Biography - Lorena Ziraldo

Born in Italy and raised in Toronto, Lorena Ziraldo traveled Canada living on both coasts. In 2000, Ziraldo completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in painting at the internationally esteemed Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University). There she studied with, and was supported by luminaries such as Gerald Ferguson. Before moving to Halifax, she studied art history at the University of Toronto.

Lorena Ziraldo has chosen to focus on figure painting, and although not all work focuses on the human figure, her work consistently focuses on humanity. She is an observer and documenter of human society. Ziraldo uses painting to reflect upon her own experiences, in such a way that we can look at our own. The narrative quality in her figure paintings is poetic; she paints both the personal, and the universal.

After a month long residency in San Francisco (2012), she exhibited a body of work focused on her maturing son as he transitioned from boy to teen to young man. She subtly portrayed the physical changes, while capturing an essence that is difficult to describe. One could step into these paintings, as a parent, a youth, a sibling, a friend – evocative and beautiful.