I think that keeping in mind my extensive autobiographical presentation, it is quite easy for somebody to understand that I have had a big number of influences, as well as the people who have contributed in my forming this particular style which characterizes all my work.
The truth is that I had as role models the “saints” of our art. How could I not adore the Caravaggio technique, the shapes of Michelangelo or the metaphors of Leonardo? I astounded by the features of Piranesi and the Gustave Doré’s full of mystagogy drawings. Of course I adore the colors of Pontormo, I am touched by the internal universe of Dürer and the lyricism of William Blake.
At the same time, I become ecstatic with the overcrowded compositions of Hieronymus Bosch, while I totally love the manierism of Dominicos Theotocopoulos, known as “El Greco”.
I couldn’t neglect the fact that I am in love with Remedios Varo and I vow in front of the genius Dali. Nevertheless, the one who deeply influenced me and shaped my personality is my beloved Roberto Oranzi, whom I still council in a lot of instances.
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La Divina Commedia:
an attempt of illustration
In 2014 while I was in the library of the historic museum of my town, a dear place for me in which I am used to spending a lot of hours reading, my wife who is in charge of this place showed me a book she had found in trash. It was a publication of the Divine Comedy in Italian from 1774 and more specifically the first volume.
Upon holding it on my hands, I immediately felt a connection with this book as if it were my own for a long time. It definitely was not the first time I came in contact with the divine poem of Dantes, since a dear friend in Italy, the unique maestro Vittorio Vettori, who apart from everything else, had been one of the greatest researcher of Dantes. As I was studying the Divine Comedy, I realized that strong images started forming inside me, which were gradually depicted in the paper. The image was formed in the morning while I was drinking my coffee. The whole night shapes and landscapes turned inside my mind. Early in the morning I dipped the brush in the coffee and started to formulate images on a paper Fabriano which I found in front of me.
Not long after I was fascinated by the topic. I experienced along with Dantes the whole purifying process. A path towards the light! When I completed the 33 parts and stepped out of the ecstatic creativity, I realized that I had dared to deal with a masterpiece after the great Blake, Botticelli and Dore. Right away I regarded it as a daredevil attempt and I named my exhibition after the title “La Divina Commedia: an attempt of illustration”.
Virgil took Dante by the hand and led him to his own Beatrice. My own guide was Dante who showed me the great door which I had to knock some months after my exhibition. The great Italian poet keeps on coming in my mind and definitely this is not a completed chapter for me.
HANDMADE MASONIC APRONS
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