Nowadays, everyone’s personal expression can be free with Art: drawings, paintings, sculptures created with all kinds of material.

Developing a personal style is something that can make an artist’s name last for the ethernity: that’s what the Maestros from Renaissance teached to our era with their masterpieces and what contemporary and modern artists keep in mind to make of their artworks always something special.

Not just a particular way of painting or drawing, but also the used materials can become a logo of the artist: that’s exactly what we can see in the colourful and original works of Valentino Monticello.

The Italian-native artist grew up literally into his profession – his family run a hotel where he was brought up between food and wine – Valentino worked for many years as sommelier in prestigious London’s restaurants. He was continuoulsy exposed to wines from all over the world and at the highest levels (like Bordeaux and Burgundy) and was working all night long to his other biggest passion: Art. Since the beginning, his work has been always prestigious.

His personal unique style came out when he obtained his first commission as artist: he should have done a common mural painting but – surprise – he ended up doing a wonderful collage using the most obvious tool of his trade: wine labels. By cutting out and an arranging the labels in incredible detail he created a fascinating scene which brightened up the lives of all the residents. It also got Valentino thinking that perhaps his talents could best be employed on this type of art form rather than painting or drawing.

We can easily recognize his particular works: a serie of collages showing detailed scenes, with people, flowers, where drawing and painting are not involved at all; wine labels are the absolute starrings.

In his collages you can often find also a strong symbolism coming from the world of Opera, his third passion. Valentino carefully looked through many different Opera scores to find references relating to wine. Once he found a specific scene, he would illustrate it using wine labels from the country where the Opera was set. For example “La Boheme” by Giacomo Puccini uses only French wine labels. Other Operas are specific to wine regions for example Il viaggio a Reims by Gioachino Rossini features only Burgundy Wine Labels.

Thanks to his original style, he had the chance to expose in some of the most important art galleries like Ergon and National Gallery in London.

(source: http://www.valentinomonticello.com/theartist.html )

Art as a passion and life-style, where developing personal features will let you express your soul. The Institute Galilei offers drawing & painting courses held by experienced and innovative artists.

The Institute Galilei also offers Wine Tasting individual and small group programs, held directly in a famous restaurant of Florence by a professional sommelier. To have more informations, please send and e-mail to info@galilei.it