Venice Canal (27×39 oil painting on canvas)

Raffaele Fiore A native of Venice, artist Raffaele Fiore has grown up with the canals, gondolas, and architecture all around him. He has studied the way in which water reacts with respect to wind, light, and human interaction. Changes in current and angle of reflection in the water of the canals fascinate Fiore. To him, it is the water which is the central element in his paintings. Although it remains a common thread in his artwork, he loves to challenge himself by altering it’s behavior in each piece. Fiore was born in Italy in 1961. He attended art school where he enjoyed plein air painting primarily because it involved painting on location. It was here that he recognized his ability to quickly capture a moment in time on his sketch pad. This would eventually lead him into the world of contemporary realist painting. Fiore can be found on location rapidly sketching a scene so as not to lose the moment to changes in light. He is thrilled by the concreteness of how he sees things and the challenge of transferring what he sees to the canvas in exactly that way. It is a complex process that involves not only a unique ability to remember the detail of what he has seen, but the almost mathematical capacity of knowing the result of a particular event upon each of the different elements in his composition.