Tomasini Paul | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

Anto Tomasini was born in 1960 in Bastia and grew up with a poet father. A citizen of the Isle of Beauty, he has, like all islanders, a passion for the history and landscapes of his island, which develops his artistic sensitivity very early on and pushes him to want to express the emotions he draws from the rich and luminous scenery of the Mediterranean. Trained as a draughtsman, he mixed technical and artistic drawing in an architect's office and did not start painting until the end of his studies. From the start, the pictorial gestures seemed familiar and pleasant to him. He first reproduced the paintings of the Fesch Museum in Ajaccio, then witnessed the beauty of the landscapes that surrounded him in the manner of the impressionists; until one day he was stuck in front of a canvas with previously traced outlines. It is only by destructuring the work that Anto succeeds in completing it. He then took a step forward and began a process of reflection which led him to devote himself solely to abstraction. Self-taught, he was able to freely express all the "artistic brutality" that was in him and make it palpable, especially in his first works. Later, his interest in art history, his collaboration with an essayist and his participation in conferences as a speaker, enriched his knowledge and strengthened his artistic approach. The artist now intellectualizes his painting more. His subjects are thoughtful, studied and elaborated. "Landscape and history", "Reflection on war", "At the sources of the idea", "In the light of time", so many themes and series of paintings having a common point: the reference to History and the call to memory. His works, painted in oil, on canvas as well as on wood, paper or cardboard, always seek to express an emotion rather than to "restore a likeness". For "Reflection on the war" for example, he conducts research, crosses letters and testimonies of soldiers to capture the atmosphere of the war of 1914-18. Anto Tomasini tries to give us a whole and deeply sincere vision of events or outstanding characters, in order to consolidate our projection in the future.