Spinozablue: An Eclectic Journal of the Arts

When I stum­bled on oil pas­tels sev­eral years ago after not hav­ing had any for­mal back­ground or train­ing in art, I sur­pris­ingly found myself enjoy­ing work­ing strictly in this medium. I am most intrigued not only by its tex­ture, flu­id­ity, and vibrancy of colour but also with the dimen­sion and depth which can be read­ily achieved through sim­ple hand and fin­ger smudg­ing. In this way, being so closely con­nected phys­i­cally with the paper, I find myself able to become even more deeply immersed in the work.

Ingénue, by Desi Di Nardo

Several of my favourite artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Tamara de Lempicka, and the Group of Seven artists. My great­est influ­ence, how­ever, is Edgar Degas mainly because of his dis­cern­ing eye for the human form and his mas­ter­ful por­trayal of move­ment in dance mode. After tak­ing clas­si­cal bal­let at the National Ballet School of Canada for some years, I became very inter­ested in the ele­ments of speed, grace, and strength – all aspects very much part of the rig­or­ous and demand­ing dance.

Anon, by Desi Di Nardo.

I am also quite fas­ci­nated by Degas’ abil­ity to intensely con­cen­trate so many of his paint­ings and draw­ings on a pas­sion and love for another art form, that being bal­let. It is almost as if the two means feed off each other to form a mutual rap­port – each stim­u­lat­ing and enliven­ing the other for its own sep­a­rate growth.

Arabesque, by Desi Di Nardo

I expect this is true in my per­sonal expe­ri­ence as well, as art is really only a small indul­gence that often­times acts as an out­let too with the off­shoot ben­e­fit of pro­vid­ing inspi­ra­tion and focus for my writ­ing career. In fact, much of what I write con­tains sim­i­lar under­tones which exist in my paint­ings as the recur­ring themes of nature, spir­i­tu­al­ity, and human­ity are present in both.  

–Desi Di Nardo

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Desi Di Nardo’s work has been pub­lished in numer­ous North American and inter­na­tional jour­nals and antholo­gies, per­formed at the National Arts Centre, fea­tured in Poetry on the Way on the Toronto Transit Commission, selected by Canada’s Parliamentary Poet Laureate, and dis­played in the Official Residences of Canada. See www.desidinardo.com

Copyright ©2008, Desi Di Nardo and Spinozablue. All Rights Reserved.

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