BITS OF A SPECIAL EVENING- A FUSION OF COLORS, IDEAS AND DREAMS IN MAGICAL ITALY

Seeing your painting exhibited, exposed, at the same time fragile and strong, ready to be praised and criticized, to release it to the world, to surrender it to other people's gaze, leaves a mixed bittersweet taste of pride and dread. However, just being there, in that room of colors, ideas, stories, great expectations and dreams, is a huge honor, to belong to that community of different people who live on opposite sides of the world, who grew up in different systems of upbringing, education, who live different lives but who are united by one desire, need and meaning - to express themselves and create something beyond their own physical existence.

Check it out - Milan Art Mastery Program Graduation - 2024

After two years of attending Milan Art Institute Mastery Program in addition to a regular full-time job, intensively developing a portfolio of thirty paintings and presenting them on a professional website, days and months filled with inspiration and ecstasy but also those filled with doubt and despair, that day came. The day when I will meet face to face with my exceptional professors, my dear fellow artists, when I will see my painting exhibited for the first time in a country that is synonymous with art, in my favorite Italy. The graduation ceremony from this program was held in the charming Italian town of Fabriano, famous for the production of paper, the same one that is indispensable in all offices around the world, the same one on which many works of art are painted.

The first step of entering in the pleasant restaurant Appennino in Fabriano carried a feeling of excitement but also a less pleasant one, a feeling of uneasiness in the stomach, do I belong here, am I an imposter, do I fit in, do I want to escape from there, a moment of questioning before I found myself in that motley of colors, excitement of individuals, emotional human stories, smiles, tears, in the one where you can feel life and where people really live their art. No, I'm not in the wrong place, no matter how uncomfortable the feeling, outside the safe comfort zone, approaching those who are untouchable, perfect, superhuman in my eyes, creates that feeling of forgetting about time, that time is not enough and that you want to do it all over again, that those six, seven hours lasted too short, not enough.

Before the certificates were handed, all graduates gave short speeches, but in those few minutes, in which we all spoke with pride, impatience and stage fright about our experience, and how we were changed by this program, a lot of it remains hidden, such as our great expectations, numerous doubts, old fears, confrontations with oneself, but also enormous strength and courage. As the speeches took place, some filled with tears, some with laughter, nervousness, but also with applauses, I thought what an honor it was to be there, to be among them who dared to make a more unconventional, less pragmatic and comfortable decision, in the most different stages of life, despite personal losses, being in their later years, disapproval of those around them, and other obstacles to be brave and persevere. It is not easy to find time for art in a reality that sees it as a secondary beautiful thing, one that is there to temporarily decorate someone's home, while for us there it is our shield, guide, faith and way of life.

The Milan Art Institute is not just a painting school, it is a way of looking at life, an inspiration for personal transformation, a fairy tale lived by those who had enough courage to be professional artists, those who dared. The meeting with the wonderful Milan family, which runs this program, showed me that even though I was looking upon them as superhumans, because of their talent, success, optimism, creativity and sincere desire to change the world through art, they are individuals who are authentic, sincere and whose strength lies in work, effort and perseverance. Their strength is those like us who have the same goal and who know that they are not alone on the way to achieve it, that they want to lift each other up, that they do not hide their wings or cut the same ones to those around them. Watching them paint live in front of us, how a great work of art is created in just a few hours while the ceremony lasts, how the movements of the brushes glide easily and so many warm shades of the sun's rays inspired by Italy create ravishing harmony, that was afterwards put up for auction to be sold for humanitarian purposes, was an exciting, cinematic and unforgettable experience.

The emotion that drowned out all the others was pride, especially when I saw my painting, in a multitude of other colors, shapes, numerous names of already established artists, people who are curiously looking around and absorbing numerous imagined and vibrant worlds around them. Seeing your painting exhibited, exposed, at the same time fragile and strong, ready to be praised and criticized, to release it to the world, to surrender it to other people's gaze, leaves a mixed bittersweet taste of pride and dread. However, just being there, in that room of colors, ideas, stories, great expectations and dreams, is a huge honor, to belong to that community of different people who live on opposite sides of the world, who grew up in different systems of upbringing, education, who live different lives but which are united by one desire, need and meaning - to express themselves and create something beyond their own physical existence.

Of course, emotions will depend on the artist's personality and self-confidence, but the questions always come, is my painting among all the others at the same level of skill, is it impressive enough, noticed, is it really me, should I have chosen another one. And then when someone approaches it, and especially if they keep their eyes on it, my heart starts pounding, and you don't know if you should approach the observer or get lost somewhere because you don't want to know if the longer gaze was really hypnotizing. However, as someone who is relatively new to this world, I feel a huge success that in those few hours I shared space with wonderful and talented people, especially those who are themselves and who are courageous.

We succeeded, we tell each other, and this is only an introduction, only a beginning, a few steps towards our newly awakened world that has no end or borders, and on whose path, we are each other's fans, that is exactly the community I want to belong to, the artists who they support and encourage other artists. We are not here to make money, although we are aware that money is important to us all and that art costs, we are here so that our inside alive worlds can be seen, so that someone can feel something on our painted canvas, to recognize a part of themselves, to wish that this painted world was and his/her, that's what I took with me that evening, art is not solitude, it's not modesty, it's not silence, it's not isolation, it's there to be shared and to be seen, to shine in its full glory and to motivate those around her to their personal creations and transformations.

To Milan family, dear colleague artists with whom I shared this moment, my sister and brother who cheered me on and to everyone who made this evening special thank you so much.