Born in Cesena, Italy, in 1982, Jacopo Casadei studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Ravenna, before returning to his hometown where he currently lives and works. Deeply in love with drawing ever since his youth, Casadei discovers painting only during the later years of his Academic career, finding a world of unexpected and untouched possibilities, a new adventure to engage in.
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Working on a variety of sizes, Casadei focuses on the medium he uses, oil paint, trying to understand its descriptive potential and its relation with mental drawing and its constructs. Rhythm, movement and openness are elements that the artist absorbs not only from a meticulous study of the Great Masters, but also from an openly allowed influence that Casadei obtains from his everyday life experience; understanding Casadei’s love for music and rhythmic frequencies can be crucial to have a better knowledge of his reasons, motifs and drive. If we research more deeply, we will find out about the artist’s complementary interest towards music instruments, which continuously feeds his hunger both for expression and for the dialogues which this practice implements.
Besides all of the influences and dialogues that the artist has with the past, Jacopo Casadei is mainly interested by the connections and relations that can be kept alive nowadays with his peers, by the mutual exchange that can happen between two personas, living in the same context, yet focusing on a variety of different subjects or media. For instance, Casadei is one of those painters who is enchanted by the unexpected, by the element of surprise which, supposedly, can only happen when painting from memory whilst waiting for the appearance of something mental and non-preconceived. Using photographic references, painting from life and other academic practices, can sometimes limit the openness of the images that are being portrayed. When painting from visual, or more generally from sensory memory, the artist acts as if he is waiting for the arrival of an unexpected visitor. The fact that Casadei is well conscious about his tendencies in terms of method, does not mean that the artist doesn’t seek for continuous inspiration from diverging schemes by leaving the box hoping to return with a more complete knowledge. For example, as the artist explains, participating to Lorenza Boisi’s en plein air painting sessions, named “Landina”, was incredibly important in order to achieve a higher knowledge regarding the specific practice of painting in the midst of nature, while at the same time it was hugely useful in terms of confronting himself with other painters focusing on the same experience and as well understanding his limits in terms of painting en plein air.
Whether it is painting, or another artistic practice, contaminations and unexpected acquaintances are something an artist should never stop seeking for. Jacopo Casadei focuses on feeding his artistic practice by continuously engaging into new experiences and encounters, always trying to refresh his visual inventory and store something new and psychological to communicate to the viewer.
