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BIOGRAPHY

Paola Epifani, alias Rabarama, was born in Rome in 1969. She lives and works in Padova.
The daughter of an artist, from her early childhood she showed an inborn talent for sculpture. She started her artistic education at the Arts High School in Treviso, and continued later at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts.  She graduated with top marks in 1991 and immediately started taking part in a large number of national and international sculpture competitions, earning growing acclaim with both the critics and the general public alike.
Rabarama creates sculptures and paintings with men, women or hybrid creatures, often passing for the eccentric. The skin of the subject created by the artist is always decorated with symbols, letters, hieroglyphics and other figures in a variety of forms. The "membrane", the "cloak" that seems to envelop these figures is constantly changing, always adding new signs, symbols and metaphors. The alphabet indicates the internal restriction of language and our singular-plural entity (according to the conception of the philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy): hieroglyphics, puzzles and honeycombs are the visualization of the genome, the infinite combinations and possible varieties inherent in humanity, displayed in the mental mazes where is materialized the multifaceted complexity of the ego. Often exhibitions of Rabarama's works are presented in collaboration with other artists, performers (body painting, dancers, acrobats) and are enriched by video projections and sound. Her work is considered suggestive and exciting, describes all the sorrows and joys of the human being, from slavery to freedom, through  the genetic code of dreams.
"The art of Rabarama is often very aggressive, not only for the audience, but also for the creator," said George S. Bolge, executive director of the Museum of Art in Boca Raton, Miami, United States of America, about artist's works.
This long path, studded with successes, brought her to present in 2011 at the 54th Venice Biennale the monumental work Abbandono, made entirely in Carrara marble.
 In addition to this fundamental recognition, her works have been exhibited in major world capitals of the art scene as, among others, Paris, Florence, Cannes, Miami, Shanghai.
Numerous and important, also, are the acquisition of her works by important public and private institutions such as the Art Museum of the Beijing Biennale, the Shanghai Sculpture Space and Copelouzos Museum of Athens, not to mention the three monumental works purchased by the Municipality of Reggio Calabria and exhibited at the Falcomatà waterfront. In 2014 is godmother and inspirer of the Skin Art Festival, which is held in Merano, collaborating with Kryolan. Recently, in 2015, Rabarama won the international competition held by the Municipality of Vallo della Lucania (SA). Following this victory was created Leud, the largest marble ever created before by the artist, now on display in the quaint old town.
 Unforgettable also is the artistic alliance and collaboration with Cirque du Soleil.
In 2016 Rabarama exposes in galleries both Italian, like the Italian Fine Art Gallery in Positano (SA) and SimonBart Gallery in Porto Cervo (Sardinia), and abroad, taking part in the Bienniale of  Vught organized by Van Loon Galleries, Netherlands. In the same year he took part in the Biennale of  Art in Asolo (TV), Italy.
Thanks to her versatile talent, Rabarama experiences and realizes, over time, the terracotta works, classic well known painted bronzes, fascinating unique pieces of marble, glass and rare stones, resin inclusions, monotypes in silicone resin , precious artist jewellery and, of course, the wonderful paintings and serigraphs.
 Rabarama currently lives and works in Padua, manages her own career and collaborates internationally with important art galleries in France, Holland, Belgium, England, Turkey, Switzerland and the United States.
“...Rabarama is inevitably and inexorably an intimate part of the total culture of our time.”
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George S. Bolge, Executive Director Boca Raton Museum, USA 
Official Biography and Exhibitions
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