“Clipping Service” – 12/16

“Clipping Service”
Rated PG
Disclaimer: All names of people, places, things, literary and creative works of art are used lovingly in this work of fiction. None of them belong to this author, and no profit is derived from this use.

Dolce Vita
April 27, 2004

Emmaus Ortale to headline at the Louvre

Vittoria Cifaretto
Arts and Entertainment
ROME — Rome’s star artist Emmaus Ortale might be considered very young in the business, but photographic evidence proves that the 35-year-old has been at his art from a very early age.
Tucked into the back of Ortale’s folder of art are two photographs of him at the age of 20, drawing pictures with a smile on his face. His art has matured a bit since then, and will soon be exhibited at the Lourve in Paris.
“I’ve been doing a lot of experimentation with different mediums,” said Ortale. “I’m ambidextrous, which may help.”
On the table in front of Ortale are examples of his most three-dimensional displays of art – bowls and jars. It’s typical of his expansive and opulently-decorated villa. A clay bowl with a sculpted face looking out from it is his self-portrait, while the jar beside it shows the mixed mediums of clay and oil paint.
“I suppose I am progressing, but I’m never satisfied,” said Ortale. “I’m striving for my work’s near-perfection.”
Unlike his younger years, Ortale is now taking the time to plan his artwork instead of leaping into it, a step he said is the product of experience. Most of the art set for display at the Lourve are oil paintings, many of women – a blonde woman, specifically. Asked about her identity, Ortale would only say that the woman was his “muse,” and that he owes much of her inspiration to her.
Magazines have spotted Ortale accompanied by this mysterious woman, to the beach, to clubs, to restaurants, and many believe them to be romantically linked. The woman, an American, identified herself only as “Elizabeth Winters” to reporters. Subsequent searches for information on her revealed no records of past employment or habitation.
“I want to surprise her with some of the work I’ve done,” confided Ortale. “She might get a surprise or two out of them, herself.”
Looking back through Ortale’s sketchbook and folder of some of his previous works, there is some progression away from the surrealism that characterized some of his earlier works. From figures and faces in waterfalls, his art has become a bit more “observational.”
“When I was younger I liked to make up things,” said Ortale. “As I got older, it became more observational.”
Constantly working, he keeps a sketchbook filled with pen drawings nearby. As a medium, Ortale said he enjoys working with pens because they can’t be erased, and were good for developing definition and exactness.
To get the light right, Ortale said that he often wakes up at the crack of dawn to work on his paintings, or just to walk around in his villa in the summer, the better to observe plants, dew-covered and opening as the day begins. Much of his work is untitled, save the paintings that are of a specific place.
Not all of Ortale’s art will be on display, at the Louvre or otherwise. Ortale said he realized that some of his art could be deemed “inappropriate” and thus decided to exclude it from the showing. Though the Louvre has nudes among its collection, “I push boundaries and then some with my art – and it’s not all meant for public enjoyment.”
“I do my work in a manner that’s not set, so while others may know exactly how they’re going to do something, I don’t,” said Ortale. “Some of them I’ve been working on for years.”
Ortale is the author of such books as “Cooking with Ortale,” “Painting with Ortale,” “Spirituality with Ortale,” “Dancing with Ortale,” “Sculpture with Ortale,” “Diplomacy with Ortale,” and “Dressing with Ortale.” His next eagerly-anticipated book is “Romancing with Ortale,” due in October.

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Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/284513.html