Weddings and funerals

Weddings and funerals, 100cm x 150cm, 2024. Private collection.

"Weddings and Funerals", a painting of a round dance representing the simultaneity of reality’s “goods” and “bads.” A wild dance that sometimes leaves us no opportunity to see beyond the moment, though it’s merely a matter of focus. Life consists of things of different natures happening all at once, and there is nothing we can (or should) do about it except embrace this omnipotent storm that carries us for a while.

Although my work has always been an outlet for me, and there has never been anything between me and the canvas, recently it has become even less detached in a certain way. I’ve acutely realized that technology makes it easier and easier to paint or generate any kind of imagery, so it feels important to remain as human as possible for as long as it’s possible -- simply by doing the work.

Over the past few years I’ve often heard warnings against creating works that convey “strong emotions” (sadness, death, a darker palette), since they’re harder to sell. But the thought of “appeal” is one of the most misleading paths to follow. Any work can be appreciated, just as collectors differ as much as artists do (we are all human beings, after all.) 

For some reason, I painted "Bride" with a tender yet elegiac sentiment, and "First ever Goodbye" with a sense of serenity. There is not a single moment in our lives that lacks ambiguity; there is always either a personal drama or a collective bliss. So we should still allow ourselves to create something deeply rooted in humanity -- to feel the ambiguity that technology cannot perceive.

Ugliness, like beauty, lies in the eye of the beholder and differs from person to person. Sadness? Only children believe they will live forever -- right up until the moment of their first ever goodbye.

Bride, 2025

First ever goodbye, 2025