Beatrice Covassi: A European Journey
A walk through the gallery space will take you through the artist’s life. As a representative of the European Union, Beatrice Covassi has lived and worked in multiple countries around the world, producing art as she goes. She has exhibited in places such as Belgium, Turkey, Italy, Spain and America and her works can now be found in private collections worldwide.
Having recently relocated in London, alongside working for the European Union, Covassi is also in the process of writing a book and actively supporting the most urgent causes our society is facing. Hence the idea for this exhibition, for which Covassi decided to donate all profits to the Ukrainian refugees crisis.
As an avid European lover and supporter, in her paintings Covassi pours her emotions stimulated and influenced by personal experiences faced in different parts of Europe, where she has frequently had to rebuild a life with each move.
Connected with the subconscious, Covassi’s paintings represent the entrance into a different dimension, which is explored during the REM stage of sleep where the mind is most active. This results in intense dreams, hence the underlining theme of the metaphysical and oneiric tone of all her paintings. The motions of the artist’s hand and body alike are imprinted on the canvas by fast and yet thoughtful brushstrokes. The audience feels pulled into her paintings, almost as to enter these dream-like settings, resulting in a mystical experience.
“For me, colours create form, more than the other way around. They make me feel captured and participating in the same movement evoked by them."
The focus on the rhythmic sensation and the lively brushstrokes come from Covassi’s musical ear developed through her mother — a music teacher and pianist. In some of the paintings in the exhibition in fact, there is an actual use of imagined musical notes, which Covassi calls ‘warumusik,’ concept and word coined by the artist herself from the German ‘warum’ (why) and ‘musik’ (music). Thus, a conceptual title ideally translated as ‘the music of the why.’
Florentine by birth and European by calling, Beatrice Covassi often returns to her birth town and visits art shops that focus on the ancient techniques of painting. In fact, in her works she often uses gold and ancient powder pigments, which are then mixed with pure oils to make beautiful vibrant colours.
Focusing on the prime material itself has been a concept successfully used by Italian artists of the Post-War period of the Arte Povera. Covassi does this too, especially when thinking about the tubes and cardboard which unintentionally recall Boetti’s multiple creations of measuring tubes leaned against walls.
On the other hand, continuing with her focus on prime materials, Covassi distances herself from everyday items by using rich media, such as the aforementioned powder pigments. This gives life to vibrant colours that highlight her Italian roots and influences, where old masters such as Titian also made use of important tints (e.g. red and blue). It is possible to notice a predominance of these prime colours in Covassi’s works as well. The strong reds and blues are nevertheless then balanced by the breeziness and freedom of the abstract forms, leaving the audience with an impactful range of emotions to embrace.
This exhibition is curated and organised by Vittoria Beltrame.
All text by Vittoria Beltrame.