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(c) 2023
30x30” Acrylic and Oil on Birch Panel, Unframed (Original Not Available)
This piece is an homage to the layers of my upbringing - roman catholicism, access to nature, and the beautiful drama that is mortal existence. I have searched for many years to find the perfect overlap of what I consider to be “me”, my culture, and my values in an aesthetic form. I have always been drawn to the iconography of catholicism and realized in more recent years that it is not simply because of its religious connotation but because of how I find it to be synonymous with my Italian American heritage. I have collected catholic sculptures and crosses from all around the world and yet my deepest connection to God is when I am alone in nature. Something about the pulse of collective living things is an immediate reminder for me of the delicate yet hauntingly beautiful essence of mortal existence. That pulse, I feel, is a higher power. And thus - I see nature as God. And to draw the connection from that power back to the warmth of my formative years and the good intention that my family had to introduce me to something bigger than myself, I marry this imagery together.
The original painting is part of my solo show at Crafthouse Salon in Atlantic Highlands, NJ (Jan-April 2023) but will not be for sale. The painting was always meant to be a gift to myself and my studio. Ten limited edition, gold hand embellished prints are available via my shop link.