One of Giuliano Grittini's main passions, in art, is for paper. Through this noble and ancient material, the Maestro has managed, in a lifetime of work, to create magnificent works of art known all over the world.
The base, the main material of many of his creations, including the recent and very precious unique works of Craker Art, is almost always paper, but how is a work of art born, a screen print, an edition or a unique piece? The final customer, the collector who buys these luxurious works, often is satisfied to know that the foundation of the process of creating a work on Grittini's paper is serigraphy, but is it really so? Not quite, it seems. Let's discover some secrets of how a work of art made on paper is born.
First of all, not many people know that there are specific papers, still made today with artisanal methods, or with ancient formulas, which already make these sheets a very valuable material. The work will be painted on the art paper, or printed and then receive applications of gold leaf, silver or other interventions, such as drawings, material applications, varnishes, or whatever the artist's imagination dictates.
These sheets of paper are specifically made for printing and each one has its own specific characteristics, such as thickness, porosity, glossiness, color or opacity, so much so that each type of paper is distinguished by a specific name. We already have a fascinating nomenclature of names for papers, such as the famous Rosaspina, which can be ivory or white, Italian, produced in Fabriano, the Canson Aquarelle and Canson Baryta, French, to name just a few, and Japanese papers, or Barbizon, Tiepolo Paper and Hahnemühle Bamboo, German, or even the Roma Michelangelo, which in color recalls that opaque yellow of fresco cartoons. Fascinating names, each corresponding to characteristics that the artist knows by heart, such as color absorption, fluidity, shine, and result, and which are already part of an initial choice to achieve the delicacy and beauty of the finished work.
The history of paper belongs to mankind and the development of knowledge and arts. Invented by the Chinese in 105 AD, who jealously guarded the secret, it first spread to Japan (which is why in the Land of the Rising Sun precious papers are still produced today) and then to Arabia. Only around the year 1100, paper began to spread in Europe, precisely through Italy, thanks to a small town in the Marche region, Fabriano, still a world leader in production today, and then produced in other parts of Europe a few centuries later. Before that, parchment and papyrus were still used.
Having chosen the main material, which type of paper to use, the Maestro must now impress upon the sheet the subject he has decided to represent, one of Giuliano Grittini's famous and iconic POP subjects. This process alone represents a very delicate and complicated phase of the creative act. By drawing inspiration from contemporary imagery, from those images that are part of the collective imagination, the artist chooses the theme that inspires his imagination. Once the base of this figure is set, some technical steps fix it on the precious sheet of paper. On this base, a whole series of unique processes then begin, using brushes, pencils or other tools, glues and inserts, support of other sheets or application of materials, such as gold leaf and silver leaf, which ennoble the aesthetic ensemble of the work. In this phase, the artist's sensitivity, his experience, that magical routine that every artist creates in his work, gives birth, moment after moment, intervention after intervention, brushstroke after brushstroke, to the uniqueness of the work that will have its own unique characteristics.
In some cases, like the unique pieces of Cracker Art, the final artwork will be completely exclusive, particularly elaborate and never identical to another, made in a single copy. In other cases, it is possible to create exclusive editions, for example, nine pieces, just like in sculpture, to give uniqueness to each sheet. How does it work? Based on the same subject, for example, the same face of Marilyn or the same image of Mickey Mouse, each sheet will have differences compared to what is subsequently applied in printing, such as notably a gold leaf in one of the nine subjects or a silver leaf in another, a different color of the subject rather than another, and so on. Thus, in this case, even if the subject of the series of nine is similar, it will never be identical to another. This is how the magic happens. Grittini's work is now ready to be enjoyed.
