VITO STRAMAGLIA STATEMENT
“I think that the work that comes out of my hands is the result of something bigger than me and amazes me when I look at it. I’m just a performer. I hope these works convey to the world what they transmit to me: the beauty of life, where nothing can be explained, and everything is in balance; my mission is understanding the divine messages and wedging them into the canvas.”
“Each artwork is a mirror of whoever looks at it. Each of us can understand our own journey in a profound way.”
“When I paint, the only certainty is that I am not using the mind, but the heart. Then the rationality disappears and gives way to introspection, and then the soul chooses the subjects and the manner of representing them.”
Technique
Stramaglia employs thickly applied, impasto painting, with a liberal integration of dramatic black. His representation of the everyday is elevated to the extraordinary through boldly elegant technique. He uses “the very dark to bring out the light. I learned this from the great Old Masters of the past. My characters are undefined because I think that form is just an invention of rationality and, instead, we are all connected to each other.”
Stramaglia comes from a family of Italian artists, but he was not always convinced it was his calling. “In fact, when I was a child, I refused the art. For many years, I was a professional boxer, but suddenly, the painting was shouting too loudly, and I had to give it a hearing. I left boxing and now I’m a full-time painter and I have no regrets.’’