Marco Mazzoni
Mazzoni weaves a world based on Italian folklore of mystical women who seduce, bewitch, curse and cure. His work is a homage to the hidden craft and history of healing women and every drawing is infused with metaphors that tell their story. From flora and foliage that is either curative or hypnotic, butterflies and birds that drink the energising and nourishing nectar to the circular compositions alluding to the cyclical nature of life and finally the semi - hidden faces hinting at the enforced obscurity of women obliged by prevailing religious beliefs to conceal their knowledge, power and practice.
He often chooses not to paint the eyes, as they are a distraction and with eyes, the faces would then become portraiture, which he emphatically avoids, preferring to present to the viewer a ‘still life’ image, capturing a ‘moment when a woman takes control of all, in harmony with nature’.
Technically brilliant, Mazzoni has rejected all advice to relinquish the pencil in favour of oil paints and has continued his mastery of the modest medium of the coloured pencil. He utilises a complex chiaroscurist style of juxtaposing light against dark, to create intense depth and brilliant light. This, combined with his imaginative composition, offers the viewer one of the most colourfully opulent, detailed and intense visual feasts to be had.
The ephemeral beauty of these drawings blend mystical Italian folklore, medicinal flora and symbolic fauna with delicate femininity, to create wraith like personalities that draw you in, quietly hypnotise you and place you firmly into a hidden story of female power, beauty and knowledge. Simply put, they are provocative, poignant and full of hidden meaning.
