TORO Web - L'artista torese Michele Paternuosto in mostra a New York

Michele Paternuosto, torese di Roma, mago dell'encausto, sbarca oltre oceano. E' uno dei pochi, se non il solo al mondo a padroneggiare la tecnica per fissare i colori a fuoco in uso nell'antica Roma. Le sue opere resteranno in mostra presso la Gelabert Studio Gallery, 86^ strada a Broadway, dal 30 settembre al 7 ottobre 2008.

What is Encaustic?
Encaustic painting the process of applying molten, colored wax layers to various surfaces using fire.
Encaustic is also some times referred to as the process of applying wax to paintings or wooden and marble surfaces to give them a glossy or protective finish. However this is not the truest sense of the term.
Have you ever wondered why fresco painters inspired by Master Painters like Michelangelo, Raffaello, Domenichino, Veronese and many others never used pure colors like Vermillion or Ivory White as background? Or glazes such Alizarin? The reasons is simple: these colors are not compatible with the causticity of mortar. Yet, in the 2000-years-old ancient homes of Rome and Pompei some frescus display those beautiful blacks and red used as background. How can this be possible? Is it magic? Of course not. It's encaustic and its spin-off techniques.
Of all painting techniques, encaustic is the one with the least rules and difficulties. Here are just a few: - be sure to buy good waxes, purify and bleach them in a natural way – create your own tools: china, terracotta or enamel pots, one for each color you use, iron tools in different shapes and sizes provided with wooden handles to prevent buras.
Michele Paternuosto has committed himself to the research into and realization of encaustic technique, which was already widespread among ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
Unfortunately, the actual technical process of encaustic has been lost centuries ago. Paternuosto's work is, therefore, not only aesthetically worthwhile, but also an important contribution to experimental archaeology. He has been able to show that encaustic can be used non only with hard supports, like wood and marble, but also with wet plaster, soaked with water and still soft, therefore, not suitable as a binder for fresco painting. Biography
Born in 1943 in Toro, in the Southern Italian region of Molise, he starts his artistic journey at age 15 in Campobasso, Molise, where he receives his vocational training from two Master Painters, Angelo Fratipietro and Nicola Rago.
In the early 60's he works in Germany, Rome and Canada. He eventually returns to Rome, where he now has his own studio a few steps away from Colosseum.
Over his long artistic career, Master Painter Paternuosto makes skilled use of different types of painting techniques. These include the fascinating encaustic and other less known ancient techniques such as scagliola, Pompeian fresco and art restoration techniques. Paternuosto's works can be found both aboard and in Italy, especially in Rome inside museums, churches, patricians houses and artistic personalities.
It's during the 70's, however, that he focuses his research on encaustic painting, an art from he remembers from childhood: he was only a child when his father first took him on a trip to the archaeological site of Pompeii and showed him ancient wall paintings done with an ancient technique. He was so fascinated by those paintings, that he swore his father he would try to reproduce that same technique when he would grown up.
Paternuosto's first encaustic painting date back to the 80's. In1986 he organized a solo exhibition in one of Rome's most charming areas: Trastevere.

I più calorosi complimenti da Toroweb a Michele, ottimo artista e ottima persona, umile e disponibile come pochi.

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