From Past to Present

Museo Machiavelli S.Casciano V.P.

 From that very first show ever (explained in the preceding post) up to the last and most recent one, time has passed with art classes and contacts with artist friends and teachers who have been my precious guides.  Changes have come about in my painting. Wouldn't the contrary be strange.    A process of maturation is inevitable: self criticism, a visual awareness of other artists' work,  experimentation,  learning by trial and error and just  plain   painting.

Last June I participated in  a show located in the villa  once residence of Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian  historian, writer,  politician and philosopher. The villa  is now a museum that bears his name. The exposition was articulated throughout the entire villa and I chose the wine cellar because of its suggestive atmosphere.

Note the stone and brick walls and, in the background,the original wooden kegs which stored  wine  made from grapes harvested in that area. The odor of wine, even though the kegs are empty, was inebriating!!!

Below are other works from the show.

These last two pieces are old wooden "doors" that sealed the huge kegs where wine was aged. I refinished them using  wax, polished them and applied small paintings depicting Bacco, God of wine and harvest, along with other figures in a dream world  of pleasure. It was fun doing these especially for the occasion.

Down Memory Lane

 Working with watercolor during  these past few weeks has brought memories of my very first "real" show years ago (1991). I say "real" because it wasn't the usual end-of-year show for family and friends that normally closes an academic year. It was a show for the public and in a public place.

I was a student at "Art è", another private art school here in Florence, when our teacher proposed this show on behalf of a good friend, owner of a nursery that specialized in raising geraniums. 

She wanted to combine her show of plants with a show of paintings depicting geraniums and the show was to be held at the Botanical Institute of the University of Pavia in northern Italy.      To say the least we were all  eager to participate.
 
This was a beginning for me.  I had never measured my work in front of complete strangers before and was amazed at the reception  my work was given.

Here are examples of some of the paintings. Unfortunately the pictures are not all satisfactory but you get an idea of what I was doing at the time.