Silvano Cattaï:

Into the light

Silvano Cattaï was born in Belgium, of Italian parentage and came to be an artist in Italy by way of making films in New York. After years in sculpture he finally came back to painting, but this time with a sculptural angle, using a plasma gun and paint on aluminium.

Silvano’s studio houses his powerful plasma equipment and protective gear. On the walls are metal-working tools and shelves filled with tubes of oil paints. Around the studio are neatly stacked rows of aluminium sheets.

Silvano mixed his own colours and worked in sculpture in Pietrasanta for many years until he came full circle back to art, this time using the plasma torch at the same time as paint, making sweeping cuts on aluminium plates.

When making sculpture, Silvano became dependent on other people, but coming back to painting allowed a more instinctive approach and freed him up to work by himself. Now unencumbered, Silvano finds painting provides the freedom he craved to express himself and to do what pleases him.

Silvano’s garden has myrtle bushes burgeoning with berries, persimmon, lemon and olive trees – all plump with fruit. The view is dominated by the peak of the mountain opposite, with the quarries and their familiar lines of mining scars.

Thanks to Gail Skoff for this collaboration and for the fantastic photographs of Silvano.

All photos by Gail Skoff: gailskoff.com – instagram.com/skoffupclose

cattai.net

instagram.com/_cattai_s

Silvano is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors