Luciano Ventrone was born in Rome in 1942 and
moved to Denmark at the age of six, where he hosted by Lady Metha
Petersen - a wealthy and most of all a lovely woman who lavished him
with gifts. Among them was a box of colored pencils…and from that time
colors have shaped his life.
Returning to Italy after his compulsory education and due to his family situation, Ventrone had several jobs but nevertheless, in 1960 he managed to attend Arts school in Rome.
Returning to Italy after his compulsory education and due to his family situation, Ventrone had several jobs but nevertheless, in 1960 he managed to attend Arts school in Rome.
After graduating in 1964, he studied
Architecture until 1968 and then joined the student protests and decides
to abandon his studies and dedicate his life to painting – which he
never abandoned and was his only source of income at that time.
His life drawings were published in the Academic book ("Human anatomy - the central nervous system") written by Prof. Gastone Lambertini of Cattolica University in Rome.
His life drawings were published in the Academic book ("Human anatomy - the central nervous system") written by Prof. Gastone Lambertini of Cattolica University in Rome.
Ventrone confronts himself with all the main
issues of contemporary art, until he arrives to Realism. With an article
published in 1983 on the Italian magazine “L’Espresso”, Antonello
Trombadori motivated art critic Federico Zeri to get closer to Ventrone
who, under suggestion of Zeri, takes a new path with still life. From
this point on, Ventrone starts a life-long journey inside all the
aspects of Nature, always capturing more and more details that are
almost invisible to our eyes, which nowadays are exposed to millions of
images.
As he liked to tell to his selected students:
painting is not about the mere representation of an object, it’s about
color and light. The right proportions between those two elements form a
shape inside the space. The subject cannot be seen as it is but as an
abstract element.
