Mixing art and nature, the Italian artist Micaela Cometa, resident in Lanzarote, has been dedicated to her passion for years: creating paintings in the atelier and outside the farm where she lives in Tinajo.
The 38-year-old painter who uses an abstract neo-expressionist style to give life to her creations, has revealed to La Voz what her source of inspiration is. She travels the island with the intention of discovering new places that help her focus her paintings. When "I go walking, I always look at nature", so it is "easier" that "I can identify something inspiring to draw", she says. When she visits a new place and wants fresh ideas "I go with my notebook" to take "notes or draw quickly" and also "I take pictures". Thus, "I capture on the canvas what is most surprising" of each area of the island, she added.
Her paintings stand out for the fusion between art and nature, without forgetting the addition of natural resources such as sea salt, sand, earth, petrified lava and volcanic rocks, which she obtains from each getaway she makes around the island. "I take material from the environment to be able to fit it into the works later", she reveals. Her objective is to "give originality" to the paintings and that they "transmit something real" and she achieves this by "fitting in some elements of the nature" that Lanzarote offers.
She left her old gallery in Teguise due to "lack of tranquility" to look for it from her own home. Therefore, when she wants to use the resources of the environment for her works, she collects them and takes them to her "refuge", a laboratory she has inside her farm. "I go into the laboratory or go out to the field and start creating", she revealed. What she likes most during the spring and summer season is "working outdoors to connect with nature", adds the artist.
Original decoration with marijuana and menstrual blood
There are several works that she has published on her website, ready for lovers of abstract art to buy them. Under the title of 'Orzola Prints', 'Cueva de los Verdes', 'Famara', 'El Risco', 'El Volcán del Cuervo' and 'Caletón Blanco', with these paintings, she fuses the bright and dark colors, mainly yellow, brown and green, some very prominent in the nature of the island.
She also captures in her works some of the social conflicts that happen around the world such as Immigration or War. A work made in acrylic and called 'Gaza & Israel under the Devil', inspired by the war between Israel and Gaza, in which a representation of the bombings and the great line that divides both places is made.
Without a doubt, the painting that most attracts attention and causes concern is the one made with menstrual blood that is titled 'Infibulazione'. Based on the claim against female genital mutilation, a practice that is still carried out on girls and women between 15 and 49 years old in countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.
A work valued at "more than 5,000 euros" with a great meaning and, therefore, is not for sale. It has been exhibited in museums in New York and soon, "it will be donated to the 'Museo de Abreu' in the Dominican Republic", belonging to Óscar Abreu, the son of the Dominican fashion designer Óscar de la Renta, the artist has confessed to the newspaper.
After its exhibition, the painter thought that the criticism "was going to be negative" due to the "great visual impact" that it supposes, she reveals. Contrary to what she thought, she has received very good reviews in the art world. In addition, another of the works that stand out for its claim is that of 'Imigration', in which she captures the need for help with the placement of the palms of her hands on the canvas.
She takes her creations to the extreme that she has decorated one of her paintings with marijuana leaves, the one inspired by the 'Volcán del Cuervo', as she has decided to title it. An original work that is framed among the most surprising, but that is not for sale either. She prefers to admire them from the living room of her house.
Exhibitions in Lanzarote, Miami and New York
Her exhibitions in Lanzarote are usually held in workshops, at the César Manrique Airport, in the 'Galería El Aljibe' and in the 'Eduardo Fariña' in Haría and Costa Teguise and also, in the Arrecife Yacht Club, among other locations. "I did an event in a private house with 100 people in Mácher", she recalled. A local but also international artist, who has a place abroad. She has led with her works in different events in Miami and New York during 2022, cities she frequently visits to present her works.
Among her clients are the Germans, although she also has buyers from the island with a high purchasing power. The paintings 'Famara' and 'Caletón Blanco', are some of the paintings that the rich tycoons who pass through Lanzarote are interested in, always moved by what the artist transmits. "I talk to them and I know that most of them buy them for the emotion that I emit to them", she says. She even says that one of the buyers was so interested in a painting that "he repeatedly approached her house until he convinced her to sell it to him", she says.
In addition, she collaborates with some of the renowned artists on the island. "I am working with the interior designer Pablo Ramos Baldi", she pointed out. The interior designer has a workshop in San Bartolomé, where he helps promote the artist's paintings.
She began to dedicate herself to art during the pandemic, when she lost her job related to Advertising. It was a friend who encouraged her to embark on it. "She published the photographs of some of my paintings on the internet and began to sell them." When she realized that they were "selling" she told me: "you have talent, focus on that", she says. And so, after several years dedicating herself to it, she promises that her career will continue to rise more and more.
