Fresco (from the Italian fresco – fresh) is a type of monumental fine art, one of the oldest techniques of artistic painting of walls with water paints on wet plaster. A surge in the development of frescoes occurred in Italy in the 14th–17th centuries, the heyday of such masters as Cennino Cennini, Raphael, Michelangelo, and later Vasari, Tintoretto, Luca Giordano, and Tiepolo.
In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, artists painted exclusively on wet plaster. It took about a day to complete the work, otherwise the plaster would dry out. The old technology is still used, but in order to save money and time, many customers choose alternative options. The plaster is replaced by ready-made compounds, thanks to which it remains fresh and elastic longer. This makes the artist’s work easier, allowing him to draw without time limits.
Abstract and figurative painting continues to be reinterpreted in the work of a new generation of designers and fresco artists. The basis of their work is the desire to create a unique project, to rhyme the space with the inner world of the customer, and to reflect the ideas of the illustrator in the interior.
French designers and decorators Laura Gonzalez, Vincent Darré, Emile Humbert, and Christophe Poyet from the design bureau Humbert & Poyet have been working for several years on updating the technique with a new generation of fresco artists. Thanks to Alexandre Poulillon, Raphael Schmitt, and the duo Austin Redfield Tondini and Violet Dattner, natural subjects receive a fresh interpretation. “We draw on art history, great masters, classical painting to analyze it, to deconstruct it,” Austin and Violet share. “We play a lot with changes in scale, we always wanted to bring the painting out of the frame so that it envelops us so that we feel immersed inside the painting.”
Atelier L’Etoile, founded by Mathias Gayhaguet and Stephanie Lay, designs decorative panels with easy-to-understand references to Asia and Expressionism. They brought back into fashion kintsugi, a Japanese technique of restoring ceramics using gold powder, and scagliola, a technique of simulating natural stone that appeared in the 17th century. In addition to these decorative specialists, artists, and illustrators also often work in the fresco technique. Thus, the Italian Roberto Ruspoli, with an endless line, in the style of Jean Cocteau, draws figures of angels and silhouettes of young people on the designs of designer Fabrizio Casiraghi, and Mathieu Causset paints a fresco for Pierre Jovanovic and Tristan Auer. “What I like about the fresco is the relationship between the surface treatment and its dimensions in architecture,” notes Mathieu Causset. — As I draw, changes occur from the original design, for example, when I enlarge a sketch on the wall that I do by hand. I like the spontaneity of drawing, it’s like meditation.”
There are also prominent representatives of Mexican muralism. For example, Abel Macias is an artist, muralist, illustrator, and designer. After living most of his life in New York, Abel Macias moved his studio to Los Angeles. Reimagining frequently used materials and objects, the artist creates playful interiors by colliding color and pattern. His illustrations and artwork are not only based on Mexican folk art but also include influences from street art and Picasso. Abel Macias paints the halls of the Proper Hotel with flora and fauna from Mexican fairy tales, interiors of showrooms themed on an earthly paradise hidden by a lush orchard, or abstract animals, creates prints with desert landscapes and colored cacti for the Amsterdam clothing brand Scotch & Soda.
Michelangelo, or later Eugene Delacroix, sought to use allegorical settings to force the viewer to detach himself from the physical environment and sing the praises of the divine. The new generation continues to create imaginary spaces, but in their way – expressing their style, and illustrating the interests and ideas of the customer. Creating the virality of an image and space, the uniqueness of each era, and creative ideas will never lose its relevance, therefore the demand for fresco painting of interiors in the modern world is justified and will continue with the development of the world and technology.
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