Whilst the Melbourne My Style team were in Milan for the Spring Summer 2020 Milan Fashion week, I had been speaking back and forth to Daniele Davitti, an Italian artist born in Florence who is a very dear friend of mine. “Todd, please come to Florence to see my new art exhibition”, he requests.
Florence Italy
Daniele and I met in Florence in 2015 at the International Foundation of Fashion Technologies Institutes conference. It was after our introduction and a week spent learning one another’s design background and practice along with my viewing his art works, we decide he should relocate and work alongside me here in Melbourne lecturing in the art of fashion illustration and design.
Daniele studied illustration and fashion design at “Polimoda fashion Institute” in Florence, where he designed his first collection. In 2008 he was awarded a scholarship to study at prestigious “Bunka Fashion College” in Japan, where he received his Masters Degree in Fashion Design and Illustration.
Daniele began to turn his attention towards the fine arts and painting while living in Japan. It was in Japan that he had the chance to study traditional visual languages including the art of ink and printing based on Japanese style and philosophies.
Upon his return to Italy, after searching within himself, he decided to abandon a career in the fashion industry and, instead, pursue his burgeoning passion for teaching and fine arts. In 2011 Dabiele was appointed lecturer of illustration and the aesthetic of art at Polimoda in Florence, becoming the youngest teacher ever hired, a true feat and of course complement to the always charming and spectacularly charismatic Daniele.
After two years in Australia he left us to return to Europe starting his new teaching program, in aesthetics and arts and fashion, again at Polimoda.
Currently his artistic endeavours have included painting, illustration, interior design, sculpture, fashion and costume design.
Viewing Daniele’s latest art exhibition whilst in Milan was so terribly important. It had been a number of years since I had seen the man and with a sound understanding of his thought processes, I was intrigued to see how his worked had developed. Unfortunately, I was unable to get to him myself but Achillis Prinos, another dear friend and photographer was able to get to Florence in order to meet with Daniele and shoot his amazing works for us.
The exhibition in Florence is enriched with sumptuous patterns, sophisticated symbols and crumbling architecture, the composition of Davitti’s paintings follows “grotesque” stories where the human species seem to be biologically degenerated into beautiful creatures, creating a compelling weave between women, mummies and skeletons.
Davitti’s imagery has been developed with a number of cultural influences. Inspired by great families of Renaissance paintings and frescos rendered with grey, white and beige
Black ink and a bold, confident line construct his figures. Equally important are the 18th and 19th centuries – from classical music to Art Nouveau – their cultural and artistic manifestations complete Daniele’s very personal and singular style.
The result is a eulogy to the beauty of decay. It speaks as if from an immaculate past, where the artist is the lone survivor, trying to communicate to us his solitude amid the ruins.
Please visit his website https://www.danieledavittiart.com/ in order to view Daniele Davitti’s work in its glorious entirety.
Written by Todd Anthony
Imagery Achillis Prinos
