“Sourire incertain” (Smile Dubiously) Painting

TEO ANDREANI Profile 2018 In my two studios in Amsterdam and in Dordogne daily I paint large and small formats. My catalog lists more than 2500 abstract works. Each of my canvases has a compositional asymmetric structure, On linen canvases, often stretched by myself, I use brushes and knifes and invent often my own techniques. Through superimposed layers of acrylics and oils, incorporating sands and metal dusts my pictures show a perceivable depth. I put great care for the emotional potentials of colors, and for the physical properties of scrutinized pigments, when I make my own nuances. In my palette blacks, whites and skin colors are frequent as well as a panoply of yellows and reds. My favorite tints are Vandyke brown and Caput mortuum. When signing I add one or more vertical strokes as my id seal and I give a title not to explain the contents, but to associate a “poetic” tag. What I seek in all my works is true authenticity, the sense of being. I was born in Sofia, but grew up in Italy. I got a technical basis for arts in my family where artist professions are frequent since generations. As a teenager I became familiar with Italian Renaissance visiting Toscana and Umbria and hitchhiking in north Italy. I studied music, philosophy, pharmacology and worked in medical research. In visual arts, good literature and high quality music I see each artist’s struggle to reach a sense and overcome the masters. I admire Japanese culture and study innovative painters as Vermeer, Van Gogh, Mondrian, Rothko, Kiefer. After years of meditating about artists’ motivations and with the conviction that artworks are fruit of existential anguish, the triggering events for my first paintings were two exhibitions in Milan: a Mondrian show and a Japanese Zen calligraphy. Abstract painting is my only possible way of expression, as representing objects and telling stories never attracted me. From music practice I derived the sensuality of colors and rhythms and the bias toward a compositional structure. I have always painted, despite traveling and my activity in scientific research. I have exhibited many times, solo or in salons, and have works in seven different countries.