Marco Grassi is a Northern Italy-based artist born in 1987. Thanks to his grandfather, an art collector by passion, Marco has been surrounded by ancient master paintings and antique artworks, ranging from pottery to sculptures since childhood. His surroundings undoubtedly influenced him, and he had a keen interest in beautiful arts from a very young age.
During his university studies in Bologna, where he pursued an education in the preservation of antique artworks, he decided to focus on his passion and convert it into a vocation. As a result, he began to alter and reinterpret the old painting techniques in new ways. This quickly became his signature style. Marco like most excellent painters never aspired to show the world exactly as it is. He enjoys incorporating strange aspects into his paintings in order to portray expressions that are near to his heart.
He paints with oil colors, a material that allows him to accomplish effects that would be impossible to do otherwise. Marco has always aspired to mix detailed realism and a contemporary finish with “sfumato,” an Italian painting technique that excelled during the Renaissance. Soft transitions between each area of the picture, as well as very delicate and natural color passages, are deeply ingrained in his work.
“On one hand, I like to think about my art as an expression of lyrical beauty that can be found in the world, but on the other hand, it is always a statement as well,” says Marco. His artistic research is frequently focused on those ongoing transfigurations, human beings turning into inanimate materials. He frequently strives to make things mysterious and veiled, something that is difficult to grasp at first glance.
Marco mainly concentrates on two primary topics. The first is the lost balance between humans and nature, which casts an everlasting shadow of environmental damage, climate change, and species extinction. The second theme he frequently discusses is solitude, as well as the perseverance of a person who is alone in a terrible world.