Getting to know the space where the artist moves and works. Having the opportunity to enter his ateliers, breathing in the air filled with the scent of powdered paint, the canvases and materials he uses. Staring out of the window and seeing what he sees, while his hands mould the clay or dip brushes in paint, giving shape to his mind’s dreams and imagination. And finally, talking with the artist himself, asking about his past, his extraordinary experiences, his travels, the people he met along his journey. Appreciating his personality, tasting his charisma and understanding, at least in part, the secrets of his soul.

This is what Maestro Antonio Nocera is offering his guests, by opening the doors to his ateliers. The artist, finally back to Italy after having wandered around Europe for several years, will now commit to this new project, called Atelier Ouverts, “I’ve always been a traveller, says Maestro Antonio Nocera, feeling the unstoppable urge to never set roots in a specific place, as much as I loved many for their atmosphere and their beauty. First of all, Caivano, the place where I was born, then Parma, where I lived for several years, and Naples, a place I had left years ago, where I’d go back occasionally, as if to take a breath and regain strength before immersing again in my excitingly strenuous journeys. I’ve seen marvellous places and met exceptional people, I’ve experienced things that helped me growing as a man as well as an artist, which gave me the possibility to compare my work with the work of others and find new inspirations, greatly influencing my life and my work. But then, from time to time, I felt the need to come back home, to my country, to lose myself in the aura of a city like Naples, whose magic can amaze you every single time, fascinate you until you’re totally ravished, making you forget everything else, as if nothing could make sense but its building, its roads, its voices, its sea. When this happened, it would be time for me to distance myself again, almost scared by the idea that its beauty, extraordinary and unique, could mesmerise me like Ulysses’ sirens and trap me forever. I’ve been a globetrotter, and I still feel like one deep inside my soul but, with age, I finally feel the need to settle here a bit longer, determined to launch the project Atelier Ouverts, which is not something completely new to me. Actually, I had already proposed this back in 1997 in Paris, in 20 Rue des Canettes in Saint Germain de Prés. Later in Venice, when I was presenting Libri d’acqua at the monastery of San Nicolò al Lido, during the 55th edition of the International Art Exhibition, I started my first Venetian atelier ouvert, where the public, with whom I would interact directly, could watch me working and ask me questions freely. That experience was very successful and was very inspiring for me, too. This is why, today, I find myself agreeing fully with the words pronounced by the President of the 57th edition of the International Art Exhibition, Paolo Baratta, who claims that this great event should become a place whose method, and almost its reason of being, are the free interaction among artists, and between them and their public.”

Therefore, Antonio Nocera, by opening the doors to his workshops in Caivano, Naples and Venice, intends to draw the public, collectors and fellow artists nearer to his art, opening a direct line with them. In Venice, then, there will be two ateliers overts ready to welcome whoever is interested, one in 782 Fondamenta San Biagio, which will be inaugurated soon, and the other at the former convent of Saint Cosma and Damiano, where he produced his famous “Libri d’acqua” and “Pinocchio” with his collaborator Fernando Masone.