DESIGN and ART MAGAZINE: Emerging Artists Column: Painter Ginevra Marini in Rome

Monday 22 July 2013

Emerging Artists Column: Painter Ginevra Marini in Rome

Italian artist Ginevra Marini with two new paintings at her studio in Rome

Ginevra Marini works fast with strong movements and her brushes seem to attack the canvas when she paints. Andreas Romagnoli & Jeanne-Marie Cilento ask the young artist about her life and work in Rome

WHEN she was a child Marini already had a passion for art. She began studying painting at eleven years old, attending artist Alberto Parres' courses at the La Porta Blu art school in Rome between 2002 and 2012. She went on to study painting at Milan’s renowned Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. Perhaps because Marini started painting so early, her style is already mature and very much her own.

Ginevra Marini paints figures, mostly the female form and they have an expressive power reminiscent of Matisse’s early work. She likes to create a balance between primary colours and wide monotone spaces. The ambiguous, dream-like faces that fill her work resonate on a deep level. Her black and white oil sketches are endowed with a primal energy and embody the emotional paths she is exploring in the quest for identity.

Mirrors are often found in Marini’s paintings of women and represent a projection of both the soul and the senses. She uses a limited palette of blue, red and yellow that contrast with looming dark shadowy figures in grey and black.

Today, Marini lives and works in Rome and is preparing her first solo exhibition.

1.What are you currently working on?

My creative process begins with photos I take myself or find in books or on the Internet. Usually I work on the female body and it's reflection in mirrors or water. I then elaborate the photos into sketches and/or paintings. I use different media ~ in the past I have concentrated on acrylics which I make myself to achieve the texture I need, such as raw pigments mixed with primal. Now I'm now approaching oil bars which are like thick crayons. I use both materials to create my womanly figures whether by painting with brushes using acrylic or using my fingers with the oil bar.

I've been obsessed with the theme of women and mirrors for quite a while now and I'm currently immersing myself in all that is "woman". My creative process, apart from the subjects, is very instinctive. I work incessantly until I find that the work makes sense to me. I try not to over think the process and let my hand lead me.

2. What inspires you for your creative work now?

There are many artists who inspire me. For the use of space and composition I look to photographers such as Nan Goldin and Francesca Woodman. For the use of colour, I attentively study the paintings of Helen Frankenthaler, William de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly and Gerhard Richter. I admire both Motherwell and Franz Kline too.

3. Can you describe the experience, person or training that has had the greatest impact on your painting career?

I owe everything I know about painting to Alberto Parres. He is not only a pretty darn good painter but also an amazing teacher. I used to go painting at his art school twice a week from the age of eleven. Alberto made me not only the artist but the person that I am now. He is the harshest critic of my work and he is the only critic I listen to. I can rely on what he tells me about my work no matter what.

4. What do you find the most challenging aspect of your work technically?

I find myself wanting to try many different mediums other than painting such as engraving, photography and more but I am often not keen on the whole slow process of printing or the subtle changes of light while I take a photo. I'd love to master more and more techniques. I'm often stubborn when approaching new ways to make my art but I'd like to expand my capabilities. Also, I know that sometimes my drawing skills are weak and I have to constantly exercise them.

5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years as an artist?

I would like to give painting my full attention and exhibit my work. But foremost I feel that I still don't grasp fully what I want to say or what I am doing with my work, so I'd be pleased if in 10 years I will be able to understand more of what my art is all about. I'd like to meet more and more artists that share my interests and create a space in which to have a dialogue with them to work and develop our ideas together.

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