Raffaella
Surian

Raffaella Surian was born in 1960 in Padua. She spent her early life in Teolo, a small village in the Colli Euganei where she studied until she decided to move to Milan. She attended the art academy in Milan, “Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti” (NABA). She graduated with Prof. Tadini, Valentini, Isgrò and Veronesi. She has been a professor assistant for 10 years; especially she worked with Prof. Valentini, Benedetti and Della Torre. She started a dynamic art activity by having few exhibitions in Milan, but at the very beginning she had to slow down with art teaching and working because of a private inconvenience. After a period characterized by pauses and restarts, she gave her works new ideas and she published an art book with a poem of D. Rondoni. Her work now is in a constant evolution, she is moving from etching to drawing , from gigantic canvas opera to small art books.

“I usually  do my works on paper  (engraving, collage, treated papers) and I manipulate this material to make it  almost like a sculpture. The etchings are made with several plates, with very long times of engraving and  ruptures, printed works with thick papers and a lot of pressure from the printing-press: for me the engraving technique is an expressive and not a reproductive tool. Also other works basis derives from etchings, sugar or soft wax manner, with collage interventions: I do not consider collage as an added detail to the engraved paper, but as a primary construct.”