COHART Spotlight Interview

You can read the whole interview and see the attached visuals here.

Spotlight: Adriano Farinella on the Art of Painting from Within

November 2024 | cohart.com

Adriano, an accomplished artist and educator, blends skill-building with intuitive practices at StudioWork, inspiring students globally.

Adriano’s work is widely collected in private and corporate collections throughout the United States. He has taught drawing, figure drawing, painting, and plein air for over 20 years and now owns and operates StudioWork in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he teaches workshops that balance elemental skill building exercises with intuitive painting practices. His flagship online and in-person class, Sky & Clouds & Land & Air, has reached thousands of students across the world.

What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you start your journey?

Although I’m not from a family of fine artists, creativity was always important to everyone and I’m thankful to have had supportive parents who allowed me to pursue it. I grew up surrounded by books of all kinds—children’s books full of illustrations, encyclopedias, science books, novels, and of course, fine art books.

I was always attracted to the arts but the moment that I remember it really switching into a calling was when I was about 12 and saw reproductions of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera. Seeing that kind of skill, stylization, and storytelling all working together was so profound it launched me into the pursuit of art making. Around that same time I fell in love with music and started studying and performing it. Music and painting became intertwined, each providing insight into the other and both becoming safe havens for me to explore and grow into.

What is your favorite medium to work with, and why does it resonate with you?

Oil paint is my favorite medium. I adore the body of it and the range it has; I can use it directly for a dynamic sketch or indirectly to build luminous layers. Charcoal and white charcoal on toned paper is also a favorite because, like paint, it can be immediate and bold as well as structured and sensitive.

What role does research play in your artistic process? Do you have a specific method for gathering inspiration?

My landscape paintings are all done from memory and imagination. I don’t use photos to create that work, so my research is more the practice of paying attention to skies and clouds and land and then recalling all of it for the painting. But it’s not a literal, photorealistic recollection that includes every detail, it’s more symbolic and universal. I consider the whole process of observation to recollection, to starting on a blank canvas, to finishing a painting as a sort of working meditation.

I also love the improvisational quality of painting without a photo source. I just start with a vague idea or relationship to a series or title and then find my way through the painting process to an image. These invented landscapes use clouds as protagonists and symbols of impermanence while the land acts as an eternal counterbalance. Rather than being a recording of a specific place at a particular time of day, the paintings refer to a metaphysical version of 'a place in time’ and are intended to connect the viewer to broad contemplations that simultaneously transcend the temporal world and root into it.

How has your artistic vision evolved over time, and where do you see it heading in the future?

If there’s one thing I’m thankful for, it's the evolution of my artistic vision. I used to feel anchored to classical realism and like I had to make work that fit under that heading. I truly love that world but I experienced an amazing epiphany when I started painting more directly and expressively. It felt like I could finally hear the language of painting as I was meant to hear it which led me to love the process of discovering how I would use it and what I would say. What I’ve learned is that it doesn’t have to be either/or. I don’t have to be academic and classical or contemporary and abstracted. I can be singularly myself and make the work I want to make using all that has influenced me up to now. That’s where the power and magic lives and where I feel most at home.

How do you stay motivated and inspired during creative blocks or challenging times?

I don’t know that I’ve ever experienced times that are not challenging but I do know that I would rather have the challenges that come along with pursuing my own dreams than the ones that come from working endless hours in pursuit of someone else’s. I’ve done that before many times in order to make a living but I’m at the point now where I just won’t do that again. My dream of thriving as a working artist is my daily motivation and that means selling my paintings all over the world, growing my educational programming, helping my students to hone their skills and find their voice, and building a life of joy and not just constant work.

But like everyone, there are times when even clear motivations are just not enough. When I feel like I’m empty and discouraged, I spend some time sitting with that and trying to figure out where it’s coming from. Then I remind myself that this life is temporary and short and I am fortunate to be alive and well. I’m also fortunate to have something to offer the world in the way of my work, my support, my advocacy. Acknowledging that usually helps me crawl out of the hole and keep going. But also, I’m learning it’s ok to rest. It’s ok to regroup after extended periods of output and it’s ok to refine and even redefine your purpose as often as is necessary. And it’s definitely ok to ask for help when you need it.

Are there any upcoming projects or exhibitions that you're particularly excited about?

On May 10, 2025, I’ll finally be holding the grand opening of my studio and gallery space. It’s called StudioWork and although I’ve been teaching the educational programming for a few years in this space, this spring will see the official launch. StudioWork is located in Easton, Pennsylvania and has a comprehensive mission to become a forum, a resource, and a supportive community for working artists by providing time, space, guidance and path to a fulfilling creative practice. The studio’s teaching mission is structured around balancing technical skill development and the work required to conjure and sustain a creative practice. Programming consists of short term workshops and ong term classes and mentorships in drawing, painting, plein-air painting, figure drawing and painting, plus a visiting artist series.

How do you approach the concept of success or failure in your art practice?

I have to be careful with attaching too much weight to either of those words because they both have the potential to sink me. Instead, I’m devoted to progress. Failure is my mentor. My biggest strides forward have come from abandoning the fear of failure and doing everything I’m terrified of anyway; redefining that aspect of the creative process as necessary and wholly beneficial because it points out what’s not working or aligned with my highest vision or coming from the most authentic place. Sometimes success is defined as course-correcting and finding my way back to where I need to be.

How do you balance commercial aspects of being an artist with your creative vision?

The commercial aspects are ultimately part of the greater creative vision. Yes, I am an artist. But I am also a business. And currently, I have to play every role in that business. None of that diminishes my creative vision. In fact, it strengthens it because everything I do is in service to growing that vision. The bottom line is self awareness and staying true to what is most important to you.

Does technology play a role in your art-making process?

It never really did until I started teaching my workshops online in 2020. I started using photoshop to virtually paint on student work and it was a revelation because I started using it on my own sketches to try possible color choices out before applying them in real paint on canvas. My online class is full of tech.

I use the amazing Ecamm Live software to produce a class that feels a bit like a tv show or live streaming event with multiple cameras and the ‘live audience’ of students. It has allowed me to truly expand how I teach painting because I can use multiple cameras, overlays, keynotes, all while having real-time student participation. I can paint live demos but also cut to dozens of pre recorded demos of large scale paintings and narrate step-by-step technique. I can craft lectures with endless visual resources and have daily Q&A sessions. The best part is all classes are recorded in HD and each student has access to rewatch and follow along with each brushstroke. It’s changed everything for me and I’m super thankful for it.

What advice would you give to emerging artists or other artist peers trying to find their voice in the art world?

I think it’s important to know that there are many different art worlds. You can carve your space into any of them or invent your own world and invite others into it. Either way, the most important thing is to devote yourself to your creativity and your craft. Nurture it, listen to it, meet your creative self wherever it is in its development and be careful not to judge it so harshly that you quit. If you show up for your creativity, it will show up for you and grow in every dimension. Progress over perfection always.