Biography
Elisabetta Cardella, born 1980, works in Toscana, a Calci (PI). She studied traditional drawing, painting and sculptural techniques at the Istituto d’Arte. During that time she created large colorful paintings of figures and animals in imaginary settings.
During the University years she studied art history which she discreetly incorporates and references in her current work. She also learned the technique of gilding at Palazzo Spinelli, Firenze. From this grounding in traditional techniques she then moved towards digital media and developed work in the area of print and communications, specializing in Graphic Design e Multimedia at LABA in Florence, writing her thesis on Museum Communication. As a graphic designer she has collaborated on various events and museum exhibitions. Her subsequent compositions reflect her study of graphics, becoming lighter, rigorous, more essential. She collaborates on the project OPERABUSIVA which brings together graphics and photography, and creates a series of paper toys for children that unite illustration and design.
Her current work draws on and incorporates aspects of all of these different phases of technical and conceptual development. She uses mixed media collage to create surreal atmospheres, landscapes suspended in time, imaginary characters illuminated in golden, brilliant colors. Lightness and transparency are achieved through combining different kinds of papers and materials. She explores the relationship between the body and nature, feelings, emotions, instincts and primordial human weaknesses. She creates a dialogue between traditional art forms and new media, bringing contemporary imagination to revisit classical compositions.
