Featured Artist

Donatella Nardari's artwork is characterized by a vibrant, naïf style that explores the versatility of oil pastels. Her pieces often exhibit rich textures and a playful use of color, drawing from her diverse cultural experiences in Italy, Austria, and South Africa. Despite her initial career in music, her dedication to art has grown, leading to several exhibitions and a distinctive artistic voice that combines elements of European and African influences.

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Artist Statement

Color. It has always moved me. I am mostly drawn to the arrangement of color in a painting.

I tended initially towards a naïf style of painting, though this did not prevent me from experimenting in other ways.

Living in the North West of Southern Africa, in an area surrounded by bush and all sorts of fauna, there is always something of the natural world to discover. I started on a project of depicting animals that are found in this area.

Soon the idea of adding a human element to my images started evolving.

There is no intention on my part to make a realistic portrayal of what I see. I would rather try to touch that indefinable quality between the real and the imagined world.

I have always been close to my Italian roots and have often wondered at the twists and turns of life that have contrived to find me in a culture and natural habitat far from my origins.

I have decided to exploit this dichotomy in my images and find that they surprise and intrigue me  prompting me to further explore possibilities.

Due to an allergic reaction to oil and acrylic paint, my medium of choice is oil pastel. It is the closest to the texture I seek. I generally find oil pastel to be a versatile and pliable medium.

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