Elena Brandi, aka AguaPurpura, is a plastic artist and performer (or polyartist) born in Milan and graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in 1996-1997.
She expanded her training in Spain, at the Facultad de Bellas Artes in Granada, thanks to two scholarships: the first in the academic year 1993-94 (Erasmus project) and the second in the A.A. 2012 -13, for the Master in Design: Production, Edition, Diffusion (Master de Dibujo; Produc-ción, Edicción, Difusión).
Since 1994 she has been a practitioner of traditional Chinese and oriental martial arts. She works as a free-lancer for individuals, companies, publishing, festivals, etc.) By offering various services such as: plastic arts, caricatures, portraits, illustrations-cartoons, decorations (murals / installations / objects) and body painting performances. She also has numerous personal and collective exhibitions to her credit, in Italy and Spain including:
1993: Collective exhibition at La Spirale Gallery, Milan. Solo exhibition of paintings, Teatro I, Milan.
1996 -97: Collective illustration: "The Pulcinella by Emanuele Luzzati", Palazzo Ducale, Genoa
2001: Collective exhibition “Mujeres Artesanas”, Palacio de los Cordova, Granada. “Cinco Mi-radas” painting collective, Armilla Municipal Theater.
2003: Solo exhibition of painting, “Taller de arte Vimaambi”, Granada.
Solo exhibition of “Guaches” painting, Casa de Porras Cultural Center, University of Granada
2012: Collective drawing “Miradas que Habitan”, Parque de las Ciencias, Granada
Drawing collective: “E11leven artists”, Corrala de Santiago, University of Granada.

She performs, both in Italy and in Spain, in numerous flamenco shows in tablao, theaters, festi-vals and events.
At the same time, she dedicates herself to training for para-university courses (Universidad de Granada) and for various public bodies or cultural associations.
She currently resides in the province of Grosseto.

DEVELOPMENT and AESTHETICS

Since childhood she has been active as a painter, also showing aptitude for other arts, such as music and dance. She studied classical cello for several years, experimenting with different en-sembles and genres, from solo to orchestra, from chamber music to jazz, up to underground, word music and punk-rock formations.
Her training in the corporal arts begins with classical dance to reach martial arts and finally fla-menco: Granada, second homeland she give it to her!
In the Andalusian city where she lives between 1997 and 2013, she studies with numerous im-portant masters including La Presy, Isa Vega, Luis de Luis, Oscar Quero and Manuel Santiago Maya "El Manolete", in the Escuela Internacional de Arte Flamenco de Granada.
She finds in the practice of Martial Arts and meditation the essential tools for grounding and seeking harmony, a solid basis for maintaining centering and discipline, necessary for the free flow of the creative act.
This creative flow can therefore be expressed and manifested by drawing from all the arts, start-ing from the same center, the center of the Self:
Art as an initiatory path, therefore, but also one of healing, sublimation and sharing!

The style is eclectic and iridescent, as well as the technique, but finds its fascinations in the ech-oes of ancient mythology, in the transversal and comparative study of symbolism and alchemy, in the different archaic cultures and religions, as well as the deep interest in archetypes (from Jung to Jodorowsky, passing through Pasolini, Propp and Clarissa Pinkola Estés).
This research encompasses everything that involves the transformation and eventual healing of the soul, as well as the mind-body union, through the arts. Interest in shamanism, esotericism (study of the intrinsic and internal knowledge of religions or spiritual schools) and Tarot.
The imaginative, dreamlike, grotesque, at times mystical and / or irreverent world, evoked and told through aesthetic contaminations of different eras, techniques and disciplines, expresses in summary, life as a tragicomic saga of sublime beauty and mystery:
The soul that is looking for the most suitable tool to express itself, but in reality it is always talk-ing about the same thing in different languages. The multifaceted attitude and training naturally converge in the interest in the scenic and audiovisual arts (worlds yet to be explored)