Carlotta Roma
Lives and works in London, UK
b. 1996
Carlotta Roma explores states of metamorphosis, toxicity, and the performance of the absurd within society. Through painting, drawing, photography, and film, she draws from research into Renaissance painting, Catholic iconography, and film. Ephemeral materials—including newspaper clippings, found imagery, and her own photography—serve as key sources and are embedded in her work.
Roma’s paintings reach for the precipice that shifts between formation and decay. The canvas holds the subjects in a continual cycle of change. ‘Torschlusspanik’ is a German phrase that translates directly as ‘gate-closing panic’. Its roots derive from the medieval period, where being locked out of the city gates after dark would induce a panic for fear of being attacked by invading forces, wild animals, witches, and other supernatural beings.
She uses this concept as a way to keep the painting’s surface open for as long as possible. Layers of translucency are applied and built up in stages using different mediums—such as wax or iron powder—allowing for contemplative pauses as well as frenzied arrangements where forms gradually emerge in a way that is both disorienting and unsettling. Like an intuitive dance, the paintings are emotional, sometimes decisive, and at other times totally chaotic.
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Born in 1996 in Rome, Italy
Lives and works in London, UK2015-2019
BA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, London, UK -
Solo exhibitions
2025
TORSCHLUSSPANIK, Inspection Pit, West Sussex, UK
Group exhibitions
2025
TERSE, curated by Carlotta Roma and Will Vetch, Inspection Pit, West Sussex, UK
As Small As Eyespresents ON SCREEN, The Tellus triannual, Greatorex Street, London, UK
2023
Babele, Spazio Musa, Turin, Italy
2022
Noi Viviamo Cosí, C. G. Williams, Siena, Italy
Threads, Curated by Will Vetch, SET New Cross, London, UK
2021
Grotto, Ridley Road Project Space, London, UK
Ombra,Inspection Pit, West Sussex, UK
Every Woman Biennial, The Copeland Gallery, London, UK
2020
Homegrown, Hauser & Wirth, Online
Rebooting Nature, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, UK
Vernissage, Palazzo Velli, Rome, Italy
2019
Plump Fiction, Curated by Will Vetch, The George Tavern, London, UK
Slade Degree Show, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, London, UK
Rhapsody On A Windy Night, curated by Caspar Giorgio Williams and Charlotte Call, London, UK
2018
Masons Yard Collective, Masons Yard, London, UK
Vaults, curated by Alex Vardaxoglou, London, UK
2017
Poujois and Roma, New York Studio School, New York, NY
Goldsmiths Degree Show, Goldsmiths University, London, UK
The Early Works II, Curated by Alex Vardaxoglou, London, UK
2016
Famous, Silesia Building, London, UK
Aporia, The Orange Garden Collective, Rome, Italy
Very Love, Copeland Gallery, London, UK -
Selected images
Fata Morgana , 2025, oil on canvas, 160 x 140 cm
Quaestio de Centauris, 2025, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm
Sibyl’s gullet, 2024, oil on canvas, 73 x 100 cm (28 3/4 x 39 3/8 in.)
(M)ET ANO, 2025, oil and graphite on canvas, 150 x 200 cm (59 x 78 3/4 in.)
Man fish, 2025, soft pastel on paper, 37.5 x 29 cm (14 3/4 x 11 1/2 in.)
Torschlusspanik, 2024, oil on canvas, 180 x 160 cm (70 7/8 x 63 in.)
A Man fish in Milan, 2024, oil on canvas, 100 x 77 cm (39 3/8 x 30 3/8 in.)
Tyrrhenian pirate, 2024, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm (78 3/4 x 59 in.)
Topology of transformation, 2025, graphite and soft pastel on paper, 45 x 90 cm (17 3/4 x 35 1/2 in.)
A Universal Language of Light, 2024, oil on canvas, 160 x 140 cm (63 x 55 1/8 in.)
Grind, 2025, graphite on paper, 42 x 36.5 cm (16 1/2 x 14 1/3 in.)
Ripples in the infra-specific, 2025, oil and wax on canvas, 200 x 150 cm (74 7/8 x 59 in.)
“But still the memory endured that the earth we stand on is made of colour; colour can be blown out; and then we stand on a dead leaf; and we who tread the earth securely have seen it dead.”, 2024, oil and wax on canvas, 80 x 96 cm (31 1/2 x 37 7/8 in.)
Guanto di Velluto, Tentacolo di Ferro, 2024, oil and wax on canvas, 160 x 140 cm (63 x 55 1/8 in.)
Conversing Bridge and Tomb, 2024, oil and charcoal on canvas, 160 x 180 cm (63 x 70 7/8 in.)
Teeth on teeth, 2024, oil on canvas, 74 x 96 cm (28 3/8 x 37 7/8 in.)
Parallelepiped Ostrich, 2022, oil on canvas, 190 x 160 cm (74 7/8 x 63 in.)
Hooded Puncturella, 2022, oil on canvas, 160 x 130 cm (63 x 51 1/8 in.)
Gorgo (di Iseo), 2022, oil on canvas, 200 x 150 cm (78 3/4 x 59 in.)
The rescue will begin in its own time, 2021, oil and graphite on canvas, 160 x 140 cm (63 x 55 1/8 in.)
Meliads, 2019, oil and rust on canvas, 200 x 130 cm (78 3/4 x 51 1/8 in.)
Untitled, 2022, photographic hand print, 27 x 14 cm (10 5/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
Petra, 2024, 16 mm, film still
Petra, 2024, 16 mm, film still
Petra, 2024, 16 mm, film still