Vera Girivi

October 8 – November 6, 2021

Sargent’s Daughters is pleased to present the debut New York City solo exhibition of Vera Girivi in collaboration with James Barron Art, Kent, CT.  Featuring over two dozen canvases produced during the last several years, the exhibition showcases Girivi’s bold and vibrant figuration.

Born in 1961 in the region of Solento in southern Italy, Girivi has spent the majority of her life in Genoa, where she currently lives and works.  She is entirely self taught, and has now been painting daily for five years.  

Girivi refers to herself as a “devourer of images,” citing inspirations ranging from Picasso, Cezanne, Monet, Chagall, Delacroix, Baselitz, and Matisse.  Referencing the uninhibited work of Modigliani, Girivi frequently depicts nude women, as she believes that the female body is a complete expression in vision and feeling.  These nudes are self-assured and at ease in their settings, and while they encompass a wider range of ages and bodies than are typically depicted in historical Western art, they are resplendent in Girivi’s handling.

Girivi’s backgrounds are lush and overflowing with pattern, texture, and gesture, with the foreground often featuring a single figure, framed by a sumptuous domestic interior.  Mirrors, fans, and drapery abound, referencing Girivi’s own home decor.  

In her newest body of work, which was produced during the height of Italy’s quarantine mandates, she features groupings of figures in varied settings.  Unable to leave her home, Girivi’s work turned away from the domestic and towards the communal.  These recent works blend Byzantine mosaics, Egyptian murals, and Baroque masters with scenes that are personally resonant for the artist.  The freedom of subject matter and style in these works evince a liberatory and joyful artistic practice, wide ranging in spite of the artist’s confinement.

Vera Girivi (b. 1961, Solento, Italy) is a self-trained painter who lives and works in Genoa, Italy.  Her work has appeared at the Outsider Art Fair in New York and Paris, the Dallas Art Fair, and James Barron Art, Kent, Connecticut. Girivi’s work is included in major private museums and foundations in the United States, Italy, and Germany, as well as in private collections.  Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Le Figaro, and Artnet, among others.  Girivi is represented by James Barron Art.  This is her first exhibition with Sargent’s Daughters.

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