art associations (LAAA and Pacific Palisades Art Association), and are becoming more active in the art world. FOX TV bought the rights to display my art in an episode of the now airing TV show "Weird Loners"; I got a first prize in a recent exhibit with PPAA, and I am one of the 240 artists in the Beverly Hills Art Show on May 16 & 17, 2015.