Tommaso Ottieri: Epiphany

TOMMASO OT TIERI E P I P H A N Y

“Epiphany - I think this is what my work is about...Revealing a view of the environment in a way people are not used to, unveiling the beauty of the cities, the skies, the clouds, lights and waters, which can be obscured by reason and ordinary thinking about postcard iconic concepts. My paintings should offer a new Epiphany. If I manage, my works are successful...If I do not, the world will stand still in its incomparable beauty, in front of people who struggle to see it.�

TOMMASO OT TIERI E P I P H A N Y

CK Contemporary

London Blue Bridges

Oil on board

59 x 70 7/8 inches

Paris ET

Oil on board

39 1/4 x 39 1/4 inches

San Francisco Blue

Oil on board

47 1/4 x 59 inches

Metropolis

Oil on board

63 x 78 3/4 inches

Borsa

Oil on board

51 x 70 3/4 inches

Shanghai Blue

Oil on board

27 1/2 x 39 3/8 inches

Paris Garnier (Diptych)

Oil on board

53 x 98 1/2 inches

Opera Garnier

Oil on board

39 1/4 x 70 3/4 inches

Cagli

Oil on board

49 1/4 x 78 3/4

Scala Lamp Oil on board 57 x 39 3/8 inches

New York SM

Oil on board

74 3/4 x 35 1/2 inches

Garden

Oil on board

59 x 78 3/4 inches

San Francisco OF

Oil on board

47 1/4 x 59 inches

San Francisco A

Oil on board

47 1/4 x 59 inches

Paris M

Oil on board

21 5/8 x 15 3/4 inches

Genova Blue

Oil on board

27 1/2 x 39 1/4 inches

Fendi (Perugia)

Oil on board

19 3/4 x 27 1/2 inches

Incenso Oil on board 17 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches

London Night

Oil on board

6 x 6 inches

A n I n t e r v i e w w i t h To m m a s o O t t i e r i Can you tell us a little about yourself and your personal history?

I studied and worked as an architect for many years. As a boy I started painting, and I began to watch people and cities with the same attitude - always asking, copying, making portraits and landscapes as if they were pieces of art to be exhibited in the church where I would watch people pray for a better destiny. Where I was born, in the south of Italy, future and hope come hard, and better days are hard to wait for. I always looked for my chance to give me and my people both a better future and a more confident sense of hope.

How do you work? What makes your particular process unique?

My painting technique and my life follow mostly the same steps. I try to put order in the mess I have in front of me, work for days, weeks, years to project and fulfill a prefect scene, and then destroy it, with anger, pleasure and waves of fury. When I first finish painting, my works are much more realistic than the ones I ultimately show. I then erase the most I can...the more the better. That is the creative part of it, leaving on the canvas less and less detail, losing what I struggled to put together. This makes, I guess, that feeling of mixed painting, and of moving material which is so typical of my work.

How would you describe your subject matter or the content of your work? What are you trying to communicate?

I believe there are three ways an artist can approach their work: Communication - Artists convince themselves they have something special to tell the world, as if they were scientists or philosophers.

They have some kind of truth to share in a work of art which must hide secrets, theories and a fantastic view of reality. I don’t believe this is my case.

Sensation - Artists try to give people direct access to their own emotions without using language or thoughts. If you have been in front of something like a Rothko or enjoy a solitary view of a great Francis Bacon triptych, you can understand what I mean. Unfortunately, I don’t believe this is my case either.

Revelation - Artists try to put in the hands of viewers the same

reality they experience every single moment of their life, unveiling it from the curtain of habits and common conceptions. They create a greater show made from the same characters we are used to, and we can’t be surprised by a child’s naiveté anymore. This is more or less what I would like to do.

How would you describe your aesthetic?

Complex views of common perspectives are necessary to attempt a good relationship with my works. I try to see my scenes with the same feeling of a man born in a far isle, watching our enormous cities for the first time. It is always the first time, if you love what you are in, as much as it is always the first kiss as long as you love the woman you are living with. Love makes beauty, ethics make beauty, this is aesthetic more than theory.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

I don’t really think I could answer this. Most of the responses I find memorable after the exhibition of my works are probably private feelings that people never shared with me or others. I admit that I do the same when I stop and stare for long times at the work of artists I love. Every artist paints his work, I believe, under the conviction that admiration must be a public matter. Sooner or later everybody must realize that actual success is a private affair between the viewer and the work itself. The artist doesn’t get the prize of its success, and that is something quite good, I think.

Name your greatest influences.

I never had any academic instruction, and I actually had to learn painting techniques from the commercial painters which work for salary, using tricks, trying everything to make the day, and not the history of art. That was a good school. I also always had the chance to run into a church or a museum (which is almost the same thing where I live...) and see what mysteriously can come out of your ordinary work and remain inside people eyes, mind and heart for centuries.

From that which we call the history of art, I have always admired Pontormo, Caravaggio, Jusepe de Ribera, J.M.W Turner, Yan Pei Ming, Gottfried Helnwein and Anselm Kiefer.

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