What made you decide to become an artist? What is your background ?
Expressing my emotions, my skin-deep sensitivity literally saved my life. Burnout, dismissal, toxic parents, high intellectual potential would have been right of my reason if I had not granted myself the right to paint.
What are the 3 things that make you different from other artists?
I paint intuition using my own paints that I tear to integrate fragments into my paintings. I often say that I 'put the pieces back together' of my life.
Where does your inspiration come from?
It is multiple: a sensation, a film that moves me, news that upsets or revolts me, a color, my dreams, meetings, etc.
Tell us about the conception of your works, do you have a long preparatory work or is it quite spontaneous?
It is both. But what mostly comes back is the spontaneous, the intuitive, which allows me to access my invisible facets.
What do you want to show through your work?
I like to lead the viewer into the unknown, the unsaid, the suggested.
In your work do you use techniques or materials that are out of the ordinary?
I sometimes introduce various elements of recovery depending on what happens when I am in the active phase.
Do you have a favorite format? Why ?
The square 100 x 100 cm. I feel good there, balanced.
What difficulties do you encounter in your work?
Let go of the fear of judgment.
How do you work? At home, in a shared workshop, in your own workshop?
I have my own workshop
Does the work of an artist take you to travel a lot?
Yes, but rather in my region. On the other hand, my small and big trips influence my color choices.
What has been the best moment of your career?
When friends pushed me to exhibit when I didn't dare to.
How do you see your work in ten years?
No idea ! It's too far. I try to live as much as possible in the present moment, with all its intensity and reality.
What are you currently working on? Are you planning an exhibition soon?
I have several exhibitions (I just finished one) by the end of the year and the first term of 2022 is already busy. I also do an Open House weekend in November.
If you could have created a masterpiece in the history of art, which one would you choose? Why ?
Snowstorm at Sea by William Turner for the intangible atmosphere, the light, the fog, the storms, rendering that could almost be abstraction.
If you could invite a famous artist for dinner (dead or alive), which one would you choose? Why ?
I would invite Pierre Soulages and I would discuss with him the depth of his blacks and how he was able to grip the light in his blacks.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
