Embedded Empathy (2023) Painting by Simone Martina

Simone Martina was born in Copertino, in the province of Lecce, in 1989. She breathed art right from the start in a family environment, in fact she inherited her father's passion (sculptor and painter), a passion that over the years becomes only stronger, but also more intimate and personal. He approaches painting and undertakes studies in Cultural Heritage at the faculty of the University of Salento. He later left his studies to follow an artistic path inherent to the style that he felt was closest to him. In his first productive period he was particularly attracted by the cursed artist Modigliani, by his life, by the authenticity of his works and by the elegant features that are portrayed in them. And it is in this period and thanks to this inspiring muse that the 'Martee' were born, the first works of this young artist, still immature and distant from the path he is currently following. He soon became fascinated by the avant-garde of pop art, the American one of Andy Warhol, but even more so by the Italian one of the artists of Piazza del Popolo, such as Mario Schifano and Tano Festa, to name just a few of the most famous names. From pop art he is dragged into completely new creations, in which objects come to life. A simple hair beak becomes the immense Eiffel Tower in the work 'Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?', currently belonging to a private collection, while the shells of mussels ( commonly known as mussels) present themselves to his eyes as real "sea flies" and this is how they appear, in the work of the same name, even to the eyes of the observer. Between approximately 2016 and 2017, Simone decided to abandon his city and move to the beautiful capital for work, but also to fully experience this larger reality, which certainly has a lot to offer. In this delicate period, in which the artist is pervaded by conflicting feelings, two of his most intimate works are born: "Amara Terra Mia", a wonderful homage to Salento, a land that he had to abandon without without suffering and 'Rome tonight', a hopeful thank you addressed to the city that welcomes him and to the opportunities that are hidden within it. These works, like those that follow and will follow them, represent once again something new compared to those that preceded them. Here it is no longer the objects that come to life, but the words. The use of the crossword is dominant, the one full of history, written, erased and rewritten by the mother's pen.

• Nationality: ITALY
• Date of birth : 1989
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary Italian Artists