LOS ANGELES, CALIF.- Anna Zorina Gallery announced the presentation of Intimate Silence, a solo exhibition of reflective paintings by Italian artist Vera Girivi. This is the artist’s West Coast debut and inaugural show with the gallery. Intimate Silence brings together works Girivi produced over the past few years when the world faced periods of uncertainty, introspection, and, ultimately, a new normality. Richly detailed and boldly rendered, the paintings offer glimpses into the private worlds of women relaxing in their tranquil interiors.

Girivi is a self-taught artist and began painting over six years ago in her home in Genoa, Italy. Drawing inspiration from her own lived experiences and imagination, she celebrates women of various ages and silhouettes. Her canvas’ expressive colors and energetic strokes belie the quiet, contemplative moments of often solitary figures tenderly captured by her brush. Whether reclining in a sitting room or admiring a reflection, these women each have personal stories, beliefs, and depths of emotions that are not only complex and significant but also universally relatable.

Girivi carries on the Fauvist traditions through her vivid palette and assured lines. As an admirer of Chagall and Matisse, she studies their formal techniques but recontextualizes them in a style all her own. Her flattened picture planes are teeming with resplendent decor and reflective surfaces, many of which are found in and around her house. The patterns, furniture, and adornments surround the women as though protecting them in a warm cocoon, a feeling that Girivi relishes in her own handsomely decorated home. She is drawn to these spaces, both literally and mentally, to not only focus on the self and disregard distractions from the world but also offer moments of pure intimate silence.

VERA GIRIVI (b. 1961, Salento, Italy) lives and works in Genoa, Italy. As a self-trained artist, Girivi began painting within the last decade and has already exhibited internationally in New York, Marfa and Paris. Solo exhibitions include At the garden’s edge, James Barron Art, South Kent, CT (2022); Vera Girivi: Tomorrow the birds will sing, Marfa Invitational, Marfa , TX (2021); and Vera Girivi, Sargent’s Daughters, New York (2021). Her works have been included in select group exhibitions such as Uncanny Interiors, Nicola Vassell Gallery, New York (2022); To Be Human: The Figure in Self-Taught Art, Hirschl & Adler, New York (2021); and Sexual Personae, Hôtel Drouot, Paris (2020). Girivi’s paintings are held in both private museums and foundation collections in Italy, Germany, and the United States. She has been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Le Figaro. As an homage to her family, Girivi paints under a pseudonym that combines the names of her children and husband: ‘GI’ for Giovanna, her daughter, ‘RI’ for Riccardo, her son, and ‘VI’ for Vittorio, her husband.