Roberta Cialfi, 'Listening'

When I am making a painting, a sculpture or thinking about how to arrange and curate in a space the work. I am influenced by notions of fugitiveness, entanglement, spillages, and imperfections. I am fascinated by mythology, distant archetypes, and astrology. 

I position myself within technique and craftsmanship to stay within the material, having a physical approach. Through my ceramic work, I have explored ideas of transformation, multiple identities, intra relationships, and imperfections. I am very interested in exploring the dynamics between objects and sculptures.  The vase seems to me to occupy a place of ambiguity. Objects and sculptures offer a place to be invaded by other materials and concepts. 

My paintings are derived from observation. I attempt to respond and re-create what I notice and sense when immersed in a particular scene. I enjoy the process of finding a balance between a loose figuration and abstraction often spilling into each other in various degrees on one another, talking of paintings and sculptures. Abstraction offers me an opportunity to play more with the quality of the paint but also another way to convey latent feelings and thoughts. The image is equally important to evoke a feeling, a story, or a thought. The title in my work has a precise value to evoke or direct but never tells the complete story. The concept of 'title' is very fluid. I can choose Italian or English titles and the same title might be given to different works.

I studied at University of Central Lancashire, BA (Hons) Fine Art, then I finished MA studio practice in 2017. I also studied abroad as an exchange student with the ISEP exchange student program. At the California State University, East Bay, Hayward, CA, US. 2013-2014. 

 Based in Preston, I paint and make ceramic work in my studio at The Birley Artist Studios and Project Space. Most recently I was part of a group show ‘The Pearls and the Oyster’ a female painting project at The Birley studio in Preston. I was a short-listed artist in the Beep Painting Biennial 2024 named ‘I won’t stay in a world without love’. I engage with a variety of materials using a multidisciplinary approach to create multi-layered installations. My aim is to create an ambiance in which the human is not the main protagonist, which could open up space to feel and think differently, even if for a short period of time.