GIULIA QUARESIMA

Giulia Quaresima is an Italian portrait and figurative artist, art technician and life drawing tutor living and working in Cambridgeshire, UK.

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Quaresima is an Associate Member of The Society of Graphic Fine Art (SGFA), member of The Cambridge Drawing Society and member of the UK Colour Pencil Society (UKCPS).

EDUCATION

• BA (Hons) in Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, Carrara, Italy - 2006

• BA (Hons) in Cultural Heritage Studies, University of Pisa, Italy - 2009

• MA (Hons) in History of Contemporary Art, University of Pisa, Italy - 2012

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EXHIBITIONS

Quaresima’s work has been exhibited in London:

• Mall Galleries (ING Discerning Eye, The Pastel Society, Women in Art Fair, Society of Women Artists, Society of Graphic Fine Art)

• Oxo Gallery, Oxo Tower Wharf

• The Gallery at Green and Stone, Chelsea

• The Minster Building 

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and also across the UK:

• Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, Conwy, North Wales

• Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, Somerset

• The Gallery, Holt

• The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool

 

and internationally too:

• Palazzo Arese Borromeo, Cesano Maderno, Italy

• Italian Culture Institute Gallery, Cracow, Poland

• Petrartedizioni Art Gallery, Pietrasanta, Italy

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​AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

2026

• Reserve Best in Show Award - UK Colour Pencil Society Silver Exhibition 2026.

2025

• Finalist in the Drawing and Illustration Category at the VAO Visual Art Open 2025.

2024

• Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 - Series 11 -contestant - sitter: TV star and comedian Rosie Jones.

2023

• Shortlisted out of 836 entries as one of the 11 finalists of the London Graphic Centre Art Prize 2023 sponsored by Theo Paphitis.

2022

• Special Commendation from the Institute of East Anglian Artists as a result of her entry in the IEA Open Exhibition 2022.

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"My artistic activity focuses on figurative subjects, particularly portraits and the human form; in the last couple of years I deepened my love for drawing, and I now mostly work using coloured pencils and charcoal, a combination of materials able to express perfectly the feeling behind my inspiration, made of memories, personal experiences, and unspoken emotions".

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"In the middle of my drawing process, I like scratching the surface and making marks with sand paper, in order to create a more uneven surface to draw on and to give a general movement to the composition. Only few details are on focus, while everything else is just a blur.

This personal technique I developed allows me to give the viewer the illusion that my sitters are either emerging or disappearing in this vortex of lines. In order to reveal these lines, I have to start dancing with my hands on the paper, dragging the charcoal powder around the surface till it gets inside the marks I created. It's only at that stage that they become visible.
I like to see this moment as a sort of performance art, probably influenced by my love for dancing, and my past as a dance teacher".

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"The relentless passage of time, loneliness, solitude, the love/sacrifice behind motherhood, the fascinating moment of conception, the power of gesture and body language to express emotions and feelings, are some of my favourite subjects.

In my latest series, I  put a lot of emphasis on my sitters' hands and eyes, preferring close-ups, unusual and striking compositions that turn into timeless, universal themes which everybody can relate to". ​​

"Self-portraits have also been over the years a crucial part of my artistic activity as they represent a recurring source of practice (with a model always available) and an exercise of truthiness, as it forces to examine myself in a way I normally wouldn't, analysing my deepest and inner fears and turmoils".

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