Downtown Buzz Painting

Living in hot countries influenced me even from an early age. As a child, I was fascinated by people and painted big bright colourful portraits. Matisse was my muse, and later in my teens, Modigliani’s long necked women were my envy. Further on, I found my inspiration in Max Ernst, De Chirico, Tanzi and Bronzino. I realised that every style had its own charm and significance. Whether a Michelangelo, a Louis le Brocquy, a Hughie O’Donoghue or all those undiscovered artists, they all had a part to play in sharing creativity with an audience. I loved them all and I wanted to paint following their styles until I realised that what I wanted most, was for the viewer to be physically involved. How could I do that? I started to experiment the insertion of initials, lines and squares in my “talking” portraits, so as to deliberately create a thinking moment between the viewer and the painting. I then wanted to take a step further. I wanted to make the viewer feel he/she was in the painting, involved in that moment in time. Again, how could I do that? Having studied Fine Art for years, I was slightly conditioned towards the classical approach, but who said I couldn’t develop and make use of all those styles I had so admired along my path? I am a child at heart and I like to paint with freeness and fun. Sometimes my work is an adventure, sometimes surreal, like theatre, a window is opened and you’re thrust into an altogether different dimension of motion, humour, colour, texture, conspiracy and emotion. My love and experience with fashion and interior decoration mirror themselves in my street paintings, where several layers of oils are juxtaposed with interesting angles and perspectives. The interiors and exteriors of buildings become entwined, the mannequins in the windows seem to be strolling with the bystanders, and the balloons and hats could be the faces of shoppers, couples, friends and children. I scratch, pour, put on and take off paint, juxtapose, drip and layer until I finally arrive at that defining moment that only an artist knows - that the painting is finished. Have I succeeded in what I set out to do? It is my constant and continuous objective. I leave up to you to decide whether I am dada, surrealistic, modern, cubist, expressionistic or simply contemporary. You decide!