Creating helps me
understand who I am
Contrasts, flat tints, raw materials, confrontation and complementarity
René Galassi creates to learn more about himself. Creating allows him to travel, helps him to push back the boundaries, go beyond the limits and discover new horizons.
He has never studied art or art history. He discovers Art at the same time as he makes his way and develops his artistic approach. He discovers and learns Art at the same time as he makes his way and develops his artistic creation. He discovers and learns about art as he goes along.
How René Galassi expresses himself in his artwork
When he was fifteen, René Galassi wanted to be a photographer, but he never gave himself the means to become one because it seemed out of reach. It was the value of black and white that interested him.
He began to create Indian ink drawings, researching black and white. He then introduced colour.
Then René Galassi began to print his own etchings and, at the same time, a few years later, he began to create paintings. He created paintings to create matter; he needed to scratch, claw and sand. Flat surfaces no longer suited him. He needed substance, texture, both in the paper and in the materials. What really interests him is matter. He feels a strong need to invest himself in materials. He uses raw materials and elaborate materials and mixes the two.
René Galassi has developed his own technique. He uses things outside traditional painting. He uses resins, pigments, clay, gold and silver leaf, cement, sand and he uses lime as a binder. He never uses oil paint or gouache.
We don’t invent anything. We go towards things
René Galassi
Creating to travel and push back the limits
René Galassi’s creative process
René Galassi scribbles a lot. He is more of a visual artist than a painter. He projects emotions and sensations onto paper through lines and curves. He scribbles a lot, like a musician practising his scales. Every day, he spends a certain amount of time doodling without knowing what he’s going to do. When he starts drawing, it’s to put an emotion on paper, not to reproduce something. It’s a dialogue with paper.
Inspiration
He is inspired by everything around him, especially minerals, which can be found in nature, such as rocks, or in pieces of pottery. But it’s also by rubbing shoulders with other artists. They form a group, they inspire each other, without trying to do the same thing. What appeals to him is man’s work on nature. A ploughed field speaks to him more than a field of flowers. There is one artist whose work has always impressed him: Mario Giacomelli(this link opens in a new window). he was the first person to make Land Art (this link opens in a new window). He had the fields ploughed and then took photos by aeroplane. He took photos with very pronounced contrasts. He worked in nature. René Galassi is very sensitive to his work.
