Gio Bonzon, a language teacher, lives in Luxembourg. In the summer of 2011 she comes across Davide Cristofaro’s hand-painted silk scarves on Facebook, and a long-distance friendship begins. A few months later Davide happens to see a photograph of Laure, Gio’s daughter, and is so struck by it that he asks her permission to paint her on canvas and show the work in an exhibition. Laure agrees.
When Davide tells Gio about it in mid-December, she replies that same evening: “If one day you paint Laure’s face, I think I will be interested in the work.” In February the project takes shape, as Laure is to be the model for the work he will take to the exhibition, and Gio writes to him: “I am very moved that you have chosen Laure as the model for your exhibition.”
In April she receives the first photograph, with the work still unfinished: “Laure” Ogni Giorno Felicità, mixed media on canvas, 80×80 cm. Beside the face, on the dragon, the Chinese characters repeat the title, “happiness every day”. Gio has no doubts: “This painting is splendid, and of course I want to buy it.”
Davide works in a raised pointillism that he calls “3D hyperrealist painting”: he builds every detail dot by dot, so that in person the surface catches the light. Fanny, Laure’s younger sister, sees the work too and writes to him: “It looks just like my sister!”
Echi di perle artistiche
The exhibition is “Echi di perle artistiche”, a national biennial in its first edition, held in Martina Franca from 23 May to 2 June 2012. The Associazione Artemozioni and its president, Lucia Torricella, stage it in the rooms on Piazza XX Settembre, beside the Arco di Santo Stefano, with thirty-eight artists among painters, sculptors and poets.
Another of Davide’s works, “The Unknown Woman”, represents the exhibition: it appears on the cover of the catalogue, on the poster and on the leaflet. Davide is also among the event’s sponsors.
On 18 May, a few days before the opening, the magazine Extra devotes a page to the exhibition, “Il suono di una nuova eco”, written by the journalist Maria Teresa Trivisano and illustrated with “Laure” itself.
The Quotidiano di Bari also introduces the exhibition with “Laure”, in an article by the journalist Vinicio Coppola. On 2 June, the day of the closing evening, Coppola writes about it again and lists the thirty-eight artists in competition, among them “Davide Cristofaro (‘Laure’)”.
In the room, “Laure” takes the centre of the wall, behind the red ropes, between “The Unknown Woman” and “Unconditional Love”, and there Davide welcomes friends and guests. On the evening of 25 May he is joined by Luce Di Maggio, sculptor and interior decorator, founder of the artisan brand “Nuvole di Panna”, who is showing her sculpture “Passion”.
Two evenings later Lucia Torricella arrives and poses with Davide alongside Luce, the rock and flamenco guitarist Roki Semee and some of the exhibition’s guests. On 1 June Walter Trono, comic artist, illustrator and concept artist from Martina Franca, also stops by to greet him.
Then there is a visit unlike all the others. On the evening of 27 May, shortly after Lucia, Davide’s parents walk into the room: it is the first time they have come together to one of his exhibitions, and they stand with him in front of “Laure”.
On 2 June the exhibition closes in the open air, in Piazza XX Settembre, with the closing ceremony and a giant screen showing all the works on display.
On the way to Luxembourg
Once the exhibition is over, Davide’s father builds a plywood case for “Laure”, padded on both sides, that holds the painting firmly in its gold-leaf frame. The work leaves Martina Franca on 9 July 2012 and, two days later, arrives at Gio’s home.
A few months later Gio writes to Davide: “They are not just portraits, they have a soul.” In 2013 “Fanny” Rialzati, Combatti e Vivrai per Sempre follows, the portrait of her younger daughter, and since then the two canvases have lived together in Gio’s home.
The soul of my daughter
“I came across this artist through Facebook, while I was looking for people who were interested in art. When I stumbled on his works, I was amazed by his talent. David, who knows how to find inspiration in everything he looks at, felt like painting my elder daughter, whom he had seen in a photograph. Without our knowing what to expect, and once we had given him permission, he set to work. He kept me posted on how the work was coming along, without my being able to imagine what it would look like. I got to know him as he laid the colours on the canvas, and I could feel how inhabited and impassioned he was by his art. Some time later he sent me a photograph of the finished work, entitled ‘Laure’ Ogni Giorno Felicità. I could not believe my eyes! This was no rough likeness: he had managed to capture the sweetness and the soul of my daughter! I was left open-mouthed. There was no way I was not going to acquire this work which, once dry, was packed and protected in a wooden case and shipped to my address. I had seen it in a photograph, now I was going to discover it for real. Once again I was overwhelmed by the emotion the portrait gave off. A question came into my mind: how can a young artist create a masterpiece if he has not been touched by grace? Plenty of people call themselves painters, but Davide Cristofaro is a pearl among many empty shells. Some time later he met my younger daughter and had a mad urge to have her as a model, and that is how the work ‘Fanny’ Rialzati, Combatti e Vivrai per Sempre came into being. To paint it he kept the same technique and used practically the same colours, so that the two works could form a whole. The final result was just as breathtaking: once again he had managed to capture the soul of my younger daughter. I never tire of contemplating these two canvases, and the few people who have had the chance to see them have all been left open-mouthed.”
“I want to thank Davide Cristofaro for the happiness he has been able to give me through his artistic gift, and I wish all art lovers the chance to marvel one day at one of his canvases.”
See the work The Unknown Woman
