What inspired you to create art and become an artist? (Events, feelings, experiences...).
This has accompanied me since I was a child, it was as natural to me as everyday activities. The subjects that interested me from the very beginning were drawing what surrounded me, and animals, as a child I used to hide in a dog's crate. Among animals I felt safest. My work is a continuation of what it was at the very beginning.
What is your artistic background, techniques and subjects you have experimented with so far?
The themes are animals and relationships with the surrounding world. I create colorful figural compositions that stand on the border of expressionism, pop art and surrealism.
What are 3 aspects that set you apart from other artists, making your works unique?
I think it is the unique form and frames I present.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
My paintings are a record of everyday life, authenticity, impressions and experiences, experiences and emotions that accompany me. They are frames from life and story, in which inspiration can come from anything I I encounter and experience at any given time.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
I create paintings with tenderness, I think they give food for thought. Some are painterly jokes, references to well-known works. I care that they are not forgotten and the viewer can identify with them as much as possible.
What is the process of creating your works? Spontaneous or with a long preparation process (technical, inspired by art classics or others)?
I first paint the idea in my head, it takes some time, then I transfer it to the canvas.
Do you use a specific technique for your work? if so, can you explain it?
I paint in the technique of acrylic on canvas, I think what sets me apart is the form not the technique.
Are there any innovative aspects in your work? Can you tell us which ones?
I paint in a traditional way with modern takes. The innovation I introduced in a series of 3 paintings was hand sewn artificial pearls. Pearls symbolize sincerity, honesty, innocence, wisdom and purity.
In the past, wearing pearls was believed to protect against all evil.
They were sewn on not painted. Pearls often appeared in the paintings of the old masters, and I sewed them on to create a 3rd dimension.
Do you have a format or medium that you feel most comfortable with? If so, why?
Yes I think the square is perfect it has all sides equal, it is elegant and as a geometric solid it fits well in space.
Where do you produce your works? At home, in a shared workshop or in your own workshop? And in this space, how do you organize your creative work?
I work at home I have a landscaped space here, good daylight is important to me, with which I can see color and its nuances well.
Does your work make you travel to meet new collectors, fairs, exhibitions? If so, what does it give you?
It is exciting for me when I can confront my audience with the work live, talk to them and argue with them. I often participate in group exhibitions in Poland.
How do you envision the evolution of your work and career as an artist in the future?
I think my work will revolve around the subject of animals. That's for sure.
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest art production?
The theme is the dog is my companion, faithful and affectionate muse.
And the style is Pop art is a deep-rooted trend, it is my greatest fascination in most of the canvases currently being created.
It's the starting point for my painterly musings, interpretations of the world and the space around me. It's a polemic against the consumerism and materialism flooding the world we currently confront. Here, in a neo-pop art interpretation, it exudes a variety of colors and shapes. The strong, expressive colors, saturated hues and contrasting patterns are an expression of the search for silence and solace in an aggressive and overstimulated world.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
This is my last solo exhibition in an industrial space in Defabryle, Poland.
The title of this exhibition is A Dog's Life. It is a cross-section of ten years of work, showing a diverse and rich imagination and style, many themes and motifs, and what path of artistic development I am following, still developing.
If you could create a famous work in the history of art, which one would you choose? And why ?
I created a painterly cover of Portrait of the Lady with an Ermine - by Leonardo da Vinci.
The title lady has a mask on, a chimneypiece made of artificial pearls, the kind worn by rebellious women and is with her beloved bitch, in the original the heroine wears a string of black pearls. It is also my self-portrait with my bitch. This painting is painted in the convention of pop art and street art. Iconic painting, one of the most valuable Polish collection. I also painted an interpretation of Girl with a Pearl of the painting refers to the masterpiece Girl with a Pearl by Johannes Vermeer and an interpretation with the same title Sleeping Venus by Italian Renaissance painter Giorgione. All of these paintings are available in the Gallery.
If you could invite one famous artist (living or deceased) to dinner, who would it be? How would you suggest he or she spend the evening?
I think with good food because I really like to eat and interesting conversation. I would like to meet with David Hockney and consider the nuances of color.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
