Gina Pierleoni uses portraiture to spark conversations about empathy and our common humanity. Portraiture is the opposite of assumption. Pierleoni’s images are acts of deep seeing that push past label and judgments; they seek to "de-separate" us.
Pierleoni's portraits spring from conversations with the sitter. These are real people, alive, changing, vulnerable and genuine.
The Baltimore Sun described Pierleoni’s mixed media figures as “gloriously human…there's nothing between them and you to keep them from meeting you head-on. It's hard to get too much of an artist who can convey a sense of self-acceptance and strength even in the knowledge of weakness and fallibility.”
Solo exhibition venues include: Creative Alliance, Baltimore; Uferwerk, Werder, Germany; Unicorn Gallery, Towson; CCBC, Baltimore; Stevenson University, Stevenson, MD; Mooney Gallery, New Rochelle, NY; Craig Flinner Gallery, Baltimore; Gallery 10, Washington, DC; School 33 Art Center, Baltimore.
Group exhibition venues include: The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, Baltimore; Courthouse Galleries, Portsmouth, VA; Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy; Angel Orensanz Foundation, NY/NY; Betsy Underground Gallery, Miami Beach, FL; WPA/Corcoran, Washington, DC; Maryland Art Place, Baltimore; The Brooklyn Art Library, NY; Maxwell Fine Arts, Peekskill, NY. Pierleoni is represented in over 150 private and public collections in the U.S., Canada, Germany and China including Golden Artist Colors.
Awards include grants from the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, the Gottlieb Foundation (emergency grant), three from Maryland State Arts Council and six Recognition of Scholarly and Creative Publications from Harford Community College. In 2020, she was acknowledged with an 'Exceptional Achievement as an Adjunct Faculty Member in Arts & Humanities 'from Harford Community College. She was also recognized as a ‘Hero in the MICA Community’.
Pierleoni earned an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and a BFA from the College of New Rochelle in NY. She is an Adjunct Professor at Harford Community College and Loyola University.
