What motivated you to create art and become an artist? (Events, feelings, experiences...)
I am an artist by a kind of DNA passed on to me by my father who was, also, an amateur painter.
What is your artistic background, techniques and subjects you have experimented with so far?
My background comes, to a great extent, from my professional-artistic training and architectural studies, when the aforementioned faculties, also artistically trained students with exams in art history, life drawing and descriptive geometry. The techniques and subjects experimented with to date are: watercolor,oil, acrylic, research of textures and supports obtained with mixtures of powders, tuff grits and glues.
What are the 3 aspects that differentiate you from other artists, making your work unique?
Each artist is unique with his or her own experience, sensitivity and culture. consequently, the difference between me and others lies in the fact that my works are produced by me.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from observing things,a landscape, an interior, a detail; the subsequent elaboration is done by filtering it all with my sensitivity that allows me to realize a unique style.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
My paintings evoke emotions, feelings of peace and tranquility and reflection. I convey my state of mind with peaks of loneliness.
What is the process of creating your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparatory process (technical, inspired by art classics or other)?
Often my works are born on the computer. The preparatory drawings are processed with a program that allows you to make three-dimensional objects. Then, by hand, everything is transferred to canvas or other support.
Do you use a particular working technique? if yes, can you explain it?
At this time I use oil on canvas. The colors are spread evenly with backgrounds well defined by lines.
Are there any innovative aspects to your work? Can you tell us what they are?
What is innovative for me is the search for the synthesis of representation, to find the essence of things, their hidden soul.
Do you have a format or medium that you feel most comfortable with? If so, why?
My favorite format is the square. It is a perfect geometric figure like the circle or equilateral triangle. Its shape adds suggestion.
Where do you produce your work? At home, in a shared lab, or in your workshop? And in this space, how do you organize your creative work?
I produce my work in a workshop cluttered with paintings, where you can create frames and stretch canvases or create wooden panels.
Does your work lead you to travel to meet new collectors, to fairs or exhibitions? If so, what does it bring you?
I have participated in group shows abroad and in Italy. I have often been present at art fairs with my own booth. The advantage of these experiences is the possible comparison with other artistic realities.
How do you envision the evolution of your work and career as an artist in the future?
I think I need to evolve my work toward a further synthesis of representation that may lead me toward a geometric abstract. At the moment I don't feel I have to abandon the recognizability of forms, which, I believe, is an added value.
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?
The current theme, which recurs often, is the landscape consisting of simple architecture in the foreground highlighted by shadows and the sea in the background. The objects are stripped of any elements that might disturb their pure form, in an attempt to get to the essence.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
The exhibition experience I consider important is the recent solo anthological exhibition , which took place in September, at the Provincial Archaeological Museum in Potenza.
If you could create a famous work in the history of art, which one would you choose? And why ?
I don't know what would be a famous work of mine. The factors that determine the notoriety of a painting are many and all unrelated to me.
If you could invite a famous artist (living or dead) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest they spend the evening?
I would invite Eduard Hopper to dinner whom I feel very close to and invite him to spend the evening walking around the city discovering urban vistas invisible to others but not to us.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
