WHO IS ROBERTA BOFFO?
Roberta Boffo (b. 1986) is an intuitive Italian artist based in the small town of Motta di Livenza, Treviso, Italy. Her medium of choice is ink on paper and acrylic on canvas; her practice includes various techniques intertwined in highly detailed, subtly stunning monochrome artworks that are a window into her horror of emptiness and her obsessive love for simplicity, challenge and the space between pain and pleasure.
She has been a passionate designer since she was a young girl designing for her parents’ fashion business in Oderzo, Veneto. In her teens, she moved away to study Chinese and Asian languages and cultures at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, which brought her to Beijing, China in 2008. In Beijing, she studied business and marketing at Capital Normal University and spent a few years in education before moving to Hong Kong in 2015.
In Hong Kong, Roberta established her art studio and gallery where she worked full time as a professional artist. After her first solo exhibition in June 2018 in Hong Kong was a success, Roberta has participated and shown her work in several exhibitions and shows, including the Asia Contemporary Art Show and the Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong. She is a published artist, with her work held in private collections around the world.
In December 2022, Roberta moved her studio to her hometown of Motta di Livenza, Italy, where she continues to produce and show her art.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Roberta Boffo’s art speaks of her quest for freedom and peace, emphasizing its therapeutic and meditative power. In her creative process, Italian artist Roberta Boffo becomes a vessel bringing a projection of her spirit and all its secrets to life, while nourishing peace within herself.
“I am mostly at the mercy of my emotions and moods. It can be so frustrating, but when I make art I cease to exist, my emotions become silent and in the process I become numb I succumb to a dark and sunken place. It is only in this place that my emotional self ceases to exist, and everything in my head, heart and subconscious flows onto paper. I love this feeling, because in my art I cease to be who I am and become all sorts of things: I become a language that only I can speak, I become symbols that only I can understand. I become simplicity, the ultimate simplicity. I reside in one state: I am peaceful.
“Lune”
THE EXPERIENCE
Greatly inspired by calligraphy and its gestural movements, the Italian artist Roberta Boffo creates monochrome compositions that are laborious, complex and yet harmonious. These works are driven by an obsessive-compulsive need for infinite repetition and are born as a form of escape into the transcendence of an artistic language and the peace of mind that accompanies it.
As an artist, Roberta Boffo takes you on a journey of seemingly abstract and surreal art. Intuitively and spontaneously, Roberta’s juxtapositions in her works and her unwavering determination in her quest for artistic freedom offer viewers the opportunity to experience the inexhaustible powers of the human spirit – the artist herself, caught between genius and madness.
WHAT ABOUT INSPIRATION?
The two most frequently asked questions are always these, how do the symbols come to mind? And what do they mean?
I am an intuitive artist, I go where the art takes me, I start with a line and all symbols end up on paper in their own way…
And their meaning? This is perhaps the most difficult question because sometimes I can explain it, sometimes I can’t. For some symbols I know what they are, sometimes a face, a mouth, eyes, or a means of transport, or a fruit, or objects that are part of a living room. I know because I draw them, they are symbols that comfort me, they remind me of home, family, love and travel, of peaceful times. Other symbols are more abstract and less figurative, but the feeling is the same, that of home, closeness, serenity, being together and love. When I create, I am at peace with myself and with the world. I am at home. And that’s all I need to know, that’s all I need.
WHY BLACK AND WHITE ?
From an early age I was drawn to the colour black and now, after many years, I realise that my desire for a balance between black and white is the driving force behind the desire to create balance in my own life.
The black and white and the degree of grey I get in my work with just a pen or a brush is all I need to feel at peace. I am drawn to my art; I feel like I am decluttering my soul and mind. I also like to be surrounded by my work. I find that seeing the results of my own creativity is very inspiring to create new work.
MY LATEST WORKS
“Luna” my new painting. Luna as the name of my grandmother, my mother’s mother, Ena Luna, who died when I was a child, I was only 6 years old. I have always found the full moon so charming. The light that guides us when all the other lights go out and darkness embraces in the middle of the night
It gives us hope, guidance and clarity.
I created this piece in 5 days, about 50 hours of work.
Two pieces from my ‘Shades of Life’ collection.
Six of these works make up this collection, and I created them with a fine brush and Indian ink on paper, working from the darkest edge towards the centre, playing between light and dark with each line. Between light and shadow, a reflection on the ups and downs of our lives. How despite the dark moments, we persevere and move forward, the swing sometimes stops, but we never go back down.
ROBERTA'S THREE KEY WORDS: SIMPLICITY, CHALLENGE and EFFORT
“There are three elements that are the cornerstones of each work: simplicity, challenge and strength. I always see my art as the simplest of all things and it is this hidden simplicity that allows for such complexities and laborious journeys. I always look for the challenge: growth happens when you are put under pressure, that’s when transformation and evolution starts. Finally, I believe in maximum effort. With strength and intensity, the body as well as our abilities grow from their current state to become stronger, fitter and bigger.”
