Giuliana Mottin was born in 1980 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. She began to paint at the age of 11, leading her to turn to masters as diverse as Modigliani and Picasso at a young age.
In 1998, Mottin left Brazil for Italy to further her inquiry and personal development as an artist. She attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence and, subsequently, the University of Florence to study costume and fashion design for theater. It was during her time in Florence that she was cast in a number of film productions (including Ridley Scott’s Hannibal), which ultimately led her to California to explore her interest in film. But at all times throughout this journey, Mottin found time to explore her personal visual language through painting.
Mottin moved to New York City in July of 2007, where she continued to develop her unique painting technique by which she avoids the use of any type of brushes. In this technique, her paintings are made with her own hands except for the help of a small sponge, an approach that is known as her hallmark. Visually, her time in NYC led her closer to the art of Francis Bacon, principally to develop themes around movement and rhythm.
Following the same principal and techniques, Mottin has started to introduce elegant, yet abstract forms of writing, releasing an idiosyncratic form of calligraphy – again created without \touching the canvas – into the context of movement and rhythm. The physical intimacy of her technique, in combination with the energy of raw emotion, has often drawn affinity to Jackson Pollock’s work, notwithstanding its genuine decorative appeal.
Her work gained popular appeal because her compositions were then, and continue to be, the expression of imminent and intimate emotion, portrayed through a unique hand technique, involving the body of the artist in full contact with the colors that go onto the canvas. The end result stirs powerful, emotive and unpredictable representations.
In 2014, Mottin introduced a new series, “Daily Candy” which she continues by private commission. One of a kind paintings, she describes them as long-lasting color study made with paint drops. “I call an allegorical celebration of chaos. The dots are about repetition and difference.” Lately, these paintings are becoming more and more complex as the artist’s inspiration evolves from a color study to a translation of feelings or images simply with dots.
Her passion for the arts is not limited to only being an artist. In 2016, she co-founded MITCH + CO, an online gallery focused on art fairs and pop up exhibitions. She’s taken her extensive art fair experience and applied it to the gallery which represents multiple artists from around the globe. After curating many art fair exhibitions, she is now working as an independent curator as well.
Mottin currently lives and works between New York and Los Angeles/Santa Barbara.