| Why I paint what I paint | What I paint |More about Giovanni Milani-Santarpia |
My
art work is essentially figurative although extremely wide-ranging in style and
technique. Whilst this might at first glance indicate artistic immaturity, a "failure
to find and define my artistic mission and preoccupation" I believe it
attests to a broad command of artistic expression as a means of (self)
exploration and expression.
I paint what I like and if I feel like transforming Botticelli's Venus into an Espresso Coffee I will, but that doesn't mean that I cannot search for my peace and beauty by painting a watercolour landscape or a portrait of my daughters and wife or indeed quickly sketch a scene on the beach. I even draw to study or to illustrate articles I might write, for example this short article about coffee bars in Rome.
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Art is a tool for personal expression and as such one is free to use it in a variety of ways to take notes, record and remember as well as to produce something new, something "beautiful" something which can acquire a life of its own, independently of myself, its creator.
If a principal "preoccupation" is what you need then I
would say that for me it is the nude. Or perhaps the "Nude", with
capital "N". I wonder at the boundary between nude and the naked
as K. Clark would put it. I love to think of Venus Coelestis versus Venus
Naturalis. I love Venus, antique drawings, watercolours. Needless to say I have
to censor my own work whilst I give a free hand to searching the depths of my
imagination.
My background is a mixture of England and Rome. Sargent is a
favourite artist of mine, especially his watercolours. I feel the modern pressure of
"time" and the need to execute expressive works quickly, so his
impressionist touches which say so much with so little are, for me, the pinnacle
of technique and expression. If only I could combine that sureness of touch with
the Rennaissance love for drawing the human soul on paper!
Although I attended art studios in London and Madrid for a very long time I continue to define myself as essentially self taught. Although my artwork is painting for its own sake I have been lucky enough to know a degree of success
My work ethos is that a well drawn work is always successful
with the public - like it or not you have to argue on a totally different plane
about a properly executed work.
If you want to draw in the modern, abstract, distorted, fashion you cannot do
without knowing how to draw a convincing figure first. First you learn the rules then you
break them. I like the rules and I like to break them: A school teacher of mine
once told me that the trick with a bow tie was not to tie it too perfectly -
otherwise they might think you'd bought it. But of course to do it imperfectly
required me to learn it perfectly first.
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Oh yes, I have exhibited in various countries and sold paintings and drawings. Sometimes commissioned sometimes off the shelf. Time permitting I also give some on site lessons to a few mad people who care to fly all the way to Rome. I think they come for the sites actually but I like to flatter myself.
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