Original artwork description:

In the summer of 2021 @artedossier , one of the most important Italian art magazines, dedicated a dossier to Mycenaean art. The fresco entitled "The Dancers" or "The Ladies in Blue" had immediately captured my attention, especially the fresh and serene smiles of the girls. Even then I felt a great need for joy and serenity. In the meantime, the buyer of one of my paintings told me he had caught in the work the hand of someone who had studied archaeology, which made the purchase more exciting.
At first I thought I would just create a contrast between three-dimensional, realistic parts and stylized parts. I had also tried to recreate the areas that are corrupted in the original fresco. But it didn't work, it resulted too flat.

Looking closely at the fresco, I then realized that some of the strong points of its appeal lie precisely in its fallen and damaged parts: the beauty that resists the aggression of time and the world.

I put hand back on it again (always on the first panel) determined to proceed this way. In the meantime, though, war in Ukraine broke out and made me freeze, since my mood (like anyone else's, I guess) was already sapped by two years of pandemic.

Then I started again with that first idea enriched by new perspectives: serenity, beauty, joy and vitality (the feelings that had struck me in the dancers of the fresco) are always at risk. And it is precisely the threat always lurking on what is beautiful that I wanted to highlight, though what is beautiful in our souls can survive every snare, every threat, every cruelty.

Materials used:

Canvas, oil

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