Paola Bidinelli
Paola Bidinelli's life began in Italy, in an ancient town nestled between the sea and the mountains. Teate Degli Abruzzi, meaning, the Land of Shepherds, is a wild and archaic territory where the artist spent most of her youth in close contact with the surrounding nature. She says: "Some of my earliest memories are of days spent entirely gathering, reimagining, and crafting life from discarded things."
Over the years, Bidinelli has utilized the unique nature and dynamics of a multitude of materials – whether organic, inorganic, or synthetic – morphing them into new imagery and imbuing them with a new identity. "Materials speak to me aloud "– she says - "Despite their imperfections, rawness, and precariousness, they contain forces beyond our control in a continuous fluctuation between ephemerality and resilience."
To this day, exploring the surroundings and gathering whatever inspires her is still the core of Bidinelli's practice. Her process is led by a feeling of the transience of life which she strives to rehabilitate into a timeless dimension.
Bidinelli started her artistic education mostly focused on performing disciplines. After completing her Master's Degree in Art Semiology at the Gabriele d'Annunzio University in Italy, she delved even more into her personal research by attending the International Arts Academy and the School of Painters in Piazza del Popolo, in Rome, Italy. Since1993, Bidinelli has been taking part in exhibitions where she drew the immediate interest of critics. Selected for the International Award NEW ART 2000, she participated in the Biennial of the National Museum of Art in Taiwan, China, where her work is a part of the permanent collection, and in the Ever Art Gallery Exhibition in Paris, France. In 1994, she was selected for the Traveling Art Exhibitions Award and showed her work in a cultural tour throughout Italy, France, and United States, with critical reviews in the magazine's Art and Flash Art. In 1999, she got a nomination and a solo exhibition at the Biennial of Art and Design, held in the Castle Museum, in Nocciano, Italy. In Italy, she won the TELETHON Prize Signs and Colors 2001, alongside the XI National Competition of Painting & Sculpture 2002, and the D'Annunzio Prize 2003. A growing appreciation and significant presence of her work are seen in international events, in publications, and in critical catalogs edited by scholars of art. From 2003, Bidinelli lectured as a freelance professor, specializing in Art Analysis, at Universities and Academies in Italy and Switzerland, while keeping participating in art shows mostly held in Europe. In 2015, she moved to the United States and began exhibiting in Utah, California, Massachusetts, Arizona, Florida, Vermont, and New Zealand. In 2018, she was selected for the Mary Schein Fall Salon Prize, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and for the Sorenson Exhibit, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2020, she was selected for the AD Art Show, at Oculus, Westfield World Trade Center in New York, for the Art for Uncertain Times Show, at the Center For Latter-day Saints in New York, and for Artemis Art Show and catalog publication, at the Roanoke Taubman Museum of Art, in Virginia. In 2020, she won the Alfred Lambourne Visual Arts Prize in Salt Lake City, Utah. Recently, her work has been selected for The Other Art Fair in Los Angeles, for "An Artist and a Mother" book published by Demeter Press, for a grant from Utah Division Art & Museum, for the Vittorio Sgarbi Award and the Dante Alighieri Prize, in Italy, and for the 2021 President's Art Show Utah.
Bidinelli is the founder of Bianco Avant-garde, a non-profit operating in Massachusetts and Utah. She regularly hosts public events where people are welcome to get involved in emotional experiences. The project's main focus is art socialization and reflects Bidinelli's research into new modes or systems of sharing art.
