Artist Bio
Roberta Boffo (b. 1986) is an intuitive Italian artist based in the small town of Motta di Livenza, in Treviso, Italy. Her medium of choice is ink on paper and acrylic on canvas; her practice includes various techniques interlaced into highly detailed, subtly mind-boggling, monochromatic artworks that are a window into her horror vacui and her obsessive love for simplicity, challenge and the space between pain and pleasure.
She has been an avid creator from an early age when she was designing for her parents’ fashion business, in Oderzo, in the Veneto region. In her teenage years, she moved to undertake studies in Chinese and Asian languages and cultures at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, which brought her to Beijing, China, in 2008. In Beijing, she studied business and marketing at Capital Normal University and spent a few years in the education field before moving to Hong Kong in 2015.
In Hong Kong Roberta established her art studio and gallery where she worked full time as a professional artist. After her first solo show in June, 2018 in Hong Kong being a success, Roberta has participated and shown her work in several exhibitions and shows, including the Asia Contemporary Art Show, and the Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong. She is a published artist, with her artworks belonging to private collections around the world. In December 2022, Roberta moved her studio to her birth town of Motta di Livenza in Italy, where she keeps producing and showing her art. On this site you can find both original artworks and fine art prints of Roberta.
The Process
Boffo’s art speaks of her quest for freedom and peace, highlighting its therapeutic and meditative power. In her process of creation, Italian Artist Roberta Boffo becomes a vessel bringing a projection of her mind and all its secrets to life, whilst nourishing peace back into herself.
“I am at the mercy of my emotions and moods most of the time. It can be so frustrating, but when I make art, I cease to exist, my emotions become quiet and, in that process, I become numb, I succumb to a dark, sunken place. It is only in this place where my emotional self ceases to exist, and all that is in my head, my heart and my subconscious just flows onto the paper. I love this feeling, because in my art I stop being who I am and I become all sorts of things: I become a language that only I can speak, I become symbols that only I can understand. I become simplicity, the ultimate simplicity. I reside in one state only: I am peaceful.”
Behind The Art
The Experience
Greatly inspired by calligraphy and its gestural movements, Italian Artist Roberta Boffo creates monochromatic, laborious, intricate and yet, harmonious compositions. These works are driven by nothing short of an obsessive compulsive need for infinite repetition and are born as a form of escapism into the transcendence of an unintelligible artistic language and the peace of mind that comes along with it. As an artist, Boffo takes you into the journey of seemingly abstract and surreal art. In an intuitive and spontaneous way, Boffo’s juxtapositions within her artworks and unwavering determination in her quest for artistic freedom offer viewers the opportunity to experience the inexhaustible powers of the human mind – the artist’s herself, caught up between genius and madness.
The Textures & Colors
Since an early age, Boffo was drawn to the color black and now after many years, she realizes that her crave for a balance between black and white is the driving force behind the desire to instill balance in her own life. “Black and white and the degree of greys that I achieve in my works with just a pen or a brush are all I need to feel at peace. I am drawn to my art; it feels like decluttering my soul and mind. I also love being surrounded by my artworks. I find that seeing the results of my own creativity is very inspiring to the making of new work.”
The Cornerstones
“There are three elements that are the cornerstones of each work: simplicity, challenge and force. I always look at my art as the simplest of all things and it is that hidden simplicity that allows for such intricacies and laborious journeys. I always seek challenge: growth happens when you are placed under pressure, that is where transformation and evolution begin. Finally, I believe in maximum effort. With force and intensity the body as well as our abilities expand, hatching out of their current state to become stronger, fitter and greater.”
