Orchidea notturna closes the Metamorphosis cycle I have been working on since 2023. The orchid recurs in my work as a figure of fragile balance: botanically it is an epiphytic plant, growing clinging to other plants without being parasitic, exchanging oxygen and shade in return for a foothold. For me it is the image of how one actually lives in a studio: no painter is self-sufficient, we lean on those who came before us.
The gold leaf is a direct homage to the panels of fourteenth-century Tuscany, but also a closer reference. I think of Klimt, of course, but above all Anselm Kiefer's work from the 1990s, where gold enters as an element of geological time and not of luxury. I layered seven coats of transparent varnish before applying the leaf, because I wanted the reflection to seem to come from below, not from above.
The choice of blue for the background comes from the pigments I have always used: a natural ultramarine ground by hand by a supplier in Carrara. I call it blue before dawn because it contains a percentage of ivory black that makes it slightly warmer toward violet, especially under artificial light. It is the color I see from the studio window when I work late.
