I’ve painted the studio in grey. A light shade of ash grey, with a bluish hint.
Such a beautiful colour it makes me want to hug the walls!
I’m not sure if I’ve decided on the grey because I was painting creatures in subtle shades of grey, just before the move, or I started painting grey creatures because I already made my mind about grey walls.
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| new grey painting |
A part from the wall I haven’t painted in weeks.
Moving tend to unsettle me and often it takes ages to get back into a suitable creative routine.
And we all know how important is a good working routine.
Now, after getting rid of the hideous magnolia that covered every inch of the new flat, I’m free to open the boxes and set up my work space properly.
The room is not particularly big, but there’s enough for a big table and comfy chair, the easel, a few shelves and probably a sofa bed, as the place is going to double as “guest room” if necessary.
My head and sketchbooks are full of ideas and techniques that urgently need to be put into practice.
In the beginning they were shadow. Lurking in the mist.
At the time all I could see was black caped shapes, with large shoulders (they were the 80′s after all). Faceless figures moving silently in some kind of foggy atmosphere.
I often questioned myself about their appearance, why then, why there?
It was during my last year at art school. By then I’ve lost all interest in painting and was concentrating on photography. I already had a career of fashion/portrait photographer laid out for me. But I felt the urge to draw, just for myself, just to see, to understand.
I mostly kept those drawings secret, they were a sort of diary, too personal to share.
In the meantime I would be incessantly taking pictures, of friends, of my surroundings.
In my photographic work the accent was on theatrical settings, mask-like makeup, costumes. And in my drawings I was duplicating a similar process, but unable to use a physical camera to take pictures of what was going on inside my mind, I had to rely on pens and paper.
The results are 25 years of images, mapping the process of individuation, going on within myself.
