Lara Androvandi was born in Piombino (LI) in 1973. After she got graduation in Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, she improved her artistic knowledges thanks to an award in “Art expert for artistic metals” at the T.A.M. centre in Pietrarubbia (Italy) directed by the famous italian Master Arnaldo Pomodoro. Then she collaborated with the “Studio Vegni Design” in Pisa where she had the possibility to improve her knowledges in design and graphic branches. Lara designed and realized many jewels collections also shown in international exhibitions, even in Italy or in foreigner Countries; she has also exhibited her artworks with someone of the most famous Italian contemporary artists.
After she won an International Murales Competition, she was chosen to restore the interiors of the SS. Fabiano and Sebastiano Church in Fiamignano (RI).
Since years Lara Androvandi has been teaching even History of Art at the secondary schools or Art Techniques in some private schools. She has also written and published few books and e.books speaking about art&craft.
In 2014 she started to study the traditional Art of Ebru, at first learning the characteristics of this traditional Turkish art of the XVIIth century, than to give her artworks a personal touch to join tradition and modernity, Occident and Orient.
She has also designed many collections: the “Winding Evolution”, e jewelry collection exhibited in international preview in Sharm-El-Sheikh; the “Funny Lines”, a scarfs collection edited in limited edition.
In May 2015 she got from the Mayor of Suvereto (LI- Italy) Mr Giuliano Parodi, the “Cittadinanza Onoraria” and the “Keys of the city” for artistic merits.
In Dicember 2015 Lara represented Italy at the “Italian Art Fair – Dubai” with one of her mosaics.
In April 2019 in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome she is received in audience by the Holy Father Pope Francis. In that occasion Lara donates her sculpture “Alithos Anesti”, a monumental crucifix in secular larch an mirror mosaic, to His Holiness Pope Francis. Since then the work has been kept in the Vatican State and is part of the papal private collections.
Also in 2019, on the occasion of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the Carrara Academy of Fine Arts, Lara was chosen as one of the six most deserving ex-students of this institution and will be able to tell her story in a dedicated conference, held in the Sala Marmi of Palazzo Cybo Malaspina.
It was in October 2021 that one of her sculpture, “Rosamaris”, was deposited with the help of a submarine ROV and in the presence of the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage and few local authorities, inside the hold of the steamer “A. Sgarallino” to commemorate the more than 300 victims caused by a terrible bombing during the Second World War and which was sunk off the Piombino Channel near the coast of the Island of Elba.
Since 2014 Lara Androvandi has begun to study the ancient art of Marbling, also called Ebru Art, first learning the characteristics of the Turkish-Ottoman tradition that underlies it, then starting to rework everything in a personal key, thus combining tradition and modernity, East and West. Lara is, to date, one of the very few Italian artists able to practice this ancient technique of painting on water, a technique that has recently been recognized by UNESCO as an “intangible heritage of humanity”.
In creating her works, Lara Androvandi also combines the rules of traditional marbling with new materials, for example she uses natural paper, prints on drawings she previously made with graphite and gouache, applies papier collé or pure gold leafs, up to incorporating her works in resin to give life to tiles with a strong and precious character.
It was precisely these works that aroused the interest of the University of Istanbul, a city that has evidence of Ebru since the 16th century. A student of this renowned University has selected, for her master thesis publication, a handful of artists from all over the world – including Lara Androvandi – who rework, in a personal and contemporary key, the traditional Ebru Art.
The performances that Lara makes with Ebru Art are also fascinating, following the rhythm of a song, illustrating the words of a story or the verses of a poem. And it is precisely with these Marbling performances that Lara Androvandi: in 2017 she was chosen by Unipol Italia Assicurazioni as testimonial artist and, since 2018, she has been collaborating with the well-known Italian tour operator Idee Per Viaggiare. In July 2019 he was a guest artist at CIBART Seravezza, an international artistic event. Also in 2019 she collaborated with D-Wok Turin, under the direction of the well-known internationally theater director Davide Livermore, for the creation of the sets of the Opera commissioned by Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan.
The globally known brand “Bombay Sapphire” of Martini & Rossi wanted Lara Androvandi as testimonial artist on the occasion of “Stir Creativity 2019”. An important event that took place in Rome after having touched the cities of Milan and London in the previous two editions. The presence of the artist, with her live performances of Ebru Art, went to underline the “fluidity” typical of their gin.
The well-known guitarist, composer and television author Fernando Fera, after having chosen and firmly wanted Lara Androvandi as a participant in one of his important television programs, will comment on the artist’s Ebru performances as follows: “Lara Androvandi, in addition to being a very good artist, is also a nice person. But, above all, Lara has a power, she has magic in her hands”.
In October 2019 Lara is the main actress with her performances of EbruArt, at the Concordi Theater in Campiglia M.ma (LI) in the theatrical representation of “The feather”. Inspired by the well-known book by Giorgio Faletti, this performance is curated by the Teatro dell’Aglio in Piombino.
In May 2022 Lara was chosen as guest artist for the “Nadia Toffa National Journalistic Award” – Polo Museale Santa Maria della Scala – Siena. On this occasion she also presented, in a national preview, the portrait dedicated to Nadia Toffa; a work that will then be included in his new series entitled “The faces of art”. A majestic work, made with mixed technique with long execution times, which sees a meticulous papier collé of precious papers pre-decorated with the Ebru technique and than incorporated in resin panels to give life to the face of the recently deceased journalist, here deliberately elevated to Icon Pop. Now this artwork is definitively exhibited in the hall of the LILT SIENA.
In Summer 2022, Lara collaborated with the San Gemini Preservation Studies, Paper Restoration and Conservation Course, heading the “PAPER MARBLE TECHNIQUES COURSE” for a group of students from the UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK.
In October 2022, only 18 artists have been selected from all over the world to participate in the “Cavalli d’Autore” exhibition. A very important event held at the Polo Museale di Santa Maria della Scala, in Piazza Duomo in Siena. Among these artists there is also Lara Androvandi with “Elegantia”, a majestic pictorial work that portrays the detail of a horse’s muzzle, made in gouache and graphite on a mosaic of papers previously decorated by her with the technique of painting on water Ebru.
Also for the second edition of the “Nadia Toffa National Journalistic Award”, Lara’s works are chosen to reward the best journalist of the year, Francesca Fialdini, and as special gift to the parents of the beloved journalist who died prematurely a few years ago.
Since 2022 the artworks of Lara Androvandi have been exhibited in some of the main contemporary Italian art fairs.
Thanks to this wide knowledge, Lara Androvandi’s art moves from drawing to painting, from picture to mosaic, from sculpture to craft.
