* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Agostino Arrivabene was born at Rivolta d’Adda, near Cremona, Italy on June 11, 1967. After graduating in 1991 at the Brera Art Academy in 1991, he focused on painting, drawing and etching. From the outset his attention was drawn to the Ancient Masters, Leonardo, Dürer and van Eyck above all else, leading him to travel extensively in Europe’s museums to gain a first hand view of their masterpieces of which he often made faithful reproductions. This research allowed him to revitalise and apply forgotten painting techniques (above all egg tempera), to utilise neglected materials and to prepare colours according to traditional methods (from lapis lazuli, cinnabar, pure indigo, madder, bistre, dragon’s blood, orpiment and from other materials). At the same time he also focuses on drawing and etching techniques.
Agostino says, “I enhance what is urgent inside me. Sometimes I translate what my essence demands into dim atmospheres. I raise universal human values to images, or symbols, or, even better, archetypes that transfigure reality through a language bound to ancient mysteries, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries…”