An Italian Mystery Revealed

Emanuele Dascanio is a great Italian artist living in our time, a true master. His incredibly realistic graphite pencil and charcoal portraits vibrate with spirituality, emotion and energy. He creates oil paintings that exude sensuality and passion and reach out to seduce us through a disguise of sumptuous fruits and various still life objects.

His masterful application of these mediums combined with a deep connection to the subject result in images that fool the eye into thinking the objects are real. Beyond great technique, however, there are also layers of meaning to discover for ourselves in Emanuele’s work as we linger longer in front of his art and allow ourselves to see the works ‘slowly’. In the words of Emanuele himself  I quote:

“Mystery is truly such if it is revealed to our eyes slowly.”

It gives me such pleasure to bring attention to Emanuele Dasconio’s art through this first of a two part interview.

 

An Introduction

Q: Hi Emanuele , please tell us where you were born and any other countries you have lived in.

A: First of all, thank you for the opportunity you have given me to express myself about my artwork. I was born in Italy, in Garbagnate Milanese June 7, 1983 . I’ve always lived in Senago, but after some time I opened my workshop in Valenza Po.

 

Q: Emanuele , When did you first realise that you wanted to be an artist . How old were you and were there any significant experiences That influenced your decision to become an artist at that time ?

A: I realized that this was my way very soon : I was about 18-19 years old. I decided to follow my artistic studies and soon discovered a fascinating world from which I had always been attracted without knowing it.

 

Self Taught Technique

Q: Did you study art formally and if so what were institutions? What were those experiences like for you? For example, did you learn most of what you know about art there or did anyone in particular stand out as significantly contributing to your expertise that you have developed with drawing ?

A: In Italy there are no academies valid. I studied under the teacher Gianluca Corona , who in turn was a pupil of the great master Mario Donizetti. From him I learned the technique of oil painting and refined the technique of drawing . He taught me that it is the spirit in which we must deal with in the problem of painting. In addition, I have always been encouraged to form my “artistic” self .

 

 

Q: You paint in oils and draw in charcoal and graphite pencil. Do you have a favorite subject , medium or style that you work in?

A: I love to paint and to draw. I have no favourite subject , I only care about the content of the image. The subject is secondary and must be functional only to transmit the content or what it is that I wish to express.

 

 

Emanuele’s Inspiration

Q: Can you tell us all about your drawings with charcoal and graphite , what inspires you to create your portraits?

A: It should be understood my designs are not like ordinary portraits, but as allegorical figures or non-conventional symbols that arise from my intuition or subconscious.

 

Q: Can you tell us more about the images you have created in oil paints , of fruits . Do these images have deeper meanings and if so what are those meanings?

A: I cannot explain the meaning of each picture, but I can give the key to the correct interpretation. In my still life I aim to embed strong symbolic meaning , because in reality there is a powerful bond that binds everything. We are always in constant conditioning spirit and matter – what I mean is that through reading the small things we can understand the bigger ones; be they psychological, physical , spiritual and so on. Nature is an always-open book. Mystery is truly such if it is revealed to our eyes slowly.

 

Thank you Emanuele for sharing this fascinating information with us. This ends the first of a two part interview with Emanuele.

 

To read part two of this interview with Emanuele, please click the link below:

• Emanuele Dascanio – The Great Italian Master Artist – Part Two

For more information on his artwork please see the following information:

• Flickr: Flickr.com/dascanio_emanuele
• Facebook: @EmanueleDascanioItalianPainterArtist