Le Scale e La Cantina - I

mercoledì, 20 novembre 2024

As I mention in my sketchbook, this piece marked the beginning of a new approach to my artwork. Here I quite literally shifted my perspective, or more accurately, my approach towards perspective, from one of laying down lines to create the illusion of dimensions, to working directly with the relations between volumes and their surfaces.

This painting is based upon the area of the upper giro in Pari just past the restaurant as one is walking towards the bell tower and the two churches. I really wanted to capture not only the curves of the road, but the buildings themselves, and how they flow and pour into one another. One of the things that I love about Italia, and Pari in particular, is the lack of right angles. The buildings have been their so long, and changed so many times, that they have more of an organic feel than things that were "built" from a collection of separate pieces.

This area is just above (or past) the main piazza in front of the restaurant where the adults sit and chat on benches while the children run and play. When one walks in the opposite direction, towards the restaurant, there is a feeling of transitioning into another world from the quietude of the narrow strada or street.

Yours in inspiration,
Michael Weaver