Daniela Balsamo

Daniela Balsamo was born in Palermo in 1970. After completing her artistic high school diploma, she moved to Florence to study fashion design at the Politecnico Internazionale della Moda. In 1991, she won a scholarship to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where she furthered her studies in fashion illustration. After years of training in the field, she returned to Palermo to attend the scenography course at the Academy of Fine Arts. She dedicated herself to theater, and from 1997 to 2001, she was involved in significant theatrical productions and subsequent world tours with renowned international directors such as Peter Greenaway and Bob Wilson. She curated the installation "The Body of Art" at the 2001 Valencia Biennale and worked as a prop master for "1951-2001 Made in Italy? Memoria di Gae Aulenti" at the Triennale di Milano the same year. She then resumed her studies at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes San Carlos in Valencia, specializing in audiovisuals. Since 2005, she has been living in Palermo, where she teaches drawing at the Accademia del Lusso and collaborates as a costume designer on various theatrical and film productions.

Her experience in fashion and theater profoundly influences her artistic research. After an initial phase of experimentation with collage on predominantly portrait subjects, she dedicated herself to oil painting, progressively defining her color palette and the choice of elements that inhabit her paintings, as if within a scenography. Her new production depicts interior views, intimate and domestic scenes, still lifes, old objects, and scenic compositions. Her works consistently reflect an implicit passion for alchemy, myth, and metamorphosis. Daniela Balsamo uses a European symbolism derived from Jungian influences, filled with objectified references that inhabit our subconscious; objects containing forgotten or repressed experiences, complexes, and memories. Dreams and nightmares, as well as premonitions, take the form of stage accessories, real or fantasy animals, creating surreal domestic situations like "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." Free and refined sequences are staged in environments where the dimension of the subconscious is made manifest through details, like in a sophisticated Maugham text, living rooms waiting to be inhabited by conversations that are only seemingly superficial but can be perceived in their complex emotionality by a keen listener.

Her painting is feminine, sumptuous, outdated, and nonchalant, suspended between the present and the imaginary. It encapsulates the Palermo roots of the painter, which manifest in the distinctive virtuosity of her style, recalling Rococo scenarios, the presence of magnificent theaters like the Teatro Massimo, the architectural panorama of Palermo, and its eclectic beauty. Daniela Balsamo uses a palette that combines the colors of classical theater with surreal scenographies. Observing Daniela Balsamo is like entering the whimsical atmospheres of Sofia Coppola and Baz Luhrmann, where a veiled melancholy takes us to non-existent places.

In February 2022, commissioned by the Department of SPPEFF at the University of Palermo in collaboration with the Centro Siciliano Sturzo, she created the mural "Di rose rosse e d'amor fendente" dedicated to the campaign against violence towards women. Since 2022, she has been part of the SACS at the Museo Riso – Regional Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Palermo. Her solo exhibitions have been hosted in numerous galleries in Palermo, Rome, Florence, and Naples. In January 2023, the Museo Riso in Palermo hosted a major solo exhibition of the artist titled "Anomalie," curated by Giulia Ingarao in collaboration with Ruber Contemporanea.

Solo Exhibitions:

2023 “ANOMALIE” - Museo di arte contemporanea Museo Riso, Palermo, a cura di Giulia Ingarao

2019 “SOUVENIR” – esposizione e performance di pittura di Daniela Balsamo e Igor Scalisi Palminteri, a cura di Giovanni Lo Verso.

2018 “Sogni” - Galleria Aréa, Palermo, a cura di Floriana Spanò

2017 “Interno giorno” - Galleria Elle Arte, Palermo, a cura di Floriana Spanò

2016 “Fil Rouge” - Galleria Bobez, Palermo, a cura di Giuseppe Carli

2015 “A cera persa” - Galleria Bobez, Palermo, a cura di Giuseppe Carli

2014 “Gost” - Re Federico Cowork, Palermo, a cura di Marina Sajeva

2012 “Props” - oggetti di scena, Galleria Qamm, Palermo

2011 “In…attesa, l’arte di aspettare” - Studi Nesos, Palermo, a cura di Marina Giordano

2010 “Personal Notes” – Spazioif, Roma, a cura di Irene Ferrara

2010 “Daniela Balsamo” - Galleria PiziArte, Teramo, a cura di Patrizia Cucinella

2009 “Spazio all'arte, Daniela Balsamo” – Galleria BQuadro, Palermo, a cura di Valentina Bruno

Group Exhibitions:

2021 "7 Fate" - Galleria Aréa, Palermo, a cura di Gianna Panicola

2020 “NOVECENTO – DA PIRANDELLO A GUCCIONE” – ARTISTI DI SICILIA - Convitto delle Arti - Noto Museum, Noto (SR), a cura di Vittorio Sgarbi

2018 “Rosy forever” - Borderline arte contemporanea, Palermo, a cura di Francesco Piazza

2018 “La risposta dell’amore” - Cantieri culturali, Palermo, a cura di Francesco Piazza

2018 “Frida Kahlo La Rivoluzionaria” - Convitto delle Arti di Noto, Vincenzo Sanfo

2018 “ Omaggio al Gattopardo” - Settimana delle culture, Palazzo Sant’Elia, Palermo, a cura di Anna Maria Ruta

2015 “Scongiuro” - Palazzo De Seta, Palermo, a cura di Giuseppe Carli

2014 “Un estate d’arte” - Petralia Soprana e Geraci Siculo (Pa), a cura di Anna Maria Ruta

2013 "O" (Eau) - Palazzo Ziino, Palermo, a cura di Laura Trapani

2012 “4.48 Psychosis” - Museo Giuseppe Whitaker, Mothya (TP), a cura di Laura Trapani

2012 “Màs o Menos II” - Ente Mostra di Pittura Contemporanea, Marsala, a cura di Giulia Ingarao e Sergio Troisi

2011 “Màs o Menos” - Villa Alliata Cardillo, Palermo, a cura di Giulia Ingarao

2010 "Spazio all'arte reunion" - Ex noviziato dei Crociferi, Palermo, a cura di Valentina Bruno

2009 "Posti a sedere" - ABADIR, San Martino delle Scale, Palermo, a cura di Santo Campanella

2009 "Trashart" - Artisti del recupero, UMBILICUS, Palazzo Pollicarini, Enna, a cura di Anna Maria Ruta

2008 "Trashart" - Real Albergo delle povere, Palermo, a cura di Marina Giordano

2008 "Le Visitatrici" - otto artiste in Abbadia, ABADIR, San Martino delle Scale, Palermo