ART TALKS at The Artistic Forum

New York artist Joseph Genova says that ever since he was a boy, traveling by subway from Brooklyn to the Metropolitan Museum, he has been fascinated by art, especially “the lighting and drama” that was typical of early 17^th Century baroque artists – most notably Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

“I loved painting as a boy,” he says, and “spent many hours in the library with my nose in art books.” A self taught artist, Genova says he gained his knowledge of art gradually over the years, painting “on and off almost all my life, mostly weekends”, visiting dozens of museums in the United States and Europe, and from studying the “hundreds and hundreds of books of high quality art” that he has accumulated.

One painting, in particular, however, Caravaggio’s “The Calling of St. Matthew”, he says, captured his imagination early in life and set him on the course he has chosen today. “When I first saw this painting at about eleven years of age,” Genova says, “I knew that painting was my calling. I’ve seen the painting in Rome several times since and each time it makes my pulse rate increase.”

Genova, age 60, who has been in advertising most his adult life and managed his own advertising agency for the past twelve years, has had a client list throughout his career that included at one time or another IBM, Goodyear, Nivea, and National Car Rental, to name a few. It was only relatively recently, however, that he made the decision to scale back his art director duties, promoting others’ ideas and images, and concentrate more on his own work. “I reduced my working hours so that I could devote myself to what I always loved.”

It was five years ago, he says, with the support of his wife, Margaret, whom he describes as his greatest critic and supporter, that he “decided to promote myself to galleries and see if there was a market for my work.”

Within a year, his avocation, his art, was featured in galleries in Carmel California, Cleveland, Ohio, Greenwich Ct., and Woodmere, N.Y. It will soon be seen in the private dining rooms of the Cello Restaurant in New York City.

His work debuted at the Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts gallery in Dennis, MA. in the summer of 2002. The show will be his first.

How Cape art buyers will react to the diversion from typical New England scenes may be too soon to tell, although Genova says he believes the art audience on the Cape is both sophisticated and well traveled enough to appreciate what he offers. This much is clear: Genova, who creates between 15 and 20 paintings a year, brings to the Cape a style that is unique – there are few contemporary Cape artists laboring to paint European structures, but Genova says this is what he likes to paint most.

"The Cloisters", o/c, 32"x42", © by Joseph Genova

While he may have been influenced by Caravaggio, unlike the baroque painters of the past whose emphasis was on dramatic compositions of figures interposed against equally dramatic reflections of light on human forms, Genova’s emphasis is less on figurative art and more on architecture and European antiquity. Also, where Caravaggio worked with human forms, mostly from the lower class, and later, in religious compositions – most notably the life of St. Matthew, the Flagellation of Christ and Crucifixion of St. Peter – Genova’s scenes emphasize an architectural view of the same period from inside a 16^th Century chapel,

a great hall, or perhaps a monastery. To get the mood and setting just right, Genova makes sketches when possible, writes copious notes and takes slides to help him when he returns to his studio.

The affect of light and shadow, usually early morning or late afternoon when the sun is at its brightest, on the interior of these impressive structures is what Genova seeks to capture in his paintings.

"Moorish Gold", o/c, 36"x28"
© by Joseph Genova

The result of this attention to detail shows. Genova’s work is warm, colorful and inviting and is comprised largely, but not always, of sites he visits in his travels throughout Europe and Italy in particular – a journey for interesting subject matter and pure enjoyment he makes once or twice a year.

In each work, there is the hint of an impressive structure, eloquent, painted in its simplicity, uncluttered and free of adornments, almost pious in presentation. Each painting offers a scene that bespeaks a quiet undisturbed place, not a time or event in that place. “When I paint,” he says, “I want those who view my art to escape to a serene world of yesterday, full of sunshine where the weary traveler of life can rest for a few minutes.”

Take for example, his works, “The Cloisters”, “Moorish Gold” and “The Observer”. All are painted in oil on canvas. They are typical of what Genova does best.

Interestingly, while his work, “The Cloisters” has European roots, the actual structure “was transported brick by brick and stone by stone from various cloisters in Europe.” It is located, of all places, in New York City, maintained and run by the Metropolitan Museum. The full structure and tower can actually be seen from the West Side Highway.

“Moorish Gold”, on the other hand, is a palace located in Granada, Spain. Note the rich almost understated presentation of hanging tapestry and the Spanish tile on the far wall. These are the kind of details Genova revels in. “I love these places because of their history but especially for the architecture, textures, patinas and colors.” The remarkable tonal juxtaposition of subject, light and shadow is in the finest chiaroscuro tradition.

Lastly, there is, “The Observer”. The scene here depicts a room in the basement of the palazzo of the Renaissance ruler Urbino. “The cat is from a photo I took in Italy,” Genova says. “I put the two together because while I was painting the window the cat came into my head, Instantly, I knew that she would make the painting more interesting.”

Art lovers and buyers are going to be impressed by this artist’s use of subject matter, color and time of day to depict a truly elegant moment of sublime tranquility. “Hopefully, my work will attract the customer who is looking for more,” he says of the departure from New England themes. Somehow, I suspect, this gifted artists will find an audience anywhere his work is displayed. It is truly impressive.