I am a huge fan of holidays on the mountains, but, despite having lived in Italy for years, I had never been to Switzerland, so the invitation of the Galerie Palü was much appreciated. It represented the opportunity to finally visit a Country that I knew I would have liked; it allowed me to spend few days among breath-taking views and to iceskate, which I love and that I can’t never have enough; and, last but not least, to admire the art of Segantini, a painter that I really like.
But I have to admit that the most striking result of this collaboration is that it has led me to continue to try my hand at a technique that, at the time, was pretty new for me, oil pastels, which I first started using in September 2018 during a workshop in London. Francesco liked the very first results so much so that he asked me to exhibit them in his winter collective show and then to go to St Moritz during the Snow Polo championships, to create new works inspired by St Moritz during those days of particular ferment.
St Moritz is always stimulating and its climate and light make it a fabulous subject all year round, but the concentration of charming people is very high during the days of the Snow Polo.
I must admit my disbelief at the sight of the peculiar lights and shadows of the valley! I had seen them in the works of Vogel, the main artist of the gallery, but I didn’t really believe they existed, I imagined they were a birth of the artist’s mind, but the Engadine is just like that: a very strong contrast of whites and blues. Fabulous.
The works I made for this last exhibition (aptly named St Moritz A winter’s tale) are a mix of drawings created in situ, quick sketches, drawings on which I worked again back home and works created from scratch, once back in London, based on my memory, my sketch book and photographs took by me and Francesco.
The greatest joy was drawing sitting on the stalls, while the sporting action was taking place; and during the pause between a match and the other, while, all around, people strolled, sipping Perrier-Jouet and a light sleet enveloped us. The oil pastels did not abandon me even at that moment, proving suitable for any occasion!
Francesco rightly sensed that this technique would be ideal for this project: the richness of the pastel perfectly renders the sumptuousness of the velvets, curtains, certain fabrics in the hotels, at teatime, and of the furs and outfits of men and women that populate St Moritz.
At the same time, oil pastel is also a tool for drawing, and this is revealed in the works where a bit of architecture peeps (I can never do without it! Not even in a project dedicated to people!). Norman Foster’s addition to Kulm Country Club, some houses and churches, the palisades, are graphic, rigid, geometric elements that complete the softness of the human figure.
Under Francesco’s guidance I was able to live almost all the typical moments of a stay in St Moritz: winter sports, afternoon tea, dinner at the Sunny Bar; and on every occasion my Fabriano notebook and my Sennelier oil pastels were there, ready to capture the colors, smells, emotions on people’s faces.
Mary Cinque makes art 