tokidoki (Simone Legno) event launch at Art Now

Описание: Art Now is happy to celebrate the launch of Simone Legno's tokidoki first exhibition in Asia. Thank you for being present at tokidoki launch. We are happy to have our Guest of Honor, Mrs Yumiko Vattani from Italy Embassy of Singapore, Special Guest Mdm Liu Yang and Mr. Simone Legno to address the friends and families present at the launch. We thank you for continued your support to Art Now and tokidoki!

Artist Statement
The name of this show is inspired by the direction that my paintings have been evolving. For my entire career I’ve been fascinated by kawaii culture, and I’ve created hundreds of characters that have been the most expressive way to depict reality and emotions. I grew up watching my mum paint and my house was full of modern art books, and Impressionism was always my favorite art movement, particularly all the different variations that evolved from this, such as the Post-impressionists, Macchiaioli and Fauvism.

Daily life in Japan is steeped in "kawaii" elements and kawaii is a word used often in Japanese everyday life. It means cute, little, or simply adorable. Kawaii imagery is seen on all types of objects, and it gives color to the modern city. It adds a friendly sensation to the cold image of a huge industrial society or the financial corporate world.

Characters are very expressive, and they can often convey feelings better than human facial expressions, which are sometimes difficult to read or somehow insincere. I believe that kawaii or animated characters awake in me, as well as the viewer, a sense of sweet tenderness that is very pleasant to the eyes and soul. They can be amusing and make us
smile.

It's my artistic process to bring out the essence of something very complicated, and to reduce something very intricate to a few key lines. At the same time, I’ve always been fascinated by the rough, thick body of modern art paintings, and the mix of earthy colors with vivid pastels. I love the art of painting with the most deep and pure meaning of the word love.

Out of the many ways I express myself through art, using brushes and acrylic on canvas is my favorite. There is no software that can recreate the infinity of colors in the way that mixing acrylics and spreading them with the brush or spatula can. This method gives you the beauty and uniqueness of imperfection, the wonderful surprise of a casual mistake.

I love the texture and the light reflections that a thin but three-dimensional surface of a painted canvas can give. I sometimes like to just caress my paintings while I discuss business on the phone and feel the pleasant texture on my fingers.

I love the sense of freedom it gives me to mix the soft texture of acrylics and let my brush move as I stop thinking. It’s like shadow boxing, or dancing for those who love to dance, or skiing, surfing, and letting your fingers fly on a piano.

Every day from the moment I open my eyes in the morning I think about thousands of things, hundreds of business problems, routine matters, and daily creative challenges that need solutions. When I paint, I don’t think too much - I just observe what I’m doing and watch the surprising results that one or a series of brush strokes can create in that precise moment.

I love the smell of paint as well, maybe because it reminds me of growing up surrounded by my mum’s acrylics and oils. I mix these memories with the current generation’s street art, super flat and pop culture. But I still feel that the Impressionists had the greatest style, and when I look at their paintings, they stir up more emotion in me than any contemporary
artist.

This classic, fine art has merged in me with my attraction to the neon colors of the urban environment, the vivid metropolis, and the bold pop culture cartoon icons that surround us. There is magic in balanced chaos that we often can't recognize in our daily life, where an infinite number of things move too fast, but we can still catch some impressions and hold them within us.