Monica Leonardo

My name is Monica Leonardo aka Leona, I was born in Fidenza (Parma) in 1971.
In painting I do not encounter boundaries, I only respect the rules of the perceptions and emotions of the heart and I do not homologate, inside, outside, between the wrist, the hand, the brush, or with a rag between the fingers in the color, I navigate freely as it happens between the connected souls.
I reflect myself in the bright and sometimes fluorescent colors, using different techniques and mediums, I try to give consistency and value to the beauty of an internal landscape, imperfect and fragmented.
By painting I can create new worlds, and investigating the magma of color and life, I see the little portraits as flowers of flesh. A sowing of humanity in the chaos of life. They are sparks.

I started painting at a very young age, figures, faces and hybrids on the semi-rusted blue backs of advertisements, on cemented panels, on glued papers, on the upside-down and waxed plotters of my photographs, on wood wrapped in fabrics and textures.
After graduating as a Designer and Fashion Stylist and some experiences in the fashion field with Mariella Burani and Pinko, I worked in various fields before meeting Gabriele Calzetti and learning, between 1996 and 1998, fresco decoration and restoration techniques that have influenced my need to experiment with various colors, materials and media.

The first page of my diaries always begins with a sentence that is both desire and certainty: This is a beautiful love story.
My first collective exhibition, Rising Stars, was hosted in the Banca Popolare di Milano in Parma in 2000. In 2001 came, Souls in Progress, a solo exhibition at San Michele in Fidenza (Parma), the group exhibitions The eye exact in the Orsoline Palace also in Fidenza and Travel from Za to the Po
in the Bentivoglio Palace in Gualtieri (Reggio Emilia). In 2002 I exhibited some works at the Forlì fair; followed by the solo exhibition Suspended identity at the Galleria Immagine Contemporanee in Basilicanova (Parma), th...

PERSONAL

2024 Anima foresta, Villa Fracchia/Literary Festival Award Fracchia, Bargone, Genova

2023 Sconfinamenti, Spazio Sant'Erasmo, Sestri Levante, Genova

2022 Bagliori, curated by Emanuele Baistrocchi in collaboration with Jamais Vu, Galleria Celestina, Fidenza / Visit to the artist's studio- Salsomaggiore Terme Parma

2011 Il Diario della ragazza di king kong, curated by Roberto Bertorelli, critical text by Marco Mirabile.
Galleria il Sipario, Parma

2005 Sguardi, Archivio Giovani Artisti, INA showcase, Parma

2003 Tra volti di materia, curated by Mauro Nuzzo, critical text by Silvia Magistrali in collaboration with CSAC, Caffè del Prato, Palazzo Cusani, Parma

2002 Identita sospese, curated by Mauro Buzzi, organisation Insieme Culturale "L'Albero" Performance by Monica Zappettini, critical text by Annalisa Zilioli, Galleria Centro Immagini Contemporanee, Basilicanova, Parma

2001 Anime in corso, in collaboration with Famiglia Fidentina, brochure with critical text by Giovanna Bragadini, Centro Culturale San Michele, Fidenza, Parma

Under the Skin, Libreria Fiaccadori, Parma


COLLECTIVES

2023 Storie di legno e di mare, curated by Franco Casoni, Marina di Chiavari Spazio Calata ovest, Chiavari.

2022/23 MEET.HER.EYES, cu...