Laura Cadei is an italian civil lawyer whose passion for painting, developed from a very young age, has led her to pursue her artistic vocation in her free time, as a completely self-taught artist.
The main theme of her artistic production is Time. Her art translates into the need to paint historical and legendary places, monuments, and cities, all imagined in their ancient splendor before time transformed them into mere ruins. In these solitary places, time is suspended in an eternal present, the very moment in which the protagonists of the paintings, sometimes anachronistically, admire the space in which they are immersed. In the same instant are placed the paintings with naturalistic themes, where the seasons crystallize, simultaneously and in unison, in eternity. With her art, the artist wants to honor the great civilizations of the past and the heritage they have handed down, of which we are all universal heirs, where their traditions, lifestyles, languages, and signs are still alive and present among the foundations of our own existence. Time is therefore not experienced as a tyrant but as an absolute positive value, a dimension that allows dialogue between the most remote past and our present so that the teachings of History serve as a valuable guide to orient our future.
However, the places represented by her art are not only locations but also stages of a personal journey, indicated by the dual titles of some works: each painting represents for her a memory of her life, a piece of her history, a symbol of her path, and it is for this reason that, observing these silent architectures, some can feel a sort of nostalgia. It is a dreamlike, unreal, deeply personal journey that unfolds through the labyrinth of the history of her life and the History of our world, like in a gigantic Memory Palace.
The technique used is varied and multifaceted, ranging from acrylic, gouache, ink, to digital, especially in relation to the first historical paintings. Her art is inspired by the great Renaissance masters of the past and their paintings on the theme of “ideal cities,” as well as the great production of Piranesi and the metaphysics of De Chirico.
Each painting is carefully studied architecturally beforehand to faithfully reflect (with some artistic license) the actual style of the era in terms of historical reconstruction, sometimes even with the direct help of historians and archaeologists.
Laura Cadei, both as an artist and as a lawyer, has also collaborated and currently collaborates with public institutions and private projects, even internationally, to enhance and protect cultural heritage.
