Ippogrifo Painting

Elisabetta Yoni Galluzzi lives and works in the mystical green realm of Tuscany. She choose the art name Yoni because she believe the source of her creative power to be her uterus. Yoni in Sanskrit means womb, uterus, vagina. She has a degree in art history, but is almost self-thaught as an artist. Her potraits are figurative but also impalpable. Watercolor and ink washes figures that emerge from a metaphisical kind of place like spirits or ghosts. For portraits of figurative works she usualy finds inspiration in old and contemporary photos, but works also without a reference. But the most inspiration comes from Nature, because she lives in the woods. - ARTIST STATEMENT - When I'm working with a reference, I never want to replicate exactly what I see on the photo. Instead I try to convey the emotion that I felt looking at that particular picture. I tend to follow the imperceptible, the small details that comes from seeing something with inner eye. I chant the invisible. I'm interested in occult, esoteric and alchemical studies. Also mithology, shamanism, archeology and of course art. My imagination is sparkled by the astral realm, with all the entities that live there, and the other invisible dimensions of self. I'm also chanting Nature, that to me is Anima Mundi, the soul of our world. If we are disconnected with Her, we are disconnected with our soul. So I feel a calling to help her in my small way, and help us reconnect to her and our soul. I'm also an astrologer. I love old photos of people. If they are not dead people from old times then they are staring at you from the past anyway (in the case of contemporary images). Is like seeing ghosts in front of you, looking at you from a different reality. So, by bringing them alive through the action of art, you open a bridge between the old and the now. When I work without reference, sometime a face somehow appears on the paper or on the water and I simply try to bring up the subject. In this case I just know I want to do a "portrait" but I don't know anything else, I just paint trying to be in a receptive state and open myself to see what's hidden. In any case I always want to make a connection with the element itself, Water. Before painting, sometimes I speak with water. I always infuse it with a certain kind of energy, inspired by the experiments of Masaru Emoto and by esoteric traditions. I see art as a powerful magical tool, in which you can shape reality and access hidden dimensions.