Gaia Starace’s work explores the human form not through representation, but through gesture, movement and material.

In Form & Flesh, the body becomes an emotional and spatial presence rather than a recognisable figure. Layers of oil and acrylic, shifting fields of colour and gestural marks build surfaces that move between structure and fluidity, control and spontaneity.

Starace is interested in what exists beyond the visible body: energy, memory, vulnerability and the intangible forces that shape our sense of self. The physical act of painting becomes part of this investigation. Marks accumulate, dissolve and reappear, allowing each work to evolve through a process of construction and transformation.

Presented in dialogue with Graham G. Robertson’s figurative studies, Starace’s works approach the human condition from another direction. Where Robertson reveals the body through line and anatomy, Starace moves beyond its physical boundaries, exploring the emotional landscape that exists beneath and beyond form.

Her work considers the body as both physical and psychological, and painting as a space in which the visible and intangible can coexist.

Gallery Herk Alexander, 2024

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