Contest 9 – Winner's Interview – Alek Ferrari

Please tell us about your journey as an artist.

I was born in 1980 in Arzignano (VI). I began painting and exhibiting at a very young age.

In recent years, I have participated in important national and international competitions, where I have won many prestigious awards. I have focused my artistic research on the study of realist painting, particularly portraits and still life. My paintings are often surrounded by dark backgrounds, which highlight the subjects' lights, often in surreal settings.

What is your medium and why did you choose it?

I use two mediums in particular: oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas. Both mediums allow for layers, allowing for exceptional results in realistic painting. Oil, in particular, is more suitable for painting that requires a longer execution time, as it has a much longer drying time.

Acrylic paint is much more difficult to manage because it dries much faster, but it allows for a color brilliance that is difficult to achieve with oil paint.

What was the inspiration behind this work?

Painting must evoke an emotion, a doubt, a feeling, something that can intrigue the viewer. This is my goal: to create something that can evoke something strong.

Who is your favourite artist? Why?

My favorite artist in history is Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio) because he was, in my opinion, the first artist to be able to create realistic figurative paintings of a very high level without having the support of photography and using light in an exceptional way.