Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce Filippo Giusti
ABOUT Filippo Giusti
Filippo Giusti (March 2, 1990) is an Italian painter who has been residing in San Miguel de Allende since 2018. He was born in Livorno, a coastal city in Tuscany, where he began his artistic career as an actor and photographer. It was only after moving to Mexico that he discovered his passion for painting and fully dedicated himself to the visual arts. Despite not having studied drawing or painting in Italy, Filippo turned to the internet and various classical texts to explore different artistic techniques, thus forging a completely personalized path based on his own interests and aesthetic preferences.
His early works leaned towards the surrealist movement before transitioning to commissioned portraits. It was during this period that Giusti realized his desire to portray people in his paintings in a deeper way, going beyond their mere external appearance. After several months of experimentation and study, he began to develop his own style, which he called “Essentialism.” In this artistic exploration, the Italian painter posed the question: “If we were colors on the inside and I could see through the skin, what colors would we be?
Thanks to his innovative Essentialism style, Filippo started to gain recognition, beginning with a network of collectors who discovered him in his studio at Fábrica La Aurora in San Miguel de Allende. Collaboration with the Alfredo Ginocchio Gallery in Mexico City further propelled his career, allowing him to participate in prominent art fairs such as Zona Maco and Context Art Miami. Ultimately, within just 4 years of creating his first painting, he achieved a notable milestone with his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Art in Querétaro in May 2022. The exhibition titled “Essentialism,” during which Filippo painted live for a few days of the show, received abundant positive feedback, setting records in terms of attendance and recognition.
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Divya was my very first collector. She bought the first painting I did in my life: “Swimming Back to Life”. That was the beginning of a great new friendship. Divya is originally from India, but she lived in the USA for many years and moved to San Miguel about 5 years ago. She made a courageous decision because after 20 years of an arranged marriage, she found the strength to let go of her old self. She bought a beautiful house in the center of San Miguel, that would become the setting for the best dinners in town, often with an Indian theme, where she herself does the cooking for dozens of people. Divya’s vitality and strength are such that she seems to have stepped back in time to her twenties. She owns a beautiful jewelry brand named “KarmaSuthra”, finely designed by her and produced in India. The necklace she is wearing is a precious jewel of the Indian tradition, subject that she often uses in her creations.
Michel was born in Africa, where he lived his first 16 years of life. Subsequently, he moved to Vancouver with his sisters. Before getting to know Michel, I had already seen some photos of him in which he appeared as a model. I was immediately struck by his strong and elegant appearance. I got in touch with him through a mutual friend and we started communicating via video calls. I really appreciated the way he agreed to cooperate in my artistic project and the way he opened up about himself. This painting is not only a tribute to the person I am portraying, but also a tribute and reinterpretation of the beautiful painting by Klimt: “Judith I”. Klimt chose to pay homage to the female figure by using the story of Judith and Holofernes, where the feminine figure manages to rebel and win against male oppression. These issues of inequality are unfortunately still present in our society. A disgustingly unfair society even against the LGBTQIA+ community. Michel is queer and immediately after meeting him I realized that he was the perfect subject to speak about this fight which I hope will end soon. All my solidarity for those who have to fight for their freedom to love.
Oil on board 2020 30×50 cm I made this painting in honor to George Floyd and all the victims who have suffered some kind of racial abuse. After watching the footage from the video in which Floyd is brutally deprived of his life, I was speechless for a few minutes and then I couldn’t hold back my tears. But, as it always comes to my mind after such a strong emotion, I felt the need to express it through painting. I didn’t want to do a portrait of Floyd, instead I decided to use a splendid Caravaggio painting “Amorino Dormiente” (1608) but with some modifications: instead of a light-skinned cupid, I made a dark-skinned one. From my point of view, in this painting Caravaggio did not want to portray a cupid at rest, but, as can be seen from the position of the body and the pale complexion, a dying cupid. Insinuating that love died with him. And this is precisely what I saw that absurd day in Minneapolis: death and the total absence of love.
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