Soul Boy Painting

UK-based artist Raffaella Bertolini employs a variety of media and forms, working with acrylics, graphite, oils, charcoal, spray paint and collage. Originally from Italy, Raffaella received her diploma in Art from the Liceo Artistico Arturo Martini in Savona. Her main influences are derived from popular and urban culture, fashion, art, music and literature, along with environmental and political issues. In her portraiture, she blends a (literally!) colourful humour with Psychedelic Art to create her own brand of “Psychedelic Pop Art”, focusing primarily on the female figure. A large number of her “Icons” portraits use alcohol ink. In these works, she celebrates not only the famous but also hidden heroes, such as members of the London Underground scene, unearthed in her recent artwork. A Mondrian-style background complements that approach in one of her latest series of paintings, which takes on the popular French icons Serge Gainsbourg, Jane Birkin and Brigitte Bardot – each, in their own way, representing ‘La Femme’. Refusing to limit her work, Raffaella is a storyteller who finds inspiration in a variety of artistic expressions, fed by her lifelong passion and ambition for creative expression. She incorporates elements of her various muses, which lately come from urban/street art. In her urban and mixed-media paintings, as well as in her beautifully detailed drawings, she explores themes of sensuality, humour, religion, and mental health. Raffaella’s artwork has been regularly showcased in exhibitions in the UK and New York, and the breadth and versatility of her talents have been increasingly recognized. Her exceptional painting Re-Veiled was the runner-up among 40 participants in the online competition “V Gran Premio Citta’ – a prize organized by the Savona art movement, the “Movimento Arte del XXI Secolo”, to recognize excellence in contemporary art expression. Raffaella Bertolini’s works are in many private collections in Europe, Australia, USA and Japan.