"A portrait painted in oils – for me this signifies enduring value in these modern times where we are confronted on a daily basis with ubiquitous digital imagery. Oil painting is the new Instagram.”
The masters of classical European art are essentially Martin Nunzio’s role models.
The young artist, who belongs to “Generation Instagram”, posts private photos on the Internet with great enthusiasm. Nevertheless, back in his teenage years, Martin Nunzio found himself picking up brushes, paints and canvas. And today he continues to contribute to an unexpected renaissance of the centuries-old discipline of portrait painting.
His opulent, realistic painting style is rooted in his childhood. Born and raised near Freiburg / Breisgau, Nunzio absorbed the baroque joie de vivre of this sun-soaked winemaking region from an early age.
After studying art history at the University of Marburg, he refined his skills in oil painting at the Berlin Art Class for the next four years. The Berlin Art Class is a renowned private academy specialising in classical painting.
Nunzio is fascinated by the lifelike rendition of the human figure depicted on canvas: "I admire great masters of the fine arts like Adolph Menzel or John Singer Sargent, with their perfect and apparently effortless ability to capture the charisma of the person portrayed using oils. This works only with a virtuoso painting technique capable of rendering the multiple natural shades of the face and hands with great sensitivity. The subtle art of abstraction plays an important part."
Nunzio prefers to paint using photos for reference. "My clients usually provide me with one of their favourite photos", says the artist, who lives in Munich.
When he recently decided to paint his father's favourite dog just for fun, it turned into another genre: "Man and dog have always been close friends and I love the challenge of capturing the vitality of our four-legged friends on canvas."
Text and Interview by Gabriela Greess
