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Why did you become an artist? How did that work out?
To be honest, I never wanted to be an artist, but a playwright, interpreter, choreographer, industrial designer, interior designer, singer-songwriter, drawing teacher or bicycle mechanic. After practicing these last three professions, I worked for four years in the studio of ´ex-master forger´ Geert Jan Jansen in the Netherlands and moved to Barcelona. There I threw myself completely into painting, and into my own art.
What are the 3 things that set you apart from other artists?
Accessibility, my art is easy to understand, so also for people with a less practiced eye. My work is often informative, it tells something, there is a lot of research work behind it. The paintings are very colorful. Color and contrasts play a big role in my work.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
From my own surroundings, Barcelona, but also from my own life.
Tell us about the creation of your work, do you use a long preparation for that or do your artworks arise more or less spontaneously?
Some works, like the Barcelona Districts series, require a lot of preliminary research, walks through the city, conversations with residents and reading information about each district. In contrast, the more emotional works, such as the Underwater series, which are often born out of a need to express emotions. Some were painted in a very short time.
What are you trying to tell with your work?
The Underwater series is about ´being underwater´ the feeling that you are in another world, where there are all kinds of beautiful landscapes, but where you don´t get any oxygen. But people may also attach another emotion to it. The Barcelona Districts series are ´walks through the city´ that I painted per district. To show how Barcelona has enchanted me, but also to enchant others and make them curious.
Do you use special techniques or materials for your artworks?
No, sometimes oil paint, sometimes acrylic paint, occasionally paper and mostly on canvas.
Do you have a preference for certain formats? Why?
The Barcelona Districts Series are all 10 painted in a large format: 160x130cm. That was wonderful to do, but most paintings are around 1m2.
What challenges do you encounter during your work?
I think it is important to surprise myself, and with that the other viewers. The former is often very difficult, but I keep trying until I succeed.
How do you work? At home, in a shared studio space, in your own studio?
At home, in my own studio, or on my beautiful Barcelona terrace, next to the Sagrada Familia!
Does your work lead you to travel a lot?
Not much yet.
What was the best moment of your career?
During my first exhibition here in Barcelona on the Barcelona Districts, I offered a prize to the person who recognized the most typical characteristics of the city in the paintings. I have never seen so many people looking so intently at my paintings. Very funny.
How do you see your work in ten years?
No idea. I keep getting inspired by the world around me. By then I'll be doing the same thing I'm doing now: painting.
What are you currently working on? Are you planning an exhibition soon?
Right now I'm working on a Barcelona Lockdown Series, with a high Hopperian voyeurism, to represent the severe lockdown we had here in Barcelona at the beginning of the pandemic. I would love to have an exhibition of that soon.
If you could have created one masterpiece from art history, which would it have been?
I would have loved to be able to paint like Vincent van Gogh. And then the almond blossom. That always brings tears to my eyes when I see it in real life.
If you could invite a famous artist (deceased or not) for dinner, who would you choose?
With Henri Matisse, having a nice dinner somewhere in Nice.
Olimpia Gaia Martinelli 
