I have a new friend.
Maurizio Rosella. He is the Paul McCartney of painters. No two paintings are alike. He is a superhero with paints, brushes and canvases. Canvases? He paints on translucent material. Glass, I think… according to my third-grade conversation Italian. But I am serious…
No two paintings are similar. And… He does installation pieces, too. One such installation had 30,000 handwritten notes. Probably not 30 million… I’m not good with numbers in Italian. Nor the words. I digress…
So, I went to his studio to make his portrait. As Italians will, we talked for nearly an hour before I made one exposure. It’s an environmental portrait. Quite acceptable in photojournalism, something I swore to never do again. I guess hell froze over for more than just The Eagles. I digress…
When I told him his work is like no other I have seen and no two paintings are alike and that I crowned him the Paul McCartney of painters because like Maca, no two songs ever sounded the same, he told me, “Sono schizofrenico.” And I told him, “Si, lo sei. No, non lo sei. Si, lo sei.” (Maurizio said he is schizophrenic and I said, Yes, you are. No, you’re not. Yes, you are). He laughed. I made my second joke in Italiano.
I leave you with a few of Maurizio in his studio. And the one of him laughing at my attempt at standup.
1. Maurizio and one translucent painting (he painted it on the back of the glass and backward).
2. I told him the painting in the background reminded me of Gordon Parks’ “American Gothic” photograph.
3. Maurizio laughed at my joke (evidence!!!)
