THE PAST

The first time I had a connection to art was when I was just four years old and my father stickytaped to the wall next to my bed three of his drawings of different fish. There was no escape from my fixation on the imagery and from the bewilderment. So I told myself that what a big man can do a small child can also imitate. Adding to this was the fact that I was born in the centre of Ferrara, a cradle of Renaissance and a gem of a city for harmony and style. The playground of my building was an ex-Benedictine cloister and five minutes away I had access to monuments such as an imposing medieval castle and a Romanic cathedral.

This exposure to beauty instilled in me a desire to develop my ability to replicate it. I had also the fortune to have a primary school teacher who provided me with significant space and attention to drawing and colouring. At eight years of age I produced a drawing that mesmerised my whole classroom. I also started to draw illustrated stories from comic strips. At the same time, I ventured into kit modeling and learned how to pace my enthusiasm according to a plan and how to bring a model to the polishing line. In parallel, my father insisted in taking me to music school before I could even read the alphabet. The process was imposed and I picked up an instrument – violin - that my father himself always wanted to play, but which didn’t resonate particularly for me. My family moved to Belgium when I was 11 and I was catapulted in a big international context with lots more stimuli that my home town.

 

THE DESIRE

Pretty soon in life I developed a particular eye, a capacity and a knack for craftmanship and draughtsmanship which I undertook in my free time. I was painting with gouache, with enamel on model kits, with coloured pencils and I had the impression to have found a long-standing activity which seemed also able to attract admiration and provide self-contentment. As such, I craved to step up and deepen my skills. I began to be attracted to modern masters such as Dali or Picasso. In high school my art professor used to refer to me as the great artist so as to excite and encourage me further, underlining my potential and impact.

 

THE WALL

After primary school I shared with my father my desire to attend an art school. He looked at me with a sarcastic smile and said: “well if you want to starve your whole life and end up a beggar, be my guest!”. At that stage in life, I trusted his wisdom and did not yet have the gumption to carry out my dream in spite of all odds. So, I partially relented and instead began my studies at a Conservatory, a special middle school dedicated to the pursuit of music. But not one to give up my dream so easily, I still asked my mother to give me the money to buy a canvas. Receiving a negative response, I had the stubbornness and inventiveness to procure such canvas through rather devious means. By 15 years of age, I began to paint in the surrealistic style.

 

THE DISCOVERY

Thinking ahead to my job and day to day occupation, I was obliged to find myself something more orthodox about which I could be passionate. Not just to be accepted or supported by my parents with no reservations, but also in order to survive intelligently and provide resources to a potential family, I embarked on a career as official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy. By 23 years of age I had won a State exam and was looking forward to start a new adventure as a global nomad. Through this, I was also able to emancipate myself fast and solidly. However, I couldn’t help keeping up the art in the background and as soon I had free time I felt the compulsion, the necessity and the liberation of expressing myself on canvas.

Being posted around the world (up to now in four continents) was a stunning opportunity to enjoy and explore in depth the tribal and modern art of many cultures, spanning from Aboriginal to African, from graffiti to art brut. I managed to include in my works the spirit of different inputs and finally made peace for a while with the lack of a full time art career.

It was during my US posting that I resolved to hit the web, the social media and the world of galleries with a systematic campaign of self-promotion, attaining some limited success, a few sales to the Klasko collection, an important show at Salmagundi Gallery in Manhattan and the crafting of a robust website. During my subsequent posting to Belgium, I maintained this momentum with several exhibitions in culture institutes, galleries and private clubs.

 

THE PLAN

On the art scene I obviously stumbled across some intermediaries who tended to charge the artist in the first place, were not dynamic enough to win the audience and the potential customers even in big cities and did not often possess a marketing plan of action nor connections to critics and intermediaries to rely upon for their publicity. Therefore, I found myself stuck in a quagmire of confusion and exploitation. I did not have much idea about the finessing of a strong message, the importance of finding the right balance between monetarisation and reputation or the large array of different paths available for pursuit to advance my career. The obvious next challenge was that of convincing myself to build my own fortune from scratch, empowering my own action and seeking help by attending a serious online classes aimed to guiding me on how to promote and sell my production.

 

THE CONFLICT

The building up of managerial skills and the focus on all the non-artistic activities related to art production has proven to be a complex life-long process, yet fulfilling and naturally complementary to the actual creation of art. The conflict emerging from acquiring this new knowledge stems primarily from scuppering laziness altogether, trying to stay on a path of growth, working on a personal brand and carrying out massive albeit imperfect actions. It is high time for me to break the routine of my usual way of production, which entails long periods of inactivity and idleness only to be brought back to produce when a kind of “self-loathing” becomes unbearable. In other words, I feel a certain responsibility for this talent of mine and thus the duty to stay more and more focused. I will have to finesse the art of going live with some footage on my journey and production, putting my face to value and applying all the skills learned through my deeper engagement within this complex art industry. I invite all to watch the videos I have produced that show behind-the-scenes activity, different insights on art pieces and more.

 

I am still striving to progress towards a true self-achievement and am determined to achieve a significant transformation in my life as an artist.