Stay Out of the Box Painting

Life is an incredible amazing journey of ups and downs, surprises, constant change, joy, pain, love, and every other conceivable emotion. For me, painting is a direct reflection of my life and all that it encompasses, my surroundings, my emotions, my past, my present and my future hopes. I began painting for the first time in March of 2020 when Italy went into lockdown. It was a terrifying time, and as I have always created, I knew the best way to get through it was to find something to do with my hands. What I didn’t realize was painting was about to open an amazing world to me and become my obsession. My paintings are about emotion and are meant to make you feel something. I always begin with color, and then space, shape, and line, adding layer after layer, subtracting and adding until it begins to define itself. I often see so much of the small town in Italy that I now call home, the saturated gorgeous colors, the peeling paint, old frescos showing through chipping concrete, cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways, the blue green color of the river that runs past my window, the deep red-brown of the historic bridge, the hills that lead to the Alps and the light, the glorious light. In stark contrast, what I also clearly see is my past, New York City in the 1980’s where I spent a decade as a model, Zurich, Tokyo, Milan, traveling around the world to film television commercials and shoot ad campaigns. Life was bold, colorful, fast, loud, and daring! Although my work is abstract, I see it all and feel the lively and passionate life that surrounds me and is always a part of me.