Beatrice Scaccia

Beatrice Scaccia(born 1978 -Frosinone, Italy), also known asBea Scacciais an Italian visual artist and trained realist painter residing inNew York City.Much of her work centers on a protagonist named Eve and other similar genderless characters, with hidden faces, that represent alter egos of the artist.Scaccia'sgessoandwaxdrawings,monotypeprints,sketches,paintings, andanimationshave been exhibited in solo exhibitions inRome,Milan, and New York City. Her works are also held in the permanent collections of theFarnesina Experimentaat thePalazzo della Farnesina(the seat of theItalian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea inViareggio,Tuscany, and theWilliam Louis-DreyfusFoundation.
Scaccia was born in Frosinone, Italy in 1978.She began her artistic career studying atAccademia di Belle ArtiinRome, Italy,where she met and started working with the artist Gino Marotta.In 2007, she began occasionally visiting New York City.In summer 2009, Scaccia entered a three-month studio-residency at Lower East Side Printshop inManhattan,New York.She later returned to New York in 2011 to establish a permanent residence there. According to Scaccia, the city has had an influence on her work, "freed it, and perhaps made it more playful, more conscious."
Scaccia was trained as a realistic painter but after a few years, she abandoned that path, ridding herself of palettes, materials, and opting for drawings in pencils andgesso.Her first solo exhibitionHe, she, it: masculine, feminine and neuter genderwas exhibited at the Ugo Ferranti Gallery in Rome. It included a multitude of chronological sketches depicting a genderless individual grappling with theirsexuality, attempting to dress in bothfeminineandmasculineclothing, and with an ever-presentstrap-onsex toyamong the various articles of attire. The sequence of developmental sketches culminated in a collection ofmonotypeprintsfollowed by three finished wax drawings.
Her technique was influenced by how beeswax is used on furniture and similarly from its use in theBatiktechnique. She later incorporated paper techniques from workshops she attended in New York.
In 2013, Scaccia exhibited her second body of work entitledThe Perfect Stageat the BOSI Contemporary Gallery in New York. In the same period, she had begun working at the art studio ofJeff Koons.InThe Perfect Stage,the genderless character that is the subject of her work could be seen to take shape. The exhibition included a series of fifteen drawings, an audio narration, and two video installations.These drawings also began to introduce color. Scaccia, who had previously abandoned painting, started in that body of work to gradually reintroduce colors back into her works but only in a single hue: a glazed, almost Flemish red.The narrative voice played in the background was written by the artist and is similar to atheatrical monologueincluded "rhetorical questions… posed with dramatic humor and anguish, moods in which Scaccia engages in the inner battles of her character."To create the animation, Scaccia had enrolled in a course at theSchool of Visual Artin Manhattan.
In 2014, she began a residency at the Residency Unlimited inBrooklyn, New York.It was at Residency Unlimited's event space that she held her third solo exhibition entitledLittle Gloating Evein February 2014. The exhibition was presented again at the Effearte inMilan, Italy,as well as at the Cuchifritos Gallery in New York.InLittle Gloating Eve, the artist demonstrates the entire evolution of her subject Eve beginning with the animationAt least a snake, originally created for the projectPatria Interiore(2012) which was curated by Manuela Pacella, and exhibited at theGolden Thread GalleryinBelfast,Northern Ireland. The culmination of the character's evolution,Little Gloating Evealso features several collaborative works with other artists including a ceramic installation by Japanese artist Toshiaki Noda, a soundtrack by French musician Lionel Laquerrière, and a collection of 96 drawings made by children at an Italian elementary school reinterpreting the character.
In 2016, Scaccia was selected for a residency at theWoodstock Byrdcliffe Guild.Scaccia's fourth solo exhibitCall the Blufffeatured several new pieces specifically created for the Cara Gallery exhibit.The works explore the artist's fascination with "random and repetitive gestures of everyday life." According toMarie Claire's Germano D'Acquisto, the characters in her work seem to be "suspended in a state of indecision between what has been done and what will soon happen. They appear frozen and melancholic, perhaps stuck in a state of perennial indecision."
In 2018, Scaccia had a solo exhibition,Is There an Outside?at the Ricco Maresca Gallery in New York. The exhibition included mixed media pieces, animation, and a series of monochromatic two-sided works depicting figures emerging from rough-hewn shapes and limbs cloaked in clothing.In July 2020, Scaccia participated in the special project,Homemade, organized and sponsored byMagazzino Italian Art. Homemadewaslaunched as a digital program during the global quarantine and culminated with an in-person exhibition of the new works created during the program. Eight New York-based Italian artists were invited: Alessandro Teoldi, Andrea Mastrovito, Beatrice Scaccia, Danilo Correale, Davide Balliano, Francesco Simeti, Luisa Rabbia, and Maria D. Rapicavoli.
In 2021, She had her first museum showMy Hope Chest, at theKatonah Museum of Art,showcasing a stop-motion animation and site-specific wall drawings.The animation was realized thanks to the grant that was awarded to her by the Queens Council in 2020.
In 2022, she had her first solo exhibition (composed entirely) of paintings at JDJ Gallery in New York in a show titled With Their Striking Features.