Valentina Gelain

Valentina Gelain (1992, Feltre) graduated in Visual Arts (BA-MA) from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. She's currently based in Ostrobothnia, Finland.
Through subjective experience and introspection, Gelain investigates issues related to human existentialism, drawing directly from the mental and emotional, symbolic and dreamlike sphere.
Thanks to a plural opening of perceptions, various research themes such as inner conflicts, mental landscapes and redemption are explored by a synergy of form and content, image and intention.
Interdisciplinary artist, Gelain explores subjects and figurations through different languages and means of communication, which can help to best express her work vision.
She has recently approached video art, experimenting with it in works such as 'The Grey Hour' and 'The Peaks'.
In recent years, the artist participated in artistic/cultural initiatives and collaborated with various peers and organisations, both nationally and internationally. Some collaborators' examples are Vaasa City Cultural Department, Elokuvakeskus Botnia, Malakta Art Factory, Collision Collective, Regional Dance Center of Ostrobothnia and so on.
Gelain is a member of Artists' Association MUU and in 2022 was a finalist for We Art Open and Premio Combat Prize. Also, she is a finalist for the third time of Exibart Prize 23/24.

She works with artist Bekim Hasaj as a duo. They have been actively cooperating together since 2018 and have worked on public art, (long term) projects and exhibitions, independent and otherwise.
In the same year, Hasaj & Gelain founded Black Box Genesis® and ran the art space in the city of Vaasa until 2021.
Lately, the artists have strengthened their collaboration and their research draws deeply from landscapes, the rural and natural areas, dealing with existential issues through introspection and self-awareness, exploring and trying to manifest the mental and psychological sphere.
The artist duo is working on a project to develop (public) art in rural areas and inaugurated it with the mural 'Awake', in Övermark, in 2023.
The most recent duo exhibition was 'Dripping Cavities' at Vaasa Art Gallery-Vaasa City Museums (November 2023-January 2024), that featured the multidisciplinary projects 'Scanning Landscape' and 'The Grey Hour'.
In late 2023, they were invited as guest teachers to the University of Novia, in Jakobstad, to hold a course on the artistic process in relation to landscape and territory; in February 2024, they organized an intensive workshop on handmade paper and the uses in contemporary art.

Venues where the artist has exhibited include: MUU Helsinki Contemporary Art Centre, Cable Factory (Helsinki, Finland), Pasila Urban Art Center (Helsinki, Finland), Vaasa City Art Gallery-Vaasa City Museums (Vaasa, Finland), Ostrobithnian Museum (Vaasa Finland), Makers' Gallery (Vaasa, Finland), Ibis Photo Gallery (Vaasa, Finland), CREA - Cantieri del Contemporaneo (Venice, Italy), Museo Giovanni Fattori (Livorno, Italy), Sale Agello (Crema, Italy), La Casa delle Artiste (Milen, Italy), National Historical Museum of Tirana (Albania), and Socker Gallery / pop-up space (Umeå, Sweden).