Rare sono le persone che usano la mente (people who use mind are rare) Artwork

Stefania Catastini was born in 1971 the 17th september in Fucecchio (Firenze), she lives and works in San Miniato (Pisa). In 1998 she graduated in architecture from the University of Firenze and immediately started to work as architect in contemporary architecture. In her career she worked with LdA.iMdA associated architects reaching important goals such as: Premio committenza 2007 of commission trade of Pisa (1st prize), Castelnuovo Val di Cecina _ Competition for the design of thermal lakes (2008) (1st prize), Castelnuovo Val di Cecina _ Com- petition for the design of the parking system. (2008) (3rd prize), Montelupo Fiorentino _ Project for the new bridge across the river Arno (2009) (1st prize), Caraglio (Cuneo) _ Project for a campus school (2012) (1st prize). During her studies, and in the first period of her career her passion for painting was strong but not much practiced, she occasionally made exhibitions and participated in art competitions. In 2008 she began her real career as painter which is complementary to architecture. Her research focuses on the investigation of the human face and on the flat painting. She showed her first paintings in Savona at Palazzo Peloso Cepolla in a collective ex- hibition with the Scola gallery. In the meantime she continues her research integrating philosophical/religious meanings in her works. The desire to put in her paintings something distinctive of her territory brought her to go around tanneries searching for a contamination between the art world and the leather industry. Initially her father’s business allowed her to study the industrial coating, typical of leather, but made on canvas so that she can obtain, with the transposition of this technique, very smooth and shiny surfaces. The first kind of these works are exhibited in 2009 at Teano during the national exhibition of contemporary art ITALICA, at the Maui museum in Rome and at the Sale del Bramante in Verona inside the exposition for international emerging artists called Startup. In 2011 she won the first prize in the competition organized by the Museo del Giocattolo (Toys Museum) in Rome becoming part of the permanent collection of the museum with one of her paintings. Her first solo exhibition is in Firenze in 2011 in the “Rifrullo” Lounge titled “diciassette- settembre” while, the second, is in 2012 took place in the Museo del Giocattolo in Rome “Io sono tutte le volte che trovo” (I am all times that I find).