Pietro Maffei               

I began my quest of art embracing figurative painting, surrealism and symbolism and I enjoyed working with acrylics colors during most of my 20s. But putting big effort and creativity isn't always rewarded the way we intended it to be. A few years ago I started to have a look back at my paintings. The dark and aggressive themes of my compositions, reflecting a more tormented young age, were not representative of how my life had evolved. While I was still fascinated by the beauty of the human body, in particular the feminine body, I had toned down my obsessiveness and started to appreciate nature as a whole, to the point of fascination. From there I began to look for new ways of expressions. I had started photography long time ago, towards the end of my 20s. From landscapes and industrial pictures, mostly shot while I was living in California, I moved to macro photography where I found a broader experimentation field. It was in this context that I started to shoot plants, stems, all kinds of berries and flowers. Using a high magnification lense, shooting in black and white, playing with filters and manipulating colors can lead to very interesting and unreal results. What I eventually obtained was reminiscent of science-fiction, of alien textures and strange biotopes. This was the beginning of a new start for my creativity.