Risky Portrait Painting

Matteo Fieno, born and raised in Italy, currently lives in his evocative atelier house in Diano d’Alba (Italy). Known as “the artist of women”, Fieno employs multiple mediums to create compelling images of the female form. Inspired by Bohemian cultures of bygone eras, he invents characters which create and emphasize their own identities. These characters do so through unique poses, altered proportions, and color combinations which are crafted to represent personality. Each element of these works creates a representational homage to sensuality and beauty. When beginning a painting, Fieno first envisions a character. Once he has gotten to know his subject, he finds the best way to execute the picture. He begins with a sketch, and then determines how to bring the image into completion. More often than not, the goal of letting the image speak for itself is achieved by keeping it aesthetically simple. Primarily employing charcoal, pastel, watercolor, oil paints, and oil pastels as his mediums, he makes the material lend itself to the whole of the piece. Matteo draws inspiration from artists such as Gauguin, Degas, Matisse, Schiele, Guttuso and Modigliani. This inspiration is exemplified in the postures of the figures, variant colors, and expressive proportions. These characters show their personalities by either averting their eyes or staring directly at the viewer, all the while posing in the absence of landscape or objects. Often surrounded by blocks of color, the figures are simultaneously decorated and centered. Matteo allows for movement by keeping them loosely drawn. Focusing on the individuality of the figure, he does not sign his works at the front and instead keeps his characters as the center of attention. In short, Matteo would prefer to fall to the background as the artist, and instead let these characters speak with their own voice about the unique life that they possess. He has exhibited in important locations and museum in Italy and Europe, his works are in many private collections and are on sale also at important galleries selling famous artists's works, such as Christo, Warhol, Maigritte… He has been published, among others, on national newspaper LA STAMPA, twice on MarieClaire and on Artribune (most important Italian art newspaper) .