Love

Rabarama, aka Paola Epifani, born in 1969 in Rome, Italy, is an artist who lives and works in Padua, Italy. A daughter of d'arte, from a young age she showed a natural talent for sculpture. Rabarama began her training at the School of Art in Treviso, then later the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. She graduated in 1991 with high grades and immediately began participating in a large number of national and international sculpture competitions, which brought her much praise from the public and critics.
Rabarama creates sculptures and paintings featuring men, women or hybrid creatures, often passing for the eccentric. The skin of the subjects created by the artist is always decorated with symbols, letters, hieroglyphics and other figures in a variety of forms. The "membrane," the "cloak" that seems to envelop these figures constantly changes, always being enriched with new signs, symbols and metaphors. The alphabet indicates the inner limit present in language and our being singular-plural entities (according to the conception of philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy): hieroglyphs, puzzles and honeycombs are the visualization of the genome, the infinite possible combinations and varieties inherent in humanity, visualized in the mental labyrinths in which the multifaceted complexity of the ego is materialized. Exhibitions of Rabarama's works are often presented in collaboration with other artists, performers (body painting, dance, acrobatics) and are enhanced by video and audio projections. Her work is considered evocative and exciting, describing all the pains and joys of being human, from slavery to freedom genetic code of dreams.
"Rabarama's art is often very aggressive, not only for the viewer, but also for the creator, " said George S . Bolge, executive director of the Museum of Art in Boca Raton, Miami, USA, about the artist's works.
This long journey, studded with successes, led her in 2011 to be featured in the 54th Venice Biennale with the monumental work Abandonment, made entirely of Carrara marble.
In addition to this fundamental recognition, her works have been exhibited in the greatest world capitals of the art scene such as, among others, Paris, Florence, Cannes, Miami, and Shanghai.
Numerous and important, moreover, are the acquisitions of her works by important public and private institutions such as the Art Museum of the Beijing Biennale, the Sculpture Space in Shanghai, and the Copelouzos Museum in Athens, without forgetting the three monumental works purchased by the Municipality of Reggio Calabria and exhibited at the Falcomatà waterfront.
Since 2014, she has been the patroness and inspirer of the Skin Art Festival, which is held in Merano, collaborating with Kryolan. Recently, in 2015, Rabarama won the international competition held by the City of Vallo della Lucania (SA). As a result of that victory, Leud, the largest marble work ever created before by the Artist, was created and is now on display in the characteristic historic center.
Unforgettable, too, remains the artistic understanding and collaboration with Cirque du Soleil.
In 2016 Rabarama exhibited in galleries both in Italy, such as Italian Fine Art Gallery in Positano and SimonBart Gallery in Porto Cervo, and abroad, participating in the Vught Biennial organized by Van Loon Galleries, Netherlands. In the same year, he participated in the Biennial of Art in Asolo (TV), Italy.
Thanks to his multifaceted talent, Rabarama experiments and creates, over time, the terracotta works, the classic and well-known painted bronzes, the fascinating one-of-a-kind pieces in marble, glass and rare stones, the resin inclusions, the monotypes in silicone resin, the precious artist's jewelry and, of course, also the beautiful paintings and silkscreens.
Rabarama currently lives and works in Padua, managing his career independently and collaborating internationally with major art galleries in France, Holland, Belgium, England, Turkey, Switzerland and the United States.