Mariaceleste Arena

Artist Statement

I currently paint and draw fantastic creatures mixed together inspired by animals symbol of
Mother Goddess of Life and Regeneration, taken by the books written by the archaeologist
Marija Gimbutas. Among the creatures that I depict are presents also visionary dinosaurs, often
fused with plants. They are always been one of my great passions in my childhood and that I’ve
always wished to immortalise them one day. The animals that impressed me most of all in my
artistic research are been certainly the elephants, for different motivations: first of all the bond
with my land, Sicily. “Dwarf elephants” were presents in the island millions of years ago before
the appearance of humans.
Other important references to elephants and Sicily are surely the myth of Cyclops in Greek’s
mythology, the war elephants during Punic Wars and the visionary elephants made by the artist
Giovanni Cammarata from Messina. Other references to this artistic genre are taken from the
artworks of Mariano Pietrini, Ivan Generalić and Ivan Večenaj, Croatian artists belonging to the
naive school in Hlebine: an union between atmospheres and feelings of Northern and Southern
Europe.
Even the insects such as butterflies and cockroaches are subjects that help me to elaborate
emotions and negative events; in particular cockroaches are creatures that I depict to give shape
to my nightmares and my fears. Butterflies are instead insects that have been linked since ancient
times to regeneration, the fragility of life and hope.
I thinks that many of my works are often full of fantasy and irony, even sometime are presents
melancholy traits.