night landscape under the iron bridge over the Po Print

Paolo Mancini was born in January 17, 1963 at Empoli, near Florence (ITA). His passion for art was born during university years that he spent in Florence, a city very rich in cultural terms and inspiration resource. In these years he followed lessons of architecture at university and some courses in drawing and color by Fine Arts Academy teachers. He graduated in Architecture and a PhD in “Design and Representation of Architecture and Landscape” and today he is also a lecturer at Polytechnic of Milan. His intense professional and research university has not interrupted the activity of graphics. In 2001 he resume really to draw. From that year, he was spending summers in his country house where he was finally free from his profession of architect that clutters his mind and fills his daily life. Slowly he was approaching the color (in first watercolors) and then he overall devoted himself in oil on canvas. Woods, trees lined, cultivated fields or country roads are some of the subjects that constantly returning in his works. These subjects are inspired by the vision of the real landscape. His painting seems natural landscapes and pristine ones but these signs - like a plowed field, a thread of light hidden among the branches of a tree or a drastic break a wooded spot - hide the h u m a n w o r k. Behind its cultural landscapes he thinks over the relationship between nature and man, the intervention of his daily working so that it becomes landscape: so integrated to be sometimes hidden. So, the true protagonist of his paintings it is the presence/absence of man. Few lines and contrast between strong tones. The artist uses these to shape a nature sunlit. With a skillful use of colors he gets effects of an amazing spring or shades of winter landscapes. A painting that makes direct images yet evocative of memories and dreams.