Featured Artist of the Week: Paolo Franco Orlando

"Where is My Mind" by Paolo Franco Orlando

 

“If Art has a soul, a spiritual aspect,

something that is derived from the core of the artist that’s given freely,

then it’s more than rules and technical perfection,

it’s the heart of the artist shown through his or her works

in such a way that no technical training can produce.”

- Paolo Franco Orlando

This quality of completely offering up his soul to the audience through his artwork is exactly why I have chosen to feature Paolo Franco Orlando for my first Inspirational Artists post.  I love his work.  His images are hauntingly beautiful, intricate in design, original in subject matter, and inspiring in technical ability.  Paolo holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing, and an MFA in Computer Art from Savannah College of Art and Design, and currently lives and works in Atlanta, Georgia as a full time art professor.  He is a concept and digital artist who is proficient in many different art forms; producing paintings, 3-dimensional art, mixed media pieces, digital art, illustration, portraits, and animation.

Paolo’s work is characterized by the singular female figure.  A woman racked with such emotion that it twists her into a scene of her inner thoughts.  Her figure casting an eerie glow against a dark and swirling, color filled background; a swiftly moving void that she both pries herself away from and bleeds into.  Her eyes rarely greet the audience’s gaze, forcing one into the posture of the helpless voyeur – transfixed on her image with the deepest desire to feel and to know her hidden thoughts, yet pushed away by her unwillingness to give them over so easily.  One is pulled into her private torment of emotion and longing; a desire which is completely foreign and incomprehensible to her onlooker.

In Paolo’s portfolio, “My Mask,” his sirens are often depicted completely exposed except for their intricate and delicately constructed masks.  One can see each woman in her own skin, their posture and refusal to acknowledge the implications of having an audience expresses a comfort in their bodies.  Even with this exposure, the audience is completely barred from truly knowing her.  Without the connection of the gaze, without the unspoken dialogue allowed by seeing one’s eyes – the audience is unable to connect, and truly know the woman in question. 

Paolo Franco Orlando’s work offers a bold statement about the woman’s body in two important ways: reminding the audience that it is impossible to know someone from a judgment of their outward appearance, and as a reminder that a woman in all of her forms is beautiful and intriguing, no matter what mixture of “beauty” and “insufficiencies” her body exhibits.

It would be impossible for me to describe the beauty of his works with words, alone – so I invite you to view his full portfolio at http://www.bluecanvas.com/paolorlando.

You can also read his full artist’s statement (quoted above), as given to Digitalis Magazine by following this link… Digitalis Magazine http://digitalismagazine.com/1939/the-duality-of-light-and-darkess-the-artwork-of-paolo-franco-orlando/

"The Mask that Makes Me Watch" by Paolo Franco Orlando

"The Mask and its Prey" by Paolo Franco Orlando

"Rasoio" by Paolo Franco Orlando