What motivated you to create art and become an artist? (Events, feelings, experiences...)
I cannot remember a single time in my life when I have not painted. I am a self-taught artist, curious and constantly seeking to learn new techniques and modes of expression. Therefore, I can say that what drove me to become an artist is the pure passion for art and the desire to create beauty. Reason why, after years of working in the office, I had to leave everything behind to follow the call of art. It was not easy, but it was not about "changing paths," but about "coming home."
What is your artistic background, techniques and subjects you have experimented with so far?
I am instinctively hyperrealist and started experimenting with this style initially with pencils. Later, I learned the airbrush technique and with this I perfected the exact reproduction of reality. Lately, however, I felt the need to find my own style, more free and immediate, which I found in my style of modern realism with which I express myself through oil painting with textural elements and gold leaf.
What are the 3 aspects that differentiate you from other artists, making your work unique?
The three aspects that differentiate me from other artists by making my work unique are my modern portraiture, suspended between realism and imagination, the seemingly bizarre complementarity of raw material elements with the preciousness of gold leaf, and the immediacy of the message that my subjects' eyes can deliver.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from my surroundings, from what instants of life, sometimes even just imagined, communicate to me on a daily basis when I immerse myself in the world of portraits of iconic characters that, in one way or another, I feel close to me.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
My artistic approach is distinguished by precise postural choices - and sometimes gestures - within which the sort of "approaching" to the viewer is accomplished that allows one to appreciate the whole and the detail of paintings marked by expressions that are a reflection of emotions that I intend to represent with genuine empathy.
What is the process of creating your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparatory process (technical, inspired by art classics or other)?
My current process of creation is absolutely spontaneous. The brush strokes are dense and fast and I almost never retouch the figures I am painting. So it is very fast and, I would say, liberating, for an artist like me who, starting from hyperrealism, wanted to learn how to simplify.
Do you use a particular working technique? if yes, can you explain it?
Currently, I paint my portraits in oil alla prima, using modeling textural paste to make the backgrounds of my raw, "urban" textural walls. The other key aspect of my technique is the use of gold leaf, sometimes overpainted, as a complementary contrast to the raw textural.
Are there innovative aspects to your work? Can you tell us what they are?
As already mentioned, the innovation in my work can be represented by the textural texture backgrounds combined with gold leaf. The backgrounds, which are never intentionally left neutral, are coessential elements of the work, in which writing or certain "graffiti" contribute fundamentally to clarify its underlying meaning. Moreover, the gold leaf used for the realization of certain details creates an apparent antithetical contrast between the "raw" part of the backgrounds and the preciousness of this material. On the contrary, these elements instead find an unexpected harmonious fusion and complementarity within the composition.
Do you have a format or medium with which you feel most comfortable? if so, why?
I started with very small formats and, only recently, as I began to look for a simplification of the figures, I felt the need to paint in larger formats, around 80x120 cm, precisely in order to have more freedom in the pictorial gesture. Most likely, I will continue to work in larger and larger sizes because I find it fun and fulfilling. Oil is the ideal medium in this sense.
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 have my own workshop where I produce my works. It is a small creative space that I sometimes share with my brother, a video maker. Let's say that "creative chaos" reigns supreme in my space for most of the time of making a work, but there always comes a time when I feel the need to "get my mind in order," and to do this, it is also necessary to rearrange my work environment.
Does your work lead you to travel to meet new collectors, to fairs or exhibitions? If so, what does it bring you?
I recently started exhibiting, and the last few months have brought me two solo exhibitions and a lot of satisfaction, but my contacts with collectors so far have almost always been "indirect," that is, through the web. In 2023 I plan to exhibit in one more solo show and I am planning my first art fair, and I am looking forward to thus starting to have more direct contact experiences with the public.
How do you envision the evolution of your work and career as an artist in the future?
Definitely my style will evolve further. I want to try new applications of material elements and will tend to simplify strokes and forms even more. At the moment this is what I feel comes naturally. I hope to reach a wider and wider audience that can appreciate my sensibility.
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?
I have always been a lover of portraiture, my latest production does not deviate from this passion. I have created several oil on canvas works depicting almost exclusively women, who have always been my subject of choice. All my recent subjects are immersed in an atmosphere halfway between the everyday life of cities and their personal emotions that abstract them from that context, also thanks to the preciousness of the elements made with gold leaf.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
I can say that, having recently started exhibiting, I have two exhibition experiences to which I am particularly attached, namely my first two personal exhibitions, still ongoing until the end of January, one at the Solis Art Gallery in Brescia entitled "The New Woman" and the other, completely dedicated to portraits of Japanese women, "Japan in Gold", at the Consulate General of Japan.
If you could create one famous work in the history of art, which would it be? And why ?
Wow. There are many. But the first that comes to mind is the painting I fell in love with when I was 6, leafing through a beautiful encyclopedia for kids: Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose by John Singer Sargent. It's the painting that, in my little girl's head who spent her time drawing, triggered the spark.
If you could invite any famous artist (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest they spend the evening?
I think I would invite Caravaggio. We would dine, drink excellent red wine and I would be told all the secrets of its magnificent glazes.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
