What made you approach art and become an artist (events, feelings, experiences...)?
In elementary school I already showed talent for drawing and a feeling for colors. The feeling of creating something was and still is part of my motivation. In art class, one assignment was to paint a van Gogh using the technique he used at the time. I managed to copy a work of his almost 1 to 1. This work was displayed in the school. As a result, I was allowed to redesign the school walls and embellish them with motifs. My mother enrolled me in an art school, but here I was quickly underchallenged. Because very early I understood the anatomy and the mixing of colors. It was really just a matter of trying myself out and finding my style. My goal was always to perfect myself and create my own works according to my ideas. I never gave up this desire. I wanted to become an artist.
What is your artistic path, what techniques and themes have you experimented with so far?
It took me a whole 20 years to find my personal breakthrough and my style. To unite the abstract with the concrete and to reproduce this with proper color was my desire, which I have now finally achieved. I started virtually with pencils, continued with charcoal drawings. Then only painted in oil. Acrylic I have demonized at the time because of the rapid drying. All pastes and varnishes were used, until I then dared to acrylic. I just had to break through the blockade in my head that not every stroke must be exact. This I managed with a colorful bee. My first work in acrylic, abstracted and colored. This was my personal breakthrough. After 20 years, I had finally found my style. I had broken through the blockade in my head that everything must be as you see it, as you know it. Predominantly, because of my love of animals, it was first animal works that I painted. Gradually came figurative, representational and also PopArt. I quickly achieved a recognition value.
What are 3 aspects that distinguish you from other artists and make your work unique?
A collector asked to see some of my work, which I personally brought and presented to her. She already had some art on her walls by other artists. When she saw my works, she said: I'm annoyed that I didn't know them before, because their works are alive!
This is definitely an aspect that distinguishes me from others. My works have a soul, they live. I must confess that this made me very proud, of course. Because that is exactly what they should convey.
Another aspect is my way of coloring or the composition of colors. There are some colorful works, but mine are still different from the others, not least because of my own brushwork. Not without reason I had very quickly a recognition value. Something that is not only extremely important in the art scene, but also something that not everyone manages to do, even if they make great art.
A final aspect would be the representation of my subjects. My faces are different from others. My pop art works are different from the usual. My works can convey joy or touch, make you think or just spread pure happiness
Where does your inspiration come from?
From everywhere. From the Internet, from everyday life, from nature, from my fanaticism. Other artists can also be inspirational to me.
What is the intention of your art? What visions, sensations or feelings do you want to evoke in the viewer?
That depends entirely on the subject. In my animal works, I have the intention to highlight the animal through my colorfulness, so that the viewer gets a new perspective on a perhaps inconspicuous creature. It can look from a different angle. How muscular and graceful a bull is, how beautiful the deer, how breathtaking the wolf.
What I want to express with the respective image, is usually explained in the description. These are feelings that I personally have when I look at the work, scenarios that go through my head.
How do you create your works? Spontaneously or with a long preparation process (technique, inspiration from art classics or other)?
It varies. Sometimes I prepare my motifs on my tablet, sometimes they are completely spontaneous. Meanwhile, I paint mainly with acrylic. This can be with a brush, airbrush gun or palette knife.
What techniques do you prefer, and if so, can you explain them?
I have become a lover of acrylic paints because they dry so quickly and quickly allow multi-layered work. What I used to demonize is now my passion. But oil is still used from time to time.
Are there any innovative aspects to your work? Can you tell us what those are?
The choice of my colors and putting them together in harmonious compositions.
Do you have a format or medium that you feel most comfortable with, if so why?
Preferably large canvases stretched on stretcher frames. Even though it usually takes a large wall, however, the effect is just as huge as the canvas. But here, too, it depends on the motif. Some is then more suitable for medium-sized canvases.
Where do you produce your work? At home, in a shared or private studio? And how is your production organized in this space?
My studio is in the basement. But because I am then gone all day, I now paint mainly in our dining room. So I can pursue my passion and my family can still be with me.
Does your work take you traveling to meet new collectors, to exhibitions? If so, what benefits do you derive from it?
But of course. Through every painting that I personally deliver, new contacts are made. Very close contacts have already been established that have lasted to this day. The sympathy is usually enormous, and in the end people are happy to have met each other. Also for exhibitions I take some distance on me. I have exhibited in Barcelona, Switzerland, Italy, London, New York and Germany. Since virtual exhibitions are now also on the rise, this is of course also an option for the future, but never replaces the personal contacts. The benefit is always the same. To increase one's presence and to expand one's network.
How do you envision your work and your figure as an artist developing in the future?
Oh I think that I will still go through many development processes and that in every way. As long as I can hold a brush, I want to create works that captivate the viewer in one way or another.
What is the theme, style or technique of your latest artistic production?
Quite new, since October / November 2021 is the PopArt style. This way of painting gives me a lot of pleasure and brings back some childhood memories.
Can you tell us about your most important exhibition experience?
There is no such thing as "the most important" because they are all important. However, one that has particularly stuck in my mind is: A benefit exhibition, which was held together with the inauguration of a lawyer's office. Here I was able to sell 7 of my works, of which 30% was donated to the Civic Foundation Cloppenburg. The sum that came together in 2 hours was fantastic. Also here I could meet many nice people. It was just a great experience in every way.
If you could have created a famous work of art history, which one would you choose? And why would you choose it?
Definitely a work by Franz Marc or Dali. I have admired them since my childhood. They perfectly embody the interplay between the concrete and the abstract.
If you could invite a famous artist (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be? What would you suggest he/she do for the evening?
I think Franz Marc. I would suggest him to unpack a huge canvas and paint a picture together. Of course, after a delicious meal and a glass of wine...:-)
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli
