Donatella Chiara Bedello

Donatella Chiara Bedello was born in Turin on March, 2nd, 1950.

In the ‘90s she moves to Venice, where she establishes and runs the first contemporary art gallery in the Jewish Ghetto.

For twenty-three years she tirelessly dedicates herself to the promotion of Italian and foreign artists, both established and emerging, and to the organization of personal and group exhibitions in the Gallery and in very prestigious venues; she develops an aesthetic sense that is sophisticated and far-sighted giving confidence to young artists who are warmly welcomed by the public and critics.

After this long experience, she decides to return to painting. She chooses as a subject the windows of New York shops opened in the ‘70s, which tell stories of people who seem to have come out of an American novel and places that come to mind like postcards of a world now outclassed by the mania of capitalist society. Her paintings are open doors on historical activities of which the artist has decided to preserve meticulously the memory, one stroke and one detail at a time.

Our Gallery has successfully organized her personal exhibition “Yesterday” in 2021, and in 2022 has organized a double-personal exhibition with Luigi Rocca, her teacher, entitled “2 Painters in a Bubble”. In July and August 2022, moreover, she has participated in the group exhibition “Fire” with an artwork representing the passion for music which ignites her soul.

In 2023 we published her first monography “Open Doors”.

She exhibits in Trieste, Turin, New York and at here, at the Ghetto Et Cetera art Gallery in Venice.

[…] “Her paintings permeate with realism so perfect and detailed to be amazed by observing the details. This art form, underestimated and sometimes criticized, in her production becomes a vehicle of emotions that are delineated through that use of color: intense, full-bodied that surrounds the represented subjects. Fascinated by that America of the 50/60’s, her paintings show the settings of the time depicting the streets where, far from the great metropolis, numerous stores flourished and where the mixture of different cultures and origins formed an urban agglomeration almost detached from the frenzy as if to rediscover that sense of belonging from the countries of origin. Italian Immigrants, Jewish communities, afro Americans merge into a set of lively vitality.

Donatella Bedello’s artworks show this in the abundance of details, in the precision and sharpness of the form arousing a nostalgic vision of a distant time. Her clean and detailed art doesn’t obscure that sense of joy and vitality, indeed it stands out in every painting. The contemporary art finds in her that energy and that capacity to reproduce faithfully without being aseptic. Colors harmonies, glazes and prospectives assume that significant information that makes her an authentic artist […] 

Gabriella Pastor

A Resplendent Conversation with Donatella Chiara Bedello

A few months ago, Donatella Chiara Bedello was contacted by the great Uzomah Ugwu (poet, writer, artist and art curator, as well as the CEO of Arte Realizzata, a popular online magazine where art and literature are analyzed through conversations with visual artists and writers). Here you find the published article.

Uzomah: How do you develop your art skills?

Donatella: My artistic skills have been finding an expression in all areas of my life since I was a child: in the kitchen, for example. I love experimenting with new combinations and new recipes; over the years I have dabbled in the creation and decoration of clothes and decorative elements in ceramics and other materials; I play the guitar, and also take photographs.

Uzomah: What artist has been your most significant influence?

Donatella: Definitely Edward Hopper and David Hockney. I particularly appreciate the first one for his ability to use each tool at its disposal – the stroke, the colors, the shadows – in such a harmonious and precise way as to perfectly recreate the American atmosphere, especially the interiors (diners, offices, homes).
Every detail of his works contributes to involve and transport the viewer into the scenes and not like a mere spectator, but like a protagonist. Of David Hockney, however, I appreciate the brushstroke, fast but precise at the same time, which expresses an unparalleled talent and vision of the whole.

Uzomah: Your most recent exhibit, “Open Doors,” explores the shop windows of New York in the 70s.

Donatella: What made you choose the location and time to reflect on?
I was born in the 50s and I grew up with the American Myth: a place and a period in which anyone could reach their aims with commitment and dedication (where there is a will there is a way!) and everything took me there, from music to fashion, to cinema to literature.

Uzomah: How do you come up with your color palette?
Donatella: I work with acrylic paints, which give me a lot of satisfaction. They are very bright and give me the feeling that my paintings are almost glossy, as printed in a magazine. I choose the shop windows that inspire me the most, that hit me for colors and fullness of details, so my palette varies depending on the work I choose from time to time.

Uzomah: What is the best thing about being an artist?

Donatella: There are a lot of positive things about being an artist, but the first is getting some of my dream into other people’s lives. The emotion when they send me photos of my works in their homes is always great.

Uzomah: What would you be if you could do anything besides art as a career?

Donatella: I think I would be a cook. I like to interpret food and combine nourishment with pleasure in the dishes I create. I am very careful about the balance of the ingredients and I strongly believe that we are what we eat, that’s why I love the genuine and unrefined food.

Uzomah: How is art a healing process?

Donatella: When I paint a shopwindow I discover it slowly, I concentrate, I study every single shape, even the smallest. I study the colors, the gradations, the shadows, the reflections, and by constantly studying it, is as if I were carrying it inside, and I slowly forget my everyday life For me art is escape from reality and move to another place and another era. It’s like reading a novel and being able to give voice inside me to places and characters.

Uzomah: What made you want to be an artist?

Donatella: Like I said, I’ve always been creative since I was a kid. When I arrived to Venice and opened my art gallery, the first contemporary art gallery in the Jewish Ghetto, I came into contact with many artists, first of all Luigi Rocca, who brought back my desire to find an expression to the creativity I had inside.