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Maria Orfano. Acrylic Needs

Maria Orfano, in art acrylicneeds, was born in 1995 in Arona, a small town on Lake Maggiore in Northen Italy. Since she was young she developed passion for drawing and painting; until the age of 24 her art was mainly focused on figurative and pictorial works, with a certain interest towards digital art. Maria has a mainly scientific formation, in facts she graduated in civil geotechnical at Politecnico di Milano.

She developed a multifaceted mind: dealing everyday with both engineering and art, she often claims that mathematics is another form of art and the combination of the job as an engineer with the necessity of making art is one of her sources of inspiration. Seeing things from both an artistic and a scientific point of view helps her to have a clearer overview of the world.

Maria Orfano. Acrylic Needs
Maria Orfano

The name of the Instagram profile “Acrylic Needs“ was born from the type of colors she used since the beginning of her artistic journey; the word “needs“ has been chosen because she looks at art not as a plain passion, but as a necessity to feel alive. Despite the name of the Instagram account, the artist’s attention is now moved to another kind of concept: the new project, called “Sharp life”, is related to studs glued on objects of common use.

An element typical of punk, emo, metal music dress code is moved on objects of daily use, this influence comes from her passion for such kind of music together with the recent guitar studies beginning.

Such an antithetical combination offers a new point of view and gives a second parallel life to very simple objects. The effect of this contrast given by ordinary items with an unexpected element creates an alienating feeling, though which some confusion about the use of the object arises. Sometimes the artworks are also used to send messages related to various social themes or simply to throw provocations. The idea of the project was born by chance on an ordinary summer day of 2020, as a sort of epiphany; the first object created was a red wine glass. From this first work the idea of the project was developed and became more and more complex.

Maria Orfano

She takes inspiration from her personal experience, from the idea of everyday life joined with the intention of creating contrasts. Acrylicneeds is the expression of a reversed point of view, the desire of transforming obvious things in something ambiguous. This aspect also linked to her conception of art: in its complexity, from paintings to music, art is a therapeutic expression that can distract people so that to help them to forget about everyday problems. Art is also a cure against that melancholy, that pain of living that characterizes the last generations, as shown in Bojack Horseman series, another of her inspirations. By creating impactful items, as for instance these strange studded objects, she hopes to make people overcome the sense of loneliness that is characterizing the recent years, even if only for a moment.

Acrylic Needs – www.instagram.com/acrylicneeds/