Italian artist Paola Guerra’s highly expressionistic neo-figurative female portraits are wrought with tension, yet inexplicably soulful. In daring brushstrokes, she paints women integrated within different contexts, all reflective of both a universal femininity and Guerra’s own personal life experience. Her strong use of line and incorporation of additional elements such as light wire netting in her pieces creates a disruption in perspective, adding a tension that intimates both strength and vulnerability in her subjects.
Guerra’s art reflects a style that she calls Middle European, recalling both Austrian and German artistic approaches, as well as those of the countries of Eastern Europe. Her paintings speak of struggle and triumph, themes reflected in the history of this region and in her journey as an artist. In each painting, the viewer is invited to look beyond what is on the surface, to explore all the depth and complexity that lies beneath. Therein is reflected the universal struggle that all aligned with the feminine ultimately come to face.