Germany

Never look back

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Oil on canvas 60x80cm

‘ I saw you, there is no doubt. You just passed by without noticing me, deep in your thoughts as I remember you used to, sometimes really lost in another dimension, sometimes just on purpose to tease me.

When I turned back, the street was busy, lights of the restaurants, no sign of you… dissolving presence.Maybe it’s another of your jokes, hiding, waiting for me in a secret place I must discover.

Maybe… I am simply loosing my mind – I shouldn’t look back, you are somewhere else in my future: at the end of my story we will be together again”

I can’t say where the text comes from, this is a mystery for me even if I write them and I am the painter. There is always a time between one and another a freedom exercise, a way not to influence myself much.

The reference is a shot very spontaneous, while I was walking to the dance class: I was taken by the light, that’s for sure one of my obsession nevertheless it happens sometimes I see a subject and I simply fall in love with it. Beside the window shops lights and the juicy green, the girl turning suddenly, her move seems like a pose to me, a slow motion, change of direction, like it would be dance.Me sitting into an imaginary audience took the freedom to try to capture it on a canvas.

It is a oil painting on canvas, 60×80 cm

My Polaroid

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“ I double check the address and I am right, I didn’t expect to find this small house surrounded by other buildings. The appearance is quite modest and the garden surrounding it is wild and green like a Bavarian jungle. I have the task to get this ground, of course as cheap as I can – it looks like an easy job…we can build more apartments there, I will ring the bell…“

An old lady opened the door, deaf and suspiciously looking at the real estate agent…

Oil on panel 30x30cm 2021

Metropol Garage

‘ Her car is there so she must be at work, I can wait a little… I know we don’t have a date and I am not even sure she will be happy to see me here around but I must try it. She is so beautiful, I can’t wait days in the hope to meet her again at the coffee shop where we hada chat last week… why I didn’t ask her phone number?….I am such an idiot … now here I look like a stalker’. The Metropol Gar age door opened suddenly, there she was.’

Oil on panel 30×30 cm 2021

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I painted both scenes in the last weeks, they are spontaneous works and have been painted outside on the spot, enplain air, like the impressionists used to do. This way of working requires speed and focus in the execution and the small format forces to take quite bold decisions on the subject and composition.

The old house is entirely painted with pallet knives for the simple reason I forgot the brush’s case at home that day, nevertheless I like how it turned out. The snapshots I decided to depict were impressing me for the light and the simplicity – I feel they are close to ‘real life’ with some imperfections and stories to tell.

TABAK

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Ink on paper – very little sketch thinking with the brush

„When the night comes and the lights are on

You walk home, the same way as every day in a cold winter evening. Nobody waits for you beside Micky, your cat waiting for his dinner. It is different from what you imagined or not?

Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and now here, you have not really expected more company, the job is less thrilling than years ago and your watches collection reminds you that time pass by.

Smoke from your cigarette and you walk home.”

While I paint, I tell myself stories and I begin when I decide for a subject.

It’s very often a spontaneous decision, immediate, like taking a instant picture or the opposite, growing day by day , slowly, passing by always the same spot.

In this case it was a slow approach, the flair of this shop, the light in the night with the warmth of the window: smoking as comfort for the soul, a meditative hug a relaxing moment where you stop the hectic of the day and start thinking.

I never smoked and I can’t tell if my interpretation is right: but the sketch convinced me, the square composition simple and balanced with a jazzy mood. The enlightened red of the label, you can’t help falling in love with it while painting.

I changed a bit the drawing in the painting, introducing a little perspective instead of a side view; it shows a bit better the dynamic of the walking man, the way he comes back. From-where we don’t know, to where, neither.

ArtMuc 2020

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The last weekend I had the luck to participate to ArtMuc with some of my oil paintings. The experience has been intense and I feel some echos even with a week distance. Hard were the rules, Covid related, masks, longer opening but the effort was rewarded by many people visiting and a great exchange between artists.

Many are asking me now… how was it? So I decided to share some impressions from those days

My wall, my friend who helped me to build up , my card

We had super busy days and rush hours but also some minutes for sketching – a very subjective view on the event: artists waiting, people interested in art diving into it and others focused on their mobile

Some colleagues and visitors in sketchy form

I am thankful to all the people that came and to whom I chatted with, for the comments and the feedbacks received and to all the artists I met there – amazing people. The organization is adding the possibility to virtually visit the show, a good opportunity to get a flavor of it if you missed it

http://artmuc.exxeta.com

To all – Stay safe and healthy!!!

Choose me

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Following the theme of the hat shop, a second work inspired to a lovely shop in Munich and to my exceptional friend that model for me. Somehow it’s not the season to paint in studio but given the current situation and the indication to stay home , I am coming back to all the photo references even if older ones.

It’s super interesting to see which elements are differently capturing my attention, completely new stories come out from the same source. Here I liked the gesture to look for the matching element in the hat atelier shop.

It’s oil painting on canvas 60x70cm

The garden

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The first weekend at home… a relatively warm day, actually I would have loved to go out and set my easel somewhere in the city for a street view subject. I decided not to do so even if I would have been alone and without company, mostly by principle.
Apparently the only way to reduce possible illness is to reduce possible contacts with other people.
Therefore I used my outdoor equipment and installed it in front of the window… the neighbors garden is not particularly spectacular but the afternoon sunshine was supportive and a little painting story could be created .
That’s all from the home studio

Picasso

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An amazing art show, the last one I visited just before the pandemic infection blocked all the soul food activities… the French Gobelins shown in Munich. Amazing tribute to art and themselves unique works. The show was so intense and the colors stunning that I decided to continue the tribute chain … painting the Gobelin that honors artists ( Picasso here)

I close the circle painting-textile-painting being quite sure nobody will continue it based on my work 😂

Beside that I loved to see how the visitors look as part of a wider artwork, all of them creating a composition in harmony with colors and textil – a deeper participation ,than everyone was maybe not aware of.

Oil on canvas 60×80 cm

Distance

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I don’t want to write much about this painting, because it’s a feeling
I let everyone make his/her own story about it
Be far away from home, family, friends, all people you love
For whatever reason, waiting for the moment to be together again,
That‘s it.
Oll on canvas 40×60 cm

Tender is the night

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A nocturne from Munich, a painting I wanted to try since a long time …I love the city when it’s calm and the nights gives beauty to every ordinary place. The shiny lights of the bars and restaurants design a path that can be followed until the end of the imaginary world.

Who remains outside has time for thinking – duties and expectations are over.

Oil on canvas 30cm x 65 cm