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What inspired you to create art and become an artist? (events, feelings, experiences...)
My father is a painter. I started painting as a child, trying to imitate him. Then, after I turned twenty, I found my own path. Everything happened naturally and instinctively, but not predictably. I have three brothers — same father — and none of them paint.
What is your artistic background, and what techniques or materials have you explored so far?
Oil on canvas is what I feel truly belongs to me. I trained myself by studying the great masters, through books and museums. I’ve painted every day to improve constantly, and even today, after nearly thirty years of work, I still learn something from each painting to carry into the next.
What are the three aspects that set your work apart from other artists, making it unique?
Truth. My work is entirely the product of my skills and my thinking. I don’t use shortcuts to make up for shortcomings, only to then cover everything up and deceive myself or others. I don’t need to—and it’s simply not who I am.
Consistency. I follow my own path, always. I stay away from trends and ing fashions.
Integrity. I don’t compromise my work for the sake of creating content for social media, contributing to the transformation of the artist into a sideshow act.
Where does your inspiration come from?
From everything around me—anything I find interesting in that particular moment.
What is your artistic approach? What visions, feelings, or emotions do you aim to evoke in the viewer?
Through how I paint, I try to convey emotion through brushwork and color.
Through what I paint, I want to reflect with the viewer on the meaning of life, explore our personal journeys, and encourage investing our time in healthy relationships and nourishing ourselves primarily with ions like art and music. Many of my paintings also contain subtle messages of political and social critique.
What is your creative process like? Is it spontaneous or based on a long preparatory phase (technical, inspired by classical art, or something else)?
I would say it’s more spontaneous. The image comes to my mind, and then it’s just a matter of making it real on the canvas.
Do you use a specific technique in your work? If so, can you explain it to us?
I work in the most traditional way possible: I take a canvas, sketch with a pencil or a piece of charcoal, and then start painting in oil. So far, I haven’t needed anything else.
Are there innovative aspects in your work? If so, can you tell us what they are?
People recognize my work through my recurring icons, such as the large matchstick—a symbol of the human being in their present moment, suspended between what has already happened and what is yet to come—and now also through the minimalist guitars, which are an invitation to nourish the soul with art and music, much like we should do with healthy food for the body.
Is there a format or medium you feel most comfortable with? If so, why?
I enjoy working on large-format canvases. I naturally tend to have a wide, expressive brushstroke, and simply put, a big canvas gives me more room to move.
Where do you create your work? At home, in a shared studio, or in your own studio? And in that space, how do you organize your creative process?
My studio is on the ground floor of my house. Outside, there’s a large garden, woods all around, mountains on the horizon, and a wide sky—which I photograph constantly. I paint both in the morning and in the afternoon.
Does your work require you to travel to meet new collectors, or for fairs and exhibitions? If so, what does that involve?
From time to time, I visit the art galleries I collaborate with, and of course, I also travel for exhibitions and art fairs.
How do you envision the evolution of your work and your career as an artist in the future?
If the world doesn’t burn down first, or AI doesn’t turn into Skynet like in Terminator, I hope to receive the recognition I deserve—not out of ego, but to gain greater financial strength, which I could then invest in a series of large-scale installations in natural settings. These projects have been living in my mind for at least twenty years.
What is the theme, style, or technique of your latest artistic production?
My latest works are the synthesis of everything I’ve done so far. There’s landscape—visually, you get the great tradition of classical art; conceptually, you get nature and the message that it should be respected. There’s the large matchstick—visually, you see metaphysics; conceptually, you see the human being. And then there’s the minimalist guitar—visually, it draws from all modern and contemporary art; conceptually, it represents the soul.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
In 2021, my Interno metafisico, an oil on canvas from 2017, was exhibited in a major show in the province of Latina, alongside great Italian masters of the 20th century such as De Chirico, Cascella, Casorati, Guttuso, the Bueno brothers, Vedova, and many others. Today, the work is part of a private collection in the United States.
If you could recreate a famous artwork from art history, which would you choose? And why?
I ire great works for what they are. I’m very critical of myself, and if I had to recreate any of them, in my eyes it would lose all its magic and mystery, because I would know every aspect of it.
If you could invite a famous artist (living or dead) to dinner, who would it be? And how would you suggest spending the evening?
I’d love to meet Joe Bonamassa—he’s an incredible guitarist, and I always listen to his music. I saw him live in 2013, and from the interviews I’ve seen, he seems like a genuinely great person. After dinner, I’d love to trade one of my minimalist guitars with one of his real ones—maybe a Telecaster. I believe he owns one of the largest collections of Fender and Gibson guitars in the world.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli 
