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BIOGRAPHY :

Amarilli was born in Milan.
Her dreamy and fantasiful nature lead her to express an instinctive and deep interest for art since early childhood; she learns to cherish it in her stimulating family environment (where we find for instance orchester director Arturo Toscanini and Giuseppe Banchieri, painter and founder of the XXth century movement which got the name of  'Existential Realism').
Later Amarilli learns how to cultivate and develop her artistic talents, which seems to go hand in hand with an extraordinary affinity towards the realms of folklore mythology and magic, which will become the characteristic element of her style.

Amarilli's education begins at the age of 5 in Milan's French College Stendhal, where she obtains at the age of 17 a Baccaluaréat A2 (languages and philosophy). Later, after some years of pause from the studies and travelling, where she matures her decisions for the future, and after three years spent at the Illustration and Comics course at the Superior School of Art of Sforza Castle in Milan, she attempts the admission exham at the Art Academy of Brera in Milan, accesses it and completes her art studies by attending during four years its Painting Section, under the guidance of an eccellent professor, Beppe Devalle.

Amarilli studies art : she has a special penchant for terra cotta sculpture, comics and web design. Her favorite artists are T. Kittelsen, E. Munch, H. de Toulouse-Lautrec, T. de Lempicka, E. de Morgan, D. G. Rossetti, Caravaggio, Sodoma, G. Banchieri, and many others.

She stays in Norway from years 1994 to 2000, living in the city of Bergen; here she mostly dedicates herself to painting, but she has the opportunity to work for a certain period for a successful sculptor/ceramist, giving life to a sculpture project about the local mythology.
She makes some trompe-l'œuil-works and takes care of the interior decoration of some public places.

At the present moment, she lives in the peace of a tuscan country house and works at her projects within interior decoration, illustration, webdesign and painting. She became a mum in march 2004.

R.V.

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EXHIBITIONS :

For incoming projects see news > calendar.

September 2001 : Solo exhibition at Café Paradiso - Trequanda (SI).
november 2001 :  collective exhibition - S.Giovanni d'Asso Commune (Siena).
19-26 may 2002 :  collective exhibition - Petroio Commune (SI).
2-10 november 2002 : International Contemporary Art Convention Magica. The magic in Art- Ferrara, Este Castle. By Ferrara Pro Art.
14-30december 2002 : collective exhibition New Trends - Ferrara, Gallery Sekanina Larson.
24-26 january 2003 : Vericon 3, Harvard University, Cambridge.
15 feb.-09 march : collective exhibition Art & Mask - Foiano della Chiana (AR).
15 march-20 april : solo exhibition I Guardiani della Soglia - Il Camarlengo, Castelmuzio (SI).
25 april-11 may : solo exhibition Vampyres and other creatures of the night- Caffé Poliziano, Montepulciano (SI).
8-31 august 2003 : solo Exhibition Water Muses and other creatures Antica Querciolaia - Terme di Rapolano (SI)
18-26 october 2003 : solo exhibition I Guardiani del Confine - Veracchi Arredamenti - Sinalunga (SI)
29 november 2003 - 08 january 2004 : solo exhibition Mythologic & Fantastic Creatures- Il Chiostro - Pienza (SI)
9-12 aprile 2004 : solo exhibition- Fiera dell'Antiquariato - Buonconvento (SI)
5-9 may 2004 : solo exhibition Enchanted Music - 3° International Festival of the Romanza da Salotto - Auditorium Dina Orsi - Conegliano (TV)
24-31 may 2005 : collective exhibition ARTE CONTEMPORANEA IN ESPOSIZIONE - Gallery Postart - MILANO.
19 aug.-3 sept.2006 : collective exhibition Between Here and The Other Side, SAGENE KULTURVERKSTED, OSLO (NORWAY).

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REVIEWS :

(...) A very meaningful painting by Amarilli, with title *Berta and The Wild Hunt* represents a woman (fairy or magician) playing the harp and leading a parade of animals (wild boars, rabbits, squirrels, etc.) who are crossing the sky, flying from the moon, as if drawn by an enchantment.
This emblematic character (Berta) refers to the artist herself who, through the magic power of music (and painting) with her fascinating notes, communicates with animals and leads them through the sky, capturing the attention of the viewers and inviting us to join too into this 'wild run', this liberating trip for our fantasy.
It's not possible to avoid to think about Orpheus who tamed the feracious wild animals by playing a Lyre, or about Hamelin's flute player, who enchanted rats with the notes of his flute forcing them to follow him? This painting reminds of Leonora Carrington's fable surrealism.
Amarilli rides free on the wild horse of fantasy, exploring a world where supernatural creatures (centaurs, mermaids, tritons who play violins, celestial women whose bodies are made of constellations, Pan child, fairies, elfes) move around with complete ease in scenarios characterized by quiet and serene idyll, and live, as if it was their natural habitat, on the sweet hills of Tuscany, between cypresses and emerald green fields.
In this way the leggendary elements make their appearance in daily life without upsetting the peace of the landscape, indeed harmonizing with it.
Thanks to the fable dimension, the fracture between reality and imagination is abolished.
The artist from Milan lived six years in Norway, and thus she reaches out to the rich iconografic patrimony of the Nordic sagas.
Her dreamlike creatures evocate the magic atmospheres from Theodor Kittelsen, norwegian artist who depicted between other things the trolls, giants covered with tree bark and musk, kings of the woods.

Gabriele Turola
(from Ferrara's International Convention's Catalogue).

***

...Amarilli who spent a number of years in the far lands of Norway, attracted, like a mermaid, by the mysterious fascination of the waters, with their unexplored depths; by the mythological creatures, who become a constant subject in her dream-like representations.

Meri Raspini
(from the catalogue of "Water Muses & Other Creatures", Rapolano Terme, Siena)

***

More in italian here : a review by Dott. Gianni Gallinaro, Art Critic.

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